______________________________________________________________________ __ __ __ __ _ ____ | | | | | \ | | | |/ _ \ | | | | | \ | | | / \ | | |/\| | | \| | | | | | | | | |\ | | | | | | /\ | | | \ | |__| |_| |__/ \__| |__| \__| [ n a i d O ' s - W r e s t l i n g - N e w s ] Edition 295 March 8, 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 **[Column] Vile Thoughts **[Column] Rounding The Squared Circle **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 THUNDER results: http://www.naidosworld.com/tvthunder.html - Welp, this day's edition is top heavy on WWF news and columns so for those that enjoy both, this should be your favorite single newsletter of all time *hehe* - naidO nWN Founder - http://www.geocities.com/naidosnews ______________________________________________________________________ [TOP NEWS STORY] Dave Scherer reports Buff Bagwell has extended his WCW deal, which was sent to expire this month, by two additional months. In more recent months, Bagwell has been vocal about wanting to leave the company. On a related injury note, Bagwell will undergo an MRI later today to check out a neck problem he suffered on Nitro that forced him to miss working Thunder. Although in serious pain on Monday, Buff felt better Tuesday and is having the test as a precaution after a history of neck problems. ______________________________________________________________________ [News from The WWF] **WWF.com reported that Al Snow signed a new four-year deal with the WWF. Al said that this will be the last contract he will sign and will be looking to move into other forms of entertainment at the end of the contract. **WWF: The Music Volume 5 will drop from the number 2 slot on the Billboard 200 chart, where it debuted last week, to number nine on the charts released tomorrow. They sold more than 83,000 units this week. **The Rock will be on "The 2001 NAACP Image Awards," on 3/9, airing at 8 p.m. EST on FOX. **Steve Austin will be on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on 3/14, which airs at 11:35 p.m. EST on NBC. **Tori is guest starring on "18 Wheels of Justice," airing at 11 p.m. EST on TNN on 3/27. **WrestleMania Limp Bizkit Contest Here's your chance to win a trip for four to WrestleMania X-Seven, in addition to a Limp Bizkit concert. Do you think you have what it takes to be the winner? Click to find out! http://www.wwfsponsors.com/limpbizkit/index.html **Bob Costas announced last night on his HBO program "On The Record" that Vince McMahon will be one of his guess on next week's program (along with former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight). It should be an interesting interview, considering that Costas was a former wrestling fan back in his days living in St. Louis, and even appeared on a WWF event years ago. In recent years, he has been a vocal critic of the wrestling business. The program airs on HBO on Wednesday night's at 11 p.m. **Official SmackDown! preview: This Thursday, the road to WrestleMania continues, and SmackDown! will be a monstrous show! The main event this Thursday will pit The Rock against Haku and Rikishi in a Handicap Match! Rock will be accompanied to the ring this Thursday by his new manager -- Debra! Will Mrs. Austin have any bearing on the match? What does Rock think of the whole situation? Hopefully, the main event on SmackDown! will answer some of these questions! On the heels of his public degredation of Trish Stratus on RAW IS WAR, Mr. McMahon has promised more humiliation for SmackDown! Who will be the object of this humiliation? Tune in to find out! Two title matches have already been signed for Thursday's show. The Hardy Boyz -- who won the Tag Team Championship on Monday's RAW -- will defend the titles against the team they defeated for the gold, the Dudley Boyz. Also, Chris Jericho puts his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Val Venis of the Right to Censor! Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H and the Undertaker will also be in the house this Thursday as the road to WrestleMania continues at 8/7 CT on UPN -- it's SmackDown! Check your local listings for time and channel! **On the next Smackdown! broadcast: - The Hardy Boyz versus Dudley Boys - Val Venis against Chris Jericho - Chris Benoit fights Perry Saturn - In a wheelchair, Linda McMahon makes an appearance - Test fights Kurt Angle - William Regal takes on Al Snow - Rikishi, Haku against The Rock **Speaking of SmackDown!, it scored a 4.5 and came in at 78th in the Prime-Time Nielsen ratings for Feb. 26 to March 4. That's up from a 4.3 during the last ratings period. Smackdown! clobbered Norm (4.1) as well as Two Guys and a Girl (4.1). It was edged out by Futurama (4.9) and 7th Heaven (5.2). The Number One show was Survivor: The Australian Outback at an 18.0. The rating is the percentage of the nation's estimated 102.2 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,022,000 households. (Cred: wwf.com, slam!, ultimo, 1wrestling) _______________ [News from WCW] **The Associated Press reports that AOL Time