______________________________________________________________________ __ __ __ __ _ ____ | | | | | \ | | | |/ _ \ | | | | | \ | | | / \ | | |/\| | | \| | | | | | | | | |\ | | | | | | /\ | | | \ | |__| |_| |__/ \__| |__| \__| [ n a i d O ' s - W r e s t l i n g - N e w s ] Edition 230 December 28, 2000 "I get the news, so you don't have to." ______________________________________________________________________ [Official newsletter & complement to:] http://www.naidOsWorld.com To subscribe: naidoswrestlingnews-subscribe@egroups.com To unsubscribe: naidoswrestlingnews-unsubscribe@egroups.com ______________________________________________________________________ [Table of contents] **Note from naidO **TOP NEWS STORY **Latest news from the WWF, WCW & ECW **[Article] USA Network top basic cable network despite loss of WWF **Parting chair shot ______________________________________________________________________ [Note from naidO] Hello to those just joining. Tell your friends about the BEST up and coming newsletter around to subscribe today! - I've decided that there will be no newsletter on the 31st or maybe the 1st of the year for the simple fact that there'll probably be no news whatsoever. It'll either be one day or the other (maybe even both) so be prepared. Enjoy SmackDown! tonight and I'll talk to you tomorrow. **Until tomorrow, enjoy this latest edition of nWN! - naidO nWN Founder - http://www.geocities.com/naidosnews ______________________________________________________________________ [TOP NEWS STORY] **Mark Madden has been fired by World Championship Wrestling, effective immediately for talking about the sale of the WCW and Scott Hall as well as giving what the company is claiming was an unauthorized interview where he criticized the promotion. Madden was told of his dismissal, early this afternoon by television director Craig Leathers. However, Madden says the interview in question does not exist unless it was something he said on the WCW Hotline, which the company has the power to remove. Madden also said that when he was asked to stop talking about the sale of WCW and Scott Hall, he did. Madden, who had two and a half years left on his contract which just rolled over, still hosts a sports talk show in Pittsburgh, PA. (Jeff Marek) More on this in the WCW section of the newsletter ______________________________________________________________________ [News from the WWF] **RAW got a 3.9 Christmas rating off of hours 3.7 & 4.0 Its quarters were, 3.1, 3.5, .8, 4.2, 3.9, 4.0, 3.9 & 4.3 **The Christmas Eve edition of WWF Sunday Night Heat on MTV did a 1.4 rating, which is the lowest in the show's history. Considering the fact that it was Christmas Eve and that the show has been doing low ratings since the switch to MTV, this rating is not a big surprise. **Livewire drew a 1.1 rating with a 2.9 share & Superstars did a 1.0 rating with a 2.9 share **Here is what to expect on tonight's Smackdown: - In a handicapped match, Edge & Christian will take on Chris Jericho - Matt Hardy will challenge Chris Benoit for his IC title - Kurt Angle will defend his World title against Buh Buh Ray Dudley - Mixed tag match, Acolytes & Jackie vs. Bull, Goodfather & Ivory - Raven will defend his Hardcore title against Jeff Hardy - Too Cool vs T&A - The Rock & Undertaker vs Rikishi, William Regal & Kane **The WWF has published an interesting interview with Molly Holly where she talks about her beginning in wrestling and being in the WWF. To read the article, click http://www.wwf.com/news/headlines/1024939 **Movieheadlines.Net has reported a rumor that Bryan Singer & Stan Lee, while at a comics convention in Beverly Hills, confirmed that The Rock has signed on to play Beast in the upcoming "X-Men 2" film. Take that news with a grain of salt, as Movieheadlines has revealed "rumors" before that had no substance behind them. **If you are looking to get a good seat for Wrestlemania, there are $500 seats now available on Ticketmaster Online. I would guess that they freed them up somehow because those initially sold out. So go to Ticketmaster.com if you are interested. **WWF: The Music Volume 5 will be out at the end of January. (Cred: ultimo, 1wrestling, the law) _______________ [News from WCW] **Mark Madden posted the following comments on his website, MARKMADDEN.COM: "Gee, was it something I said? I'll have more on this later, kids, but basically everything you've read vis-à-vis reasons for my termination are true -- which isn't, of course, to say that they're valid reasons, or even the real reasons. But they're the reasons I was given. Don't worry about me. I'm gonna do my radio show, I'm gonna enjoy Mario Lemieux's comeback tonight, and in many ways I'm gonna be happy to be free of a business where performance means little and politicking means everything. I obviously didn't get fired based on doing a bad job. I got fired because I upset the wrong people. Que sera, sera. I leave wrestling with pride. Not many do. And I think I'll be back in wrestling, maybe sooner than a lot of you think." **Dave Scherer reports there are rumors circulating around WCW that Konnan may be the one to replace Mark Madden at the broadcast table. Apparently various WCW officials were impressed with the job Konnan did recently on Thunder. (Cred: LWN) _______________ [News from ECW] **www.DannyDoring.com now features the latest edition of THE DANACONDA CHRONICLES. The Dastardly One looks at the past year and his favorite moments of 2000 as well as Tazz, the holidays and even poor referee Jim Molineaux! **Jim Quigley has posted the second set in a series of Pervert Pics of Francine from the Holiday Hell 2000 show last weekend at the ECW Arena. You can check out all the pics at www.ECWwrestling.com. **www.MikeyWhipwreck.com has been fully updated with two sets of pictures from the Holiday Hell 2000 2 out of 3 falls match at the ECW Arena between Mikey & Tajiri and the FBI. There is also a new entry in Mikey's "Diary of a Madman" that is ... well, it's very different than most wrestler website commentaries. **NovaECW.com ends the year with a Nova Photo Explosion! Review the last year of inNOVAtive action with photos from Holiday Hell, The Madhouse of Extreme, Nova on ECW PPVs, Indy shows and EVEN exclusive galleries of the legendary Blue World Order! Celebrate the New Year with Nova! (Cred: 1wrestling) __________________ [In other news...] **Former ECW star Chris Chetti sent word that he is available for independent bookings. Anyone looking to contact him should do so at C_Chetti@h... **For those into that sort of thing, the XFL supplemental draft is tomorrow (Friday) (Cred: ultimo, SLAM! wrestling) ______________________________________________________________________ [Article] USA Network top basic cable network despite loss of WWF NEW YORK, Dec. