Yo what’s happening? Eddie with the latest WWE News and Rumors report! Plenty of news to cover tonight, so stay put and while you’re at it, shove all the Christmas presents under the bed.
Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with you if you didn’t already know this, but the WWE presented their Armageddon PPV this past Sunday. The show featured some good in-ring action here and there, and we also witnessed 3 out of the 4 titles that were on the line change hands. Your new World Tag Team Champions are Booker T and Goldust, whereas both brands now have new world champs as well. Kurt Angle defeated The Big Show with the help of Brock Lesnar and is now a 3-time WWE Champion, and meanwhile Triple H shocked the world and surprised us all by winning the World Heavyweight Championship away from Shawn Michaels in what was one great 2 out of 3 Falls match. If you need a full report and this recap didn’t do it for ya, say no more, and head over to our WWE Armageddon Report.
Come Monday night, the fallout from Armageddon was to all happen on the actual 500th edition of Monday Night RAW. Well, the WWE didn’t even let us know it’s the 500th episode, but anyway. We had no main event, but the last match on the card was a solid bout between Booker T and Chris Jericho which also set up a Tag Teams Title Match for next week with Booker T and Goldust defending their newly won belts against the previous champs, Jericho and Christian. Elsewhere on the show, Y2J cut a very nice promo on the “Has Been Kid,” while Triple H put on a nice suit and had himself a “Triple H Appreciation Night” courtesy of Eric Bischoff. Scott Steiner officially signed with RAW and not only did he have his first confrontation with Triple H, but we were also told that Steiner gets a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble PPV. Wow, the WWE has booked a match and it’s not the week before the PPV?! Elsewhere on the show, The Dudleyz, Test and Trish, Jeff Hardy, Christian and Christopher Nowinski were all successful in what seemed to be somewhat useless matches. Anyway, a full RAW Report is also available, and for it, all you got to do is just click here.
Plenty of news to hit you with, so I have no clue where to start. Well, it’s one of those weeks where both the Wrestling Observer and the PWTorch Newsletters get released, so there’s plenty of updates to discuss besides your regular news. Well, here are some very interesting notes from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, with thoughts by yours truly as well:
* Jeff Hardy and Justin Credible have been suspended by the WWE for constantly showing up late to House Shows. Jeff will definitely be missing House Shows, but will most likely remain on TV and continue to wrestle. In a similar update, Jamal has been also taken off house shows due to legal reasons. I must say that this one has been in the making. Jeff Hardy has been late to House Shows for probably months now and I don’t know what to say about Jeff anymore. He’s just not the guy he once was. Not that long ago there were reports saying that he doesn’t care about wrestling as much anymore, and his brother Matt has said on numerous occasions that Jeff’s new passion is music. We’ll see for how long this continues, but if Jeff keeps on getting in trouble, both WWE and Hardy will lose in my opinion. The fans will lost the most, by the way. As far as Credible goes, he’s not exactly known for being the best worker in the world, and I have no clue what’s up with Jamal.
* Since HBK’s back is just fine and Michaels has been feeling very well, it’s now reported that he will be increasing his wrestling appearances, as he will now be a part of the major RAW brand house shows as well. This could only mean one thing — The Heart Break Kid is indeed back, and even with the indications of a Jericho feud thrown at RAW, it looks like Shawn isn’t going anywhere, at least until WrestleMania. It’s nice to hear that Shawn is doing well and his back isn’t bothering him. Stepping down from the title picture to work with Jericho might just end up being a good thing for everyone, as many have compared Jericho with Michaels in the past.
* Not only is the WWE trying to get Goldberg for at least a one-time appearance at WrestleMania, but rumors have it that the offer the WWE has made was so good that Goldberg himself is really considering making a return! I got plenty of thoughts on that one. With ratings constantly bouncing on and off the very low 3.1 up to what WWE now considers high 3.5, business is now more down than ever before. Now is also the perfect time to bring in Goldberg, as he hasn’t showed up on TV for about 2 years, and the more the WWE waits to sign him, the more his popularity will wear out. If you think about it, this goes both ways, as Goldberg would be also losing not to take the chance of becoming a WWE star. We’ll see how things go, but an appearance at WrestleMania as now a WWE debut seems more probable than ever before. Stay tuned.
* The WWE has plans to open more foreign offices, with South America, Australia, and Asia being their main goals. This will be in order to run more and more live events in these areas in the future, as all of these locations have proved popular for WWE events. Not much to say here, but definitely a smart by the WWE. Since the WWE is not in let’s say Australia, for example, everyday, when the company goes there the shows sell in seconds. Same goes for all other places the WWE doesn’t visit too often. Expanding can be only good in financial times like those. It’s good to see the company realize over the course of the past several years that there’s wrestling fanatics not only in the US.
