News and Rumours

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Well, it's the weekend which means we're coming off Thursday's Smackdown. If you missed the show get yourself up to date here. The show was a good one, that centered around The McMahon-Helmsley Regime and their quest to regain possesion of the WWF Title from the Rock. In WWF Senior Official Earl Hebner's very own hometown of Richmond, Virginia, the legendary referee was booked into his very first "rasslin" match and teamed up with the Rock to battle D-Generation X in a handicapped match. The end saw DX tear Hebner apart, leaving him to be taken out on a stretcher. Interestingly enough, several wrestlers stormed the ring to attempt to help Rocky and Earl and were eventually successful. Chris Jericho, Rikishi Phatu, The Big Show, and The Dudley Boys all came to the ring to oppose DX, though the damage to Hebner had already been done. This definitely opens up a lot doors where next weeks Raw is War and Smackdown are concerned. As many of you proba bly already know, WWF Champion The Rock will miss next weeks TV's as he will be in Europe and Africa filming his scenes for The Mummy 2. There are some rumors going around that The Great One will take the week after that off as well, but those are unconfirmed and with top names like Steve Austin and The Undertaker still out, I doubt it would be wise to allow the Rock to miss two consecutive weeks of action at this point in time. At any rate, RAW next week will surely be used to showcase the talents of the aforementioned young superstars, as they will all be highly involved with the show in Rocky's absence.

I usually don't comment much on ratings since we all know the WWF is red hot right now, but this isn't a huge news day, so I figure what the hell- waste some space. Most reporters wouldn't admit to that but it's the brutal truth. Anyway, Smackdown on Thursday earned a very respectable 5.3 national rating despite not being aired in two of the United States' major markets, Philadelphia and Cleveland. This comes off the heels of a Pay Per View (Backlash) which early reports say achieved a higher buyrate than the Royal Rumble and No Way Out, and a RAW main event that drew over ten million viewers (!). Just when you thought the WWF couldn't get any hotter, it does.

Alright, but before we move on to the news at hand let's briefly backtrack to Backlash, if you will. It was a highly successful PPV and my predictions for the thing, of course, absolutely blew. The Rock winning the Title seems logical. Austin wasn't about to cost him the Title right away (though make no mistake about it, an Austin/Rock feud will go down at some point down the line) and The Rock had been chasing the Title for so long he was bound to be successful soon. Triple H had been Champion for nearly four months, a very impressive feat in this day and age, and was thus seemingly due to drop it. All signs pointed to a Rock victory, so I of course went with Triple H. Go figure. Oh well, I guess hindsight is always 20/20. I had a few other matches easily predicted (Malenko, Edge & Christian, Benoit, Guerrero) but even though I felt there were a few predictable outcomes, it didn't take away from the Pay Per View at all. Aside from the Main Event, the Light Heavyweight, Tag Team, and Intercontin ental Title matches were all very exciting and well wrestled. It just goes to show that despite a lot of criticism, the WWF roster can still display some excellent match quality in addition to telling great stories, and devloping intriguing characters. This shows on PPV when the talent is allowed to go ten, twelve, and fifteen minutes with their matches. I know that TV matches are designed to be quick get-in then get-out type scenarios, but with all the talent, I'd like to see at least one midcard match go eight or nine solid minutes once in awhile. That's just adding in a few more minutes, and if the right guys are involved it would be a success. All it would take are a few minor adjustments, and we'd get a great match in the process. I enjoy the WWF and their storylines and characters as much as anybody, but every now and again it would be great to see some good wrestling showcased on TV. While RAW and Smackdown never fail to entertain every single week of the year, it's still a shame that ring psych ology has become a seemingly lost art.

Now that my little rant of the day is out of the way, let's shift to Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. Much has been made about their desire to produce a series of several great matches over the years every time they get it on in the ring, and they're off to a roaring start. At Backlash they put on a terrific Intercontinental Title Match that saw Benoit retain his Title only to lose it to Y2J on Smackdown in one of the better TV matches that we've seen as of late. Benoit and Jericho seem to click when they get in the ring together and one can only suspect that this isn't the only level we'll see them wrestle on. As it's still early in both of their WWF carreers, it's feasible that we'll see Jericho and Benoit feud at this level only to renew their rivalry when they're a little higher up on the ladder. It reminds some of Triple H and The Rock who feuded over the Intercontinental Title and are now the two top draws in the company, fighting over the World Title. Both Benoit and Jericho are being groomed to be placed at the top, and with key names such as Austin, The Undertaker, and Foley all gone for the time being, it can be argued that Benoit and Jericho have assumed the top slots in the company under Helmsley and Rocky already (at least with the aforementioned stars on the shelf). Anyway, bottom line, if we see more Benoit/Jericho battles for years to come it will be a huge treat.