Warner announced Tuesday it is merging the WB broadcast network and the Turner cable networks under one group led by the WB's chief executive, Jamie Kellner. Terence McGuirk, a 28-year Turner veteran who has been chairman of Turner Broadcasting, will become a part-time vice chairman under Kellner. The move creates America's largest television group, with the WB, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, the Cartoon Network and all of the CNN networks under Kellner's watch. The new Turner Broadcasting System allows greater opportunities to combine forces creatively, through promotion and in advertising sales. (Cred: slam!) _______________ [News from ECW] **Tommy Dreamer made an unadvertised appearance at the Border City Wrestling show in Oldcastle, ON, at the Ciociaro Club last night. Dreamer went over Rhino and Scott D'Amore in a three-way match to win the heavyweight title. Sabu had been the champion and was advertised for this show, but he wasn't there. Another former ECW name, Johnny Swinger, was on the show. He teamed with Otis Apollo to win the promotion's tag team titles. **FrancineECW.com has been updated with a special message from Francine to her fans and also an updated schedule page. To read Francine's message and find out when and where you can see her visit FrancineECW.com now! (Cred: 1wrestling) __________________ [In other news...] **nothing at this time (Cred: ) ______________________________________________________________________ [Column] Vile Thoughts Dearly beloved.... We are gathered here today to mourn the apparant death of Extreme Championship Wrestling. ECW was very much like you and I; a grass roots promotion. a promotion for the people; a promotion that strived to entertain people; a promotion that did entertain people for many years despite being in the shadows of 2 more well financed adversaries. And while the WWF and WCW may have spent more money, and put on more lavish shows, no one showed more fortitude and moxy than Paul Heyman. Alas, the times have caught up with Heyman. With the overwhelming success of the WWF and to an extent, WCW, there just wasn't room for a third promotion. At least not on the shoe-string budget that Heyman had. Give the man credit though. To control costs, many of the production aspects of ECW were performed right in his own basement. The ECW introduced us to Hardcore wrestling, and made it fashionable. (How else do you explain the WWF and WCW's cheap rip-off hardcore titles?) He introduced us to many stars that have moved on to greener pastures. Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, The Dudley Boys Sabu, and Raven. This is just a smattering of the wrestlers that made their name in ECW. Then of course, there was the out and out chaos introduced by ECW. Who will ever forget New Jack jumping off a balcony? How about cheese graters as foreign objects? Or staple guns? Or flaming tables with thumbtacks on them? ECW was able to hang with the big two for a while because they put heart into their shows. And while that means a lot, eventually the financial aspects caught up with them. They never had a real TV deal. I haven't been able to watch ECW for almost two years because they lost their syndicated deal in Detroit. And I don't count the sham deal TNN had with them; them dumped them at the first chance to get WWF. I know that TNN did what's best for them, but it was still a kick in the groin to Paul E. As for Paul E., what an appearance on Raw. Who knows if he'll get the permanent gig, but it would be a step in the right direction after losing the King. And while the ECW hasn't made an official announcement yet, this should explain it all: They are supposed to have a PPV very soon. No one knows what it's called, there's no venue picked out, no matches have been announced, and no tickets have been sold. Even the XFL plans better than that. ______________________________________________________________________ [Column] Rounding The Squared Circle "ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE TWO WRESTLING SHOWS" OR "AND ONE OF THEM LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER" The differences between The WWF and WCW were never more evident than last night. While WCW played to a "packed" house of about 2,000 fans, with about 50 signs between them, in an arena where the upper deck was darkened to hide the empty seats, The WWF played to a sold out crowd that tore the roof off. After watching what WCW had to offer, the reasons for their problems were more than obvious. NITRO opened with that old crowd pleaser and fugitive from the ASPCA, The Dog Breathed Gremlin (DBG) , barking out all kinds of woof tickets at the recently returned and newly groomed Booker Tee Tee* (BTT), which led to BTT charging in at DBG. This led to WCW Champion, Poster Boy for "vitamins," and brother of DBG, Bigger Pumped Up Poppa (BPUP), which led to Douchbag Doophus Page (DDP), which led to the group throwing PAEO (punches at each other). All this led to the first ever Losing Letters Leave Town (LLLT) Main