* Charles Wright (aka Godfather) was released from his WWE contract two weeks early due to not attending the WWA tour like WWE wanted (he said he suffered an injury). He was asked to show up on the 12/2 Raw after he had already received his last check to be with the Ho’s that Bischoff presented to Steiner only for Steiner to beat him up and take the Ho’s. Godfather realized that it was a blowoff to his character and held the company up for perks (limo, first class airline tickets) which he knew they would not agree to, just as a way of not showing up. [credit: RajahWWF] Nothing much to add to this. Besides what’s being reported, The Godfather and WWE have had a close relationship for a long time, so believe me, he’ll be showing up sooner or later and he’ll be used for special occasions, unless the WWE themselves decide not to use him on TV.
* WWE Anthology debuted strongly on the charts, but has since fell from #51 in its second week, to #87 in its third one. That’s a bigger drop than anticipated, and also bigger than any recent WWE CD’s. AAAH! WWE Music is not selling well?! Ugh, everything else was going so well…
* According to the newsletter, The Undertaker and Paul Bearer have had a big falling out in the past year, but no further details are available. This one’s interesting and you bet your bottom dollar we’ll keep you updated.
* Many wrestlers backstage are not at all happy with the rib Jonah pulled on Tough Enough 3 and just like Lance Storm said in his commentary, they find it very offensive. That’s another update that has made it to news on several occasions as of lately. Lance Storm touched on this in his commentary and I must say he was right. Guys like Droz who are in wheelchairs because of injuries they suffered doing what they loved would definitely not laugh at the rib Jonah pulled. As far as the rib goes, I personally think Al Snow, Bill DeMott, Ivory, and Big should have prevented it from happening, but I guess due to the nature of the show, they let it go. Still, faking an injury (especially a serious one) in this business is nothing you joke about.
* More information about the Matt Hardy/Rey Mysterio/A-Train spot has been “revealed” so to speak. The latest on the situation is that Matt Hardy was not only upset, but he was furious with the change, as he had to wrestle A-Train’s Velocity match. Word has it that Michael Hayes had to calm Hardy down backstage, as Matt was really mad about the situation. Wrestlers like Edge and Rikishi who are close with Matt and felt he deserves to spot tried to lobby for him to Vince, but to no avail as McMahon put A-Train in the spot.
* In a follow up, even more interesting news have it that Chris Benoit was the original choice for the role that is currently played by A-Train. This way, Benoit would face Edge at Armageddon and then a returning Mysterio at the Royal Rumble, whereas Edge would be left to wrestle Angle at the Rumble. When Matt was put into the role, the plan was to have Hardy wrestle Edge at Armageddon and then Mysterio at the Rumble, while Benoit and Angle finish off their feud at the Royal Rumble. All the plans are now again totally scratched and renewed with Albert being inserted in the spot. There’s still rumors that he might fight The Undertaker at the Rumble PPV.
* To wrap it up on this whole story, there are rumors going around that Rikishi might have some backstage heat with Albert due to A-Train’s stiff work at a recent house show where he knocked Rikishi out with a stiff kick. It’s rumored that it went as far as Rikishi changing a match he had against A-Train on SmackDown!. This would also be another explanation of why Rikishi tried to lobby for Matt Hardy. Too long to comment on, but to sum up my thoughts, it looks like Matt Hardy has all the rights in the world to be enraged and mad at what has happened. It seems that all of Matt’s hard work and progress went nowhere because of A-Train’s push. Just look at Matt now, he’s wrestling on Velocity for God’s sake.
With that said, let us now switch gears and check out the latest from the PWTorch Newsletter:
* The latest with Kevin Nash is that he might not be ready to return for the Royal Rumble PPV, therefore it’s expected that he won’t get the huge WrestleMania payoff he’s expecting, as there might not be enough time for a decent push for Nash. Nash has told close friends that he’s not ready to return yet and, upon returning he’s thinking of doing so as Big Daddy Cool Diesel instead of his last WCW Character — Kevin Nash. It seems that the nWo is officially dead. (In this business, you never say never.) My 2 cents on this one is that this can’t be good news any way you look at it. Kevin Nash has at least one more great year left in him as a wrestler, and the longer he’s away from the ring, the longer it will take for him to recover and then shake off all ring rust. I definitely wish him a speedy recovery, and trust me, he’ll be in a big feud upon his return, whether it’s as Big Daddy Cool Diesel, Kevin Nash, or something new.
