______________________________________________________________________ __ __ __ __ _ ____ | | | | | \ | | | |/ _ \ | | | | | \ | | | / \ | | |/\| | | \| | | | | | | | | |\ | | | | | | /\ | | | \ | |__| |_| |__/ \__| |__| \__| [ n a i d O ' s - W r e s t l i n g - N e w s ] Edition 289 March 2, 2001 "I get the news, so you don't have to." http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naidoswrestlingnews ______________________________________________________________________ [Official newsletter & complement to:] http://www.naidOsWorld.com To subscribe: naidoswrestlingnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To unsubscribe: naidoswrestlingnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ______________________________________________________________________ [Table of contents] **Note from naidO **TOP NEWS STORY **Latest news from the WWF, WCW & ECW **[Article] Fusients talks with Time Warner break off without a deal **[Column] Screwjob of the Week **Parting chair shot **Affiliates ______________________________________________________________________ [Note from naidO] Hello to those just joining. Tell your friends about the BEST newsletter around to subscribe today! **Click for the SMACKDOWN results: http://www.naidosworld.com/tvsmackdown.html - Damn Survivor..made me think someone got eaten by a gator and all he did was burn his hands. Not to sound shallow, but that's what they were going for, I'm just a product of their promotion. ;-) - naidO nWN Founder - http://www.geocities.com/naidosnews ______________________________________________________________________ [TOP NEWS STORY] Butkus to replace Lawler in XFL broadcasts NEW YORK (AP) - With XFL ratings sliding, the league is changing rules and plugging Hall of Famer Dick Butkus into one of this weekend's broadcasts. The league said on Thursday it has eliminated its version of the bump- and-run rule. The new rule mirrors the one used by the NFL, barring any contact between defensive players and offensive receivers from 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Previously, contact had been permitted down the field. Butkus, director of football competition for the XFL, will replace Jerry ``The King'' Lawler on NBC's bonus coverage game, Birmingham at San Francisco. Butkus will work the game with Matt Vasgersian with a permanent replacement for Lawler to be selected next week. Saturday night's primetime game has the Los Angeles Xtreme playing the New York/New Jersey Hitmen. Last Saturday's game between New York/New Jersey and Chicago had the second-lowest audience ever for a primetime sports program, a 2.6 rating and a 5 share. That was down from the previous week's 3.1 rating and 6 share. The lowest-rated sports primetime program was Game 3 of the 2000 Stanley Cup finals on ABC, which had a 2.3 and 5 share. (AP) ______________________________________________________________________ [News from The WWF] **The monthy WWF pay-per-view series, Fanatics, will continue its way into April and will feature Kurt Angle in "It's True, It's True". This happens to be contain several excerpts from the heavily advertised WWF Home Video which features "The Olympic Champion's" rise to fame in the World Wrestling Federation. In addition to excerpts from the video, it will also include bonus footage as mentioned on the newly released promotional poster. The special host for the Fanatics PPV featuring WWF Champion Kurt Angle will be Mick Foley. **DirecTV Raw is War preview for Monday: 9PM "The possible return of Triple H has the WWF on edge." 10PM "Trish ponders her future." **3/1 WWF Smackdown had a 5.4 overnight rating, peaking with a 5.9 from 9:30-10 pm. UPN finished fourth in the network race. **To view a trailer of the new Mummy: Returns movie click http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/the_mummy_returns/ **Watch The Rock on Byte This! Catch the new Federation Champion today on Byte This! Give the "Great One" a call at 1-888-LIVEWWF (548-3993) from 4 to 5 p.m. ET, or e- mail him your questions and comments at bytethis@wwf.com! **To read an interview with Justin Credible click http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/news/interviews/default.asp?aID=1004 **All links to pictures and other media with "the Kat" Stacy Carter have been removed from wwfdivas.com (Cred: ultimo, wwf.com) _______________ [News from WCW] **Bill Goldberg continues to rehabilitate from shoulder surgery. A full recovery is expected, but it could take months. **Sting is feeling better after having elbow surgery last year. He made an appearance recently in support of his monster truck at a Monster Jam show. **Sid Vicious has returned to the gym and has started training. He is still using a walker and doctors believe it will be six to eight months before he fully recovers. Sid's spirits remain high. **Brian Adams is still recovering after having his appendix removed two weeks ago. He doesn't have a return date, but will consult a physician soon to talk about returning. **Kid Romeo will be Elix Skipper's secret partner against A.J. Styles & Air Paris in the WCW cruiserweight tag team tournament and plans are for him to join Team Canada. (Cred: wcw.com) _______________ [News from ECW] **Nothing. Since we're less than two weeks away from a PPV and there's still no venue, still no tv, still no promotion, still no wrestlers, and STILL no announcements other than pervert picks; expect a termination notice soon. Unfortunately (Cred: ) __________________ [In other news...] **The XFL has changed its rule allowing for contact between a receiver and defender down field. It will now be illegal, with the rule now being similar to the NFL. The goal is to add scoring to the low-scoring games that have plagued the XFL to date. **Variety reports that the "WWF Album Pins No. 2 in Surprise Move - Reggae star Shaggy was No. 1 on the album charts yet again this week, but a gang of professional wrestlers was hot on his heels, and Grammy afterglow catapulted several ccts - especially those who performed live on the kudocast - higher in the rankings. The album, whose predecessors routinely reached platinum territory, shifted 