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- With one week remaining in 2000, USA Network is assured a victory in primetime with a 2.1 coverage area rating (1,638,000 households)*, two-tenths (or 11%) above its nearest competitor (TBS). "This is the third consecutive year that USA has been the top rated basic cable network in prime and the ninth of the past 11 that we have been unbeaten," said Ray Giacopelli, USA Network's Vice President of Research. "Given our concentration on target demos and our new originals and acquisitions slate, we plan on remaining number one for some time to come." Highlights include: -- Since the loss of wrestling, USA Network has been striving to become a more gender balanced, 25-54 efficient network. -- The new early prime block featuring "Walker, Texas Ranger," "JAG" and "Nash Bridges" (Monday-Friday 6:00-9:00 PM) has seen a 12% gain in adults 25-54 viewing since it launched in late September. That 12% gain comes to 721,000 persons 25-54, from 643,000 for the same number of weeks before the new lineup change. 6/5- 9/10/00 vs. 9/11- 12/17/00]. -- "JAG" is the highest rated primetime (non-kids) stripped series on basic cable with a 1.9 rating for the year. In fact, since the launch of the new line-up ("Walker, Texas Ranger" lead-in and "Nash Bridges" lead-out) USA has seen a 13% gain in household rating over the fourth quarter of 1999 as well as in adult 18-34 viewing. JAG'S 1.9 household rating translates to 1,515,000 homes viewing or 2,065,000 persons two-years-old and older. 4/24-8/20/00 vs. 8/21-12/17/00]. -- Since "Walker, Texas Ranger" moved from 8:00 PM to 6:00 PM, it has improved the new time period 71% in household rating (to a 1.2) and 58% among target adults 25-54. [4/24-8/20/00 vs. 8/21-12/17/00]. -- USA Network also has the highest rated original movies on basic cable with a 3.5 average rating over 10 telecasts. This ties TBS for number one among all basic cable networks on this measure (TBS aired only four movies this year). USA's original movies have enjoyed a 17% gain in adults 25-54 viewing and a 25% gain in women 25-54 viewing over our original movies last year. -- USA's move to improve female appeal extends beyond primetime. USA started airing more female oriented movies on Saturday afternoons (11:00 AM-5:00 PM) which have seen a 40% improvement in household rating and a 77% gain in viewing by women 25-54. 7/24-10/1/00 vs. 10/2-12/10/00]. USA Network, owned and operated by USA Cable, a division of USA Networks, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: USAI) Entertainment unit, is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports events, off-net television shows and blockbuster theatrical films. USA Network is available in 78% of all U.S. homes, and is seen in 80 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at www.usanetwork.com. (Yahoo! News) ______________________________________________________________________ [Parting Chair Shot] Remember, tell your friends about nWN - naidO's Wrestling News today! **Missed any TV Shows? Go to the following link to read the results: http://www.naidosworld.com/tvshows.html Also, be sure to check out the NEW internet home of nWN, http://www.geocities.com/naidosnews for all your archived stats, tv shows, wrestling links, terms and PPV's, and most of all PICTURES! - naidO nWN Founder ______________________________________________________________________ [Affiliates] **http://green_mist.homestead.com **BECOME AN AFFILIATE OF nWN and make it your official newsletter!! Email naido@h... with your website's address for consideration. ______________________________________________________________________ [News gathering links] **Dave Scherer, Buck Woodward, Bob Ryder @ http://www.1wrestling.com **Dave Meltzer, Zach Arnold @ http://www.wrestlingobserver.com **Chris Clarke, Jeff Pollock @ http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com **Blake Wolfson @ http://www.ultimowrestling.com ______________________________________________________________________ [Ads] ESW - The number one E-Fed on the face of the Earth! The ESW: Extremely Suicidal Wrestling! http://www.geeksoft.net/gin/gfed2/gfed.cgi?lid=1204 ______________________________________________________________________ [nWN Staff] Founder & Editor: naidO - naido@h... Columnist: Sam Jerry - SAMJERRY@a... Columnist: The Vile - stoncold@b... Columnist: Ted Cabata - tcabata@r... ______________________________________________________________________ [Disclaimer] naidO's Wrestling News was founded on April 30, 2000 and is owned and operated by naidO. He, nor this newsletter is in no way, shape, or form affiliated with World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting's World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, or any other wrestling organization. Nor the people (staff members), wrestlers, or any other talent in the wrestling. News is gathered from various sources around the net, including newsgroups and are believed to be of public domain and truthful (uh huh). As long as proper credit is given it exempts nWN and it's staff. I (naidO) am just promoting their organization/website. nWN is not responsible for content on affiliate websites or where they may link to including mp3's, warez, kiddie porn and/or other unlawful content. This exempts myself & this newsletter (nWN) from all legal disputes. Anything taken from this newsletter requires written consent from naidO Copyright © 2000 naidO. All Rights Reserved