* William Regal is using his reputation as a tough guy backstage. As of lately, he’s been spending a lot of time in the trainer’s move and many comment that he hasn’t been taking his bumps as hard as he once used to. I must say that even from his WCW years, Regal has changed a lot. Not much to add here. William Regal had a reputation? God, being close friends with both Austin and Triple H does help, doesn’t it?
* Besides opposing Internet rumors, for now it’s believed that the rumored cuts will not be happening, but if the WWE was to get rid of anyone, they would simply wear out the wrestler’s contract. I’d say that Justin Credible just might be their #1 goal, especially after that suspension. Just a reminder that Perry Saturn’s contract was bought out, and Godfather’s ran out, so the WWE kept true to their word. The company is in a bad financial situation, therefore these kind of things just happen and they hit hard sometimes, but what can ya do? You move on. As far as Saturn goes, I doubt he’ll return, but you never know. Godfather will be back soon, as he’s said to still participate in future WWE events, just only on special occassions.
* The newest Velocity color commentator, the one and only Ernest “The Cat” Miller is said to be the type of guy that rubs everyone the wrong way backstage as he loves to truly live his character even in real life. He’s been quoted of saying that if wrestling was one big shoot, he would kick everyone’s ass, and as you can guess yourself, that doesn’t exactly help you fit in. I believe The Cat has had that reputation for a long time, ever since he entered the business. While he sure is a force in Karate, the WWE never appreciates talk like that backstage. I must say though, I truly enjoyed Cat and Josh’s commentary on Velocity. I think Josh did much better than Marc Lloyd.
* The WWE simply doesn’t want to let Ron “Faarooq” Simmons go, yet at the same time it’s believed that he might not be able to make a good road agent due to a variety of reasons (unknown to me). The WWE will try and keep him hired and have him play a role backstage planning the lower-rated shows. I must say, Simmons, a former WCW Heavyweight Champion, is one of the finest the industry has seen. It just seems that something isn’t clicking between him and the atmosphere backstage. His personal trades might be a reason, but I’m sure WWE will keep him around because he’s worth every cent.
* Rumors have it that backstage at RAW last week, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader was being interviewed by the WWE for some kind of a future role within the company.
Now this is classic but several people have reported that the WWE Calendar for 2003 features… Stone Cold Steve Austin.
There was some controversy these past days over a possible Triple H injury. The whole rumor started late on Sunday night when several sites reported that The Game wrestled his brutal match with a bad hamstring. However, the latest on the situation is that Triple H might have just sold an injury over, so his won over HBK seems bigger, as he wouldn’t be at 100%. It’s a bit confusing, so to put it into simple words, it’s not yet sure whether or not HHH was actually injured, or just playing injured to create for a better atmosphere for the main event.
Maven vs. Chris Nowinski was pulled off the Armageddon card during the weekend, according to 1wrestling, and they also say that it’s not yet exactly known what was the reason for that. A very good guess would be that the WWE simply wanted to make sure the main event gets enough time, and since Maven vs. Nowinski was the easiest match on the card to get the scratch, that’s what happened.
If WrestleMania’s main event ends up being Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar which it probably will, it will be the first time ever, as TSN reports, that the participants at a WrestleMania main event wrestle under their real names.
Apparently, Matt Hardy hasn’t exactly had good times as of lately. Besides his whole rage issue going on over A-Train’s situation, Matt also suffered a swollen eye on Saturday in a house show match with Chuck Palumbo, as reported by WWE.com. Matt was the victim of a bad-thrown punch that hit him directly in the eye and it’s said that he was left with no depth perception in his eye. Read more here.
TBL is getting bigger and better with every day. When I came to work for this site, Joe and Martin were just beginning reconstruction, but wow, look at where we are now. We have plenty of columns, tons of updates, and are working hard to make sure we satisfy all your wrestling needs. Which brings me to our new Forums. (Oh come on, like you didn’t see the plug coming?!) There’s plenty of things to discuss on there, so feel free to speak your mind as well as let us know how to improve this site.
Thought of the Week
“Following his return, Austin is expected to engage in a storyline with Triple H. After HBK gets beaten by the Cerebral Assassin, Austin will run down and attack the newly crowned champ. However, neither will be able to decisively defeat the other, as a no-jobbing stipulation in each man’s contract prohibits selling. Instead, they will be forced into beating on the fallen Michaels, playing a game of one-ups-manship with the legend. Eventually, they will both fall down from exhaustion, with Triple H landing conveniently on Austin in a decision that will appease both parties.”
— From the Debut of Michael Blaszkowski’s News and Spoofs
I’m out. Drop me a line if you wish, and thanks a lot for reading! Martin should have another report up during the weekend, so keep checking the main page for the latest until then.