177,000 units in its first week on the market, knocking the Beatles' "1'' into the third spot. (Cred: ) ______________________________________________________________________ [Article] Fusients talks with Time Warner break off without a deal Negotiations in New York between Fusient executives and WCW representatives (Brad Siegel, plus two corporate heavy-hitters - said by one source to be Time Warner president Steve Heyer and AOL president Bob Pittman) broke off yesterday without a deal in place. The Fusient positive spin on the negotiations is that they got an "unlimited extension" beyond Feb. 28 to make the deal happen. However, there is no indication "unlimited extension" is exclusive, so the door is wide open for other interested parties to enter negotiations and make a better offer without Fusient having a say in the matter. Although sale prices in this situation are deceptive because numbers can be based on so many different factors, the original sale price was in the $75-80 million range, and Fusient entered this week's meetings with a revised offer of around $50 million, a significant reduction. The pricetag may be structured to make Time Warner and Seigel look as if they are receiving considerable money for the WCW property, when in fact all but $10 million of the offer is payment for TV time and money to buy the contracts of some of the wrestlers whose deals are worded strictly to be with Time Warner, not WCW. Warburg Pincus, the investor that was providing the majority of the up front money and nearly 50 percent of the overall money, has backed out of their original investment offer. There are mixed signals regarding whether they are still willing to invest as part of a revised deal. Fusient has contacted top paid WCW wrestlers asking them to renegotiate their contracts as a show of good faith in helping get the deal done, such as taking a 50 percent paycut. At least one top wrestler reacted with hostility yesterday to a suggestion he take a cut in pay. The deadline for shutting down WCW remains March 30, but it has become a "soft deadline." Siegel realizes if a deal is close, it would be ridiculous to shut down WCW if a week or two of further negotiations would allow a sale to be completed. If no deal is close, March 30 remains the shutdown date. The Feb. 28 target date was especially important because it would have shifted control of PPVs, arena dates, and advertising beyond March to Fusient. Now, Time Warner's WCW staff is going to have to remain in control of major events beyond March and start taking action on them now, with the prospect being that if a sale isn't imminent, they may have to back out of any post-March commitments. It's not clear yet whether there will be change in Eric Bischoff's ability to govern WCW during this period of limbo, even though Siegel apparently now does have the option to negotiate with other parties. ______________________________________________________________________ [Column] Screwjob of the Week - by Ted Cabata Well this has defiantly been a sad week for everyone who watches the WWF constantly. I can't think of what the WWF will be like without Jerry Lawler announcing, to me the only commentator who has ever had his personality was Bobby Heenan. Anyway back to the topic at hand. I was going to try and write the Lawler situation up as a screw job, but I couldn't decide on who screwed who, so let's move on. WC yawn W was interesting, no wait it was pretty boring, cruiserweight tag tournament was pretty fun and Booker T is back...joy. Was anyone else not on the edge of their seat the way WCW brought T back? So on to the WWF where we have the hype of Rock vs Austin at WM, haven't we seen this before? Of course we have, this is the WWF here. Where has Triple H been? I'm sure the WWF can figure out a way to make it a Triple Threat match or a fatal four-way again and keep the same guys on top. Speaking of the same people staying on top it seems like the same people win this award every week, and this week is no different. If you watched RAW you know exactly whom this award is going to... The winner is...Vince (with Regal and Steph getting honorable mention.) If getting a bucket of slop dumped on your head isn't a screw job then I don't know what is. That was incident that I never expected to see. I expected Steph to get the bucket and go running home to find mommy who returns and saves the day. Guess I was wrong. But, anyway this was still a great screw job, and I hope it helps to lead the WWF into new directions, maybe more cat fights with Steph and Trish?! Ted Cabata Tcabata@roanoke.edu ICQ# 4745291 AOL IM: Frogs 11 ______________________________________________________________________ [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://www.paywindah.com **http://green_mist.homestead.com **http://www.geocities.com/dsherelo **http://www.tommydreamer.net **http://www.stephaniebellars.com - BECOME AN AFFILIATE OF nWN and make it your official newsletter!! Email naido@hotmail.com with your website's address for consideration. ______________________________________________________________________ [News gathering links] **1Wrestling/Dave Scherer/Bob Ryder @ http://www.1wrestling.com **Wrestling Observer/Dave Meltzer @ http://www.wrestlingobserver.com **The Law/Dan Lovranski @ http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com **UltimoWrestling/MrWolfson/MrCutting @ 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 **Call The KLiQ Hotline For Daily Pro Wrestling News & Rumors. This call give you the most updated Pro Wrestling News that matters. This call is FREE and allways will be you can call from the US and Canada the # 1-888-561-4391 ! Give it a call. REMEBER it's 100% FREE YOU WILL NEVER BE CHARGED ______________________________________________________________________ [nWN Staff] Founder & Editor: naidO - naido@hotmail.com Columnist: Sam Jerry - SAMJERRY@aol.com Columnist: The Vile - vile316@yahoo.com Columnist: Ted Cabata - tcabata@roanoke.edu ______________________________________________________________________ [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, 2001 naidO. All Rights Reserved