Speaking of Benoit, it's being rumored that originally Tazz, not Jericho, was booked to take the Intercontinental Title off the Crippler on Smackdown. I'm a little skeptical to this theory as I think Tazz could use a little more seasoning and build up before claiming such a Title, and to me a Jericho IC reign makes much more sense. But if what is being said is true, then Tazz would have indeed been the WWF Intercontinental Champion right now had it not bene for the injury he sustained on RAW in Baltimore on Monday. If you haven't heard already, Tazz was injured either in the Hardcore Title Match at Backlash, or brawling with Perry Saturn after being beaten by Benoit on RAW (there are conflicting reports, though I believe it's the latter). As it looks now, Tazz will be out for three months, which if he really was to get an Intercontinental Title push, is a pretty rough break. He will be back though and there's no reason to doubt that he'll have a very successful run in the WWF. It's just unfortunate that this happened when it did.

The Radicals are far from the stable they first were upon entering the WWF. Eddie Guerrero has gone off on his own with Chyna and claimed the European Title. Benoit is on the verge of super stardom and successfully won the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania in Anaheim. Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn prehaps remained the closest of the two Radicals, but their friendship is no more. Saturn has turned on Malenko and it looks as if the two are ready to start a program with one another. It will be interesting to see what Eddie and Benoit think of this, though something tells me they really won't be involved very much, if it all. The WWF has been trying to separate the foursome in recent weeks and has given them each their own identity. Still, I can't help but hope for an angle in which Benoit sides with Malenko and Guerrero sides with Saturn. Don't count on it, but I think it would make for some interesting matches. On a related note, that exact match has been confirmed for the Brian Pillman Memor ial Show in Cincinnatti this month. One can only hope that we get to see a match like this in the WWF.

If you ask me which WWF performers have impressed me the most recently, the answer is clear cut. Edge & Christian have made so many strides during their Tag Team Title reign that they are clearly my pick. I just can't say enough about their talent and potential. They have always been incredibly talented in the ring and have been technically sound as well as daredevils at times. But their new attitude and mic time has improved their characters by leaps and bounds. Everything about these guys is great. They've proved time and time again that they can do it in the ring and now they're doing it on the mic too. In the past both men have been criticized for not being able to work the mic well, but I think the last few weeks of WWF TV has shut those people up. They are playing the young, conceited, cocky, blond-haired, pretty boy, self-indulgent role to perfection. Both are surprisingly composed on the mic considering that up to this point they didn't have a ton of experience with the stick. Christian especially seems to speak pretty smoothly and Edge has his cute little contrived lines that he'll throw out too. And who doesn't love their commentary? I mean they call their run-ins! Unbelievable. The best part about the Toronto natives? They're old school. They grew up as fans, they trained hard to get where they are, they have a strong work ethic, and they know their way around the ring. Yet at the same time they fit in with the new WWF and have been able to cut it on the mic. Their characters are coming around and slowly but surely Edge & Christian will get more and more exposure. I don't see any reason why both of these young talents can't become huge stars.

Of course when speaking of tag teams, we have to mention RajahWWF.com favorites Too Cool. With the Dudleys occupied elsewhere, and a slumping Hardyz team out of the picture, "Grandmaster Sexay" Brian Christopher and "Scotty 2 Hotty" Scott Taylor are the team of the moment. With their buddy Rikishi Phatu taking offense to the actions of Edge & Christian we knew it would only be a matter of time before Too Cool got involved, and they've done just that. It's still early, but if you examine the Tag Team Division, all preliminary signs point to Too Cool being Edge & Christian's top new challengers which would in all likelyhood lead to a showdown between the teams at the May PPV, Judgment Day. Now imagine those four being alloted fifteen solid minutes on PPV to tell us a story and work a good match. It'd be spectacular.

Kurt Angle's exposure (not to mention frequent flyer miles) is skyrocketing. After Backlash in Washington D.C., he flew cross country to Los Angeles to attend the premier of The Gladiator in L.A. with two lucky contest winners. Then he caught the red eye back across the country to make the Smackdown Tapings in Virginia on Tuesday, and now he finds himself across the Atlantic in England to help promote Saturday's UK only Pay Per View, InsurreXtion. He's already been on a television morning show, made a personal appearance to sign autographs and chat with fans, and I'm sure he's made the radio sweep as well. As for Insurrextion itself, Angle was scheduled to challenge Chris Benoit for the Intercontinental Title but with Benoit's loss the match-ups just might change.

And speaking of Mr. Angle, here's an e-mail I recieved from DRA_UK who had the pleasure of meeting our Olympic Hero at the HMV in London:

Hi! Yesterday I went to HMV in London to see the man with the three I's Kurt Angle. I got to the store at 7:15pm and there was already 100 fans infront of me. The signing was not surpose to start until 8:30pm. Whilst I was quing there were lots of TV cameras fliming us waiting including one with an offical WWF microphone talking to the audience. I think this footage might be shown on the UK edition of Heat on Sunday or durring Insurrection.
At 8:30 we began making our way inside the store. By this time, about 800 fans had turned up. We waited another 15 minutes then one of the HMV Staff came out and introduced Kurt. The place went wild. Every one was shouting "ANGLE, ANGLE." He came up on stage and started to talk. He said "Unlike his own country Britain has all of his three I's." This got a large pop. Some newspapers took his photo then he began to sign autographs. There were signs every where saying no photos please but no one was taking a dam bit of notice.
Whilst we were quing they were showing WWF videos on a big screen behind the stage. One of them included The Kurt Angle Vs. Steve Blackman from Armagegenon. After this match there was the womans championship match (The evening wear, swimming pool match). When this started everyone cheared (all the men!). Before we got to the good bit (MISS KITTY) the guys at HMV stopped the tape. The crowd started to boo like hell. Kurt looked up and must have wondered what was going on. Apart from that the whole night was great!!!

Thanks for the letter, DRA_UK. Sounded like a great time.

There is still a lot of speculation going around as to the return of several individuals, namely The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels. Michaels will likely be back on TV during the month of May but this week he has several TWA cards booked and is unavailable for WWF shows. If HBK does return this month, just who will he side with? Well when we last heard from Shawn he had just cost the Rock a match against Triple H and joined up with Hunter and Shane McMahon. On the other hand, if my memory serves me right, he wasn't exactly on good terms with Vince McMahon. Personally I'd like to see Michaels return as a heel as I like him much better as one and it would only make sense for him to join Triple H. Where the Undertaker is concerned it looks like it will be about another month before we see him back on TV. But when he does come back, look out, because it will definitely be with a bang.

Apparently, the WWF New York Restaurant is not on the outs as was believed a few short weeks ago. The WWF is looking to rejuvenate the themed restaurant and has hired the same man who has helped other theme restaurants survive, most notably the ESPN Zone. Linda McMahon and the WWF are very optomistic about the future of the restaurant. In other WWF business news, the WWFE stock closed at 17 5/8 for Friday, May 5.

MCW, Memphis Championship Wrestling, headed up by Jerry "The King" Lawler is known as a minor leagues of sort for the WWF. The Mean Street Posse will be heading there in the near future between TV tapings to better polish their wrestling skills. Mark Henry is another name of note that has recently been sent down south by the WWF; he's wrestling in Louisville. But with these wrestlers being sent down are there any coming up? Well my MCW "source" if you will tells me that the Blue Meanie recently lost a Loser Leaves Town Match in MCW. Could this spell a return up north for the Meanie?

As an afterthought to that, I should tell you that during Meanie's MCW run, he formed an odd couple tag team with two time former co-holder of the WWF Tag Team Titles, Jim "The Anvil" Niedhart. At this late juncture in Niedhart's career he is merely down there helping out the younger talent and has no intentions of returning to wrestle in the WWF, but how cool would it be if he and the British Bulldog came back to teach some of the younger powerhouse teams a thing or two. Maybe they don't have a lot left in the tank this late in their career, but it would be worth it for the sheer mark out value alone.

There are a few weak rumors circulating that The Barbarian, who was just released from WCW, is looking to head to the WWF. Word is his buddy Rikishi is attempting to put a good word in for him. Nothing against the Barbarian, as he's always been a decent worker, but I don't really see the WWF needing any more below average midcarders at this point.

Gerald Brisco was injured by the Table bump he took from Buh-Buh Ray Dudley at the end of Smackdown. It was an impressive bump, as Buh-Buh really drove him through the table. Unlike other table spots that have seen Buh-Buh's ass take most of the hit, Brisco went through on his own and Buh-Buh actually landed standing up as opposed to the sitting position he usually ends up in. Brisco sustained a mild concussion and will be alright.

Lots of interesting info going around the web. There's an article that explores wrestling and its relation to homoeroticism/phobism that can be found here. Pretty insightful. If that doesn't float your boat you can listen to former World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion, The Big Show on the WWF's weekly internet show, Byte This. Click here to read what Sgt. Slaughter is doing to raise money for a charity. Finally, if you're a Ricky Steamboat fan, I know you don't want to miss the interview that Eric Gargiulo recently conducted with one of the best and overlooked, underrated wrestlers of all time.

Contrary to popular belief, Randy "Macho Man" Savage has not resigned with WCW and his appearance on Thunder was done without a contract. He is however in contract negotiations with WCW and will probably end up signing with Turner. The WWF has shown little to no interest in Randy and feel his asking price is too high for what he offers at this point in his career. Savage is said to want to make one last run as a babyface before hanging up the boots and retiring.

WCW is holding their Slamboree PPV this month in the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, the very arena in which the great Owen Hart tragically passed away last May. The PPV happens to fall on what would have been Owen's 35th birthday. It's hard to believe that it has been almost a year now since Owen's untimely death. Owen was always a favorite of mine, and the whole incident came as such a shock and surprise and for awhile I still couldn't believe that Owen was really gone. A year later and Bret Hart is out of action with a serious concussion, the British Bulldog has the British Bulldog rejoined the WWF (Owen helped Davey Boy get back into the company) only to leave to rehab a drug addiction, Martha Hart is still involved in a bitter lawsuit with Vince McMahon and the WWF, Stu and Helen Hart have and want nothing to do with the WWF, tag team partner Jeff Jarrett has become a World Heavyweight Champion, and the WWF has survived all the bad press they got upon the accident and is still on fire, a nd Owen's family is going on without him. Gee, what a fun story. As we approach the year anniversary of the horrible accident, I'd just like to remind the world of what a great wrestler and man Owen Hart truly was. Rajah had the pleasure of conversing with Owen and he was always a top favorite among a large amount of the staff here at RajahWWF.com, myself included. A year has passed and time goes on, but we will always keep Owen Hart in our hearts.

Bret Hart will be involved with the aforementioned Owen Hart lawsuit this week which means we will not be on WWF TV. However, starting May 15, Bret is booked on all Nitro's and Thunder's.

Stu Hart, Bret's father, reportedly phoned both Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, thanking them for their willingness to work his supposed birthday celebration card (heh, his birthday card, really) and thanked them for their loyalty. The show has been put off, but Benoit and Jericho are very close to the Hart Family, and Stu felt the need to show his gratitude.

Good ol' JR, Jim Ross, is back with this week with his Ross Report, which means we're treated to some good ol' Friday filler to wind down with the report. Below are some paraphrased notes from JR with my two cents to boot.

~ JR tells us that Tazz's injured bicep may not require surgery; if that's the case he'll miss just six weeks, but if he does opt for the surgery he'll be out three months as I previously reported. Apparently Tazz is being treated by the "New York Mets' doctor".

~ Both The Big Boss Man and X-Pac will miss the trip to England for InsurreXtion. X-Pac of course will tend to his family since his mother-in-law passed away two weeks ago. The Boss Man has been suffering from some blood pressure problems but is on medication to keep the problem under control. Boss Man's family has a history with blood pressure problems and though under control, his condition will prevent him from making the trek to England.

~ Ross confirms that the Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit match is still on for InsurreXtion despite the fact that it is no longer for the Intercontinental Title. Kurt is getting screwed out of a shot at gold again!

~ JR informs us that WWF officials will be meeting with University of Minnesota All-American National Champion wrestler Brock Lesnar next week in Connecticut.

~ It's looking more and more like Shawn Michaels will be back on WWF TV within a couple of weeks. Ross targeted after Judgment Day as the main possibility for his return.

~ The Ross says, "I woke up from a deep sleep one night this week and thought I saw the most embarrassing battle royal on TV ever! It must have just been a bad nightmare because nothing could have been that bad, could it?" Ouch, nothing like a good old shot at Dubbya-C-Dubbya.

~ Viscera, former WWF King Of The Ring, people, will be back from his shoulder injury within a couple of weeks, as will Gangrel, also out with a shoulder injury.

~ JR abruptly closes off a surprisingly short report by plugging... you guessed it. His BBQ sauce.

To read the Ross Report in it's entirity, click here.

Finally, to close off the report, and I know this is everybody's favorite part, some Kayfabe Klassic (not so) one-liners.

- Am I the only one that gets really freaked out by the Judgment Day promo? You know, the one with the little girls. Come on, there's something just very, very wrong with that whole scene.

- Something I picked up on Smackdown: When The Rock was in trouble, Hebner rushed into help him, but was of course restrained by referee Mike Chioda, thus allowing DX to triple team the People's Champion and cause yet more damage. Hebner's been a ref for how many years? Doesn't he know that Chioda will stop him and that his plan will backfire? I mean come on! I'm always sticking up for them, but those refs really are stupid.

- How funny is ring announcer, Tony Chimel? On Smackdown when introducing "Showkishi The Barbarian" as being from "Parts Unknown", he cracked, "Betcha haven't heard that one in awhile." Pretty funny. Tony Chimel, ladies and gentlemen. Availbale for birthday parties, weddings, and bar mitzvahs.