Event pitting DBG and BPUP v. BTT and DDP. All this led to DBG v. BTT for the WCW USHC (United States Heavyweight Championship) and BPUP v. DDP for the WCWC at the next WCW PPV . Pass the Excedrin please. *Douchebag's name for Booker T. In other action, WCW's best (IMHO) Mike Awesome faced The Laughing Guy, Hugh Morrus and jobbed to him, even with the help of Lance Storm. Morrus has as much reason being in the ring with Awesome as The Brooklyn Brawler does with HHH. If there was ever a wrestler being misused and wasted, it's Awesome; he should be in the Title picture, not wasting his career with turkeys like Morrus. We also were graced with the presence of renowned literary scholar and Professor of English Literature, The Ancient American Dream. JJ and Slick Ric, resplendent in about 350 pounds of padding, playing Our Dream, gave us their rendition of The Return Of The Fattest Man. Naturally this infuriated Dream, Jr., who not being the brightest cowboy on the Texas plains, raced in to extract vengeance. To save Jr. from a major a*s whuppin,' Old Fatso himself made an appearance and Bionic Elbowed everyone in sight - only problem being his elbow barely reaches past his rather rotund middle. If any of you have this on tape, watch as Dream "hits" JJ with The Bionic Elbow. You'll notice that he doesn't come within a foot of making contact with JJ's head, yet JJ goes down like he was hit with an ax. An Oscar winner if there ever was one. Also listen to Fat Tony and note that Old Fatso and Old Fatso Jr., the ring together "is the biggest news in wrestling world today." It's gripping commentary like this that makes WCW the great force in wrestling that it is today. BTW, all this stirring action led to JJ and Slick Ric v. Old Fatso and Son at the next PPV. The one redeeming thing that took place on NITRO was the First Round Cruiser Weight Tag Team Match. The action was crisp and fast moving. Maybe WCW should become World Cruiser Weight Wrestling. People would pay to watch matches like this one. Meanwhile over at RAW, we got to see a very irate "That's all I can stand, I can't stands no more" Kurt Angle "break" Scotty Too Hottie's ankle. This nasty deed took place as Too Cool was getting set for a match. Angle was still hot after The Rock attacked him. This happened after Angle joined HHH in double teaming Stone Cold Steve Austin (SCSA), who raced in responding to being called out by HHH. The Main Event was set by all this action (excluding poor Scotty), with Angle and HHH facing The Rock and SCSA. Notice that RAW also started with four individual who eventually met in a Tag Team Main Event. Look at the four on NITRO and the four on RAW. Which would you rather see? A no brainer. We saw your basic Hardcore and Intercontinental Championship Matches, with Biggest Slow and Y2J (with the help of The Gap Toothed One) staying golden; The Dead Man and Undead Man d. The Largest Ass In The Solar System and The Man With The Fro; A Women's Title Match that saw The Midnight Frightmare retain her Title v. Lovely Lita ('Twas Beast that killed The Beauty) thanks to a mistake by The Hardy Boy that sleeps alone. We also saw Miss Wonderful attempt to kiss and make up (or was it kiss up)? with Emperor McMahon after her Slop Bath last week (most men just say it isn't working out; The Boss does things a little differently). Ever the gentleman, he had her crawl around on all fours and bark, strip to bra and panties, and then told her to lose the bra. Just when you thought he wasn't so bad after all, he changed his mind and covered her up. And he wonders why people call him an a*shole. I've heard of taking one for the team, but she has taken an entire truckload. Sending his wife to the funny farm because a divorce would be too expensive; loading her up with enough crap to keep Mayor Berry happy for a lifetime; giving Trish a honey dipper bath; turning Trish into Lassie and having her strip; as JR would say, "The man's an evil genius." (Note to Emperor Vince: If you don't want Trish anymore, my arm can be twisted to take her off your hands.) One other thing: Paul Heyman, (Paul E.) Owner of ECW (if it still exists) worked as color man with Good Old JR. Whether he is going to be permanent or not isn't clear yet. While he would be a great addition to The WWF, he is no King (then again, who is)? at the mic. Having him as part of the Booking/Writing Team will add a new dimension to The WWF, but he'll never fill The Kings crown. With him at the desk, one has to wonder if a condition of his coming to The WWF was that he have an on-the-air job. If that's the case, then the reason for letting The King go back to his own throne is clearer. Hopefully that isn't the case and maybe The King will change his mind and return. His act is not hard to follow, it's impossible. Visit My Home Page At: http://members.aol.com/samjerry ______________________________________________________________________ [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/CBrown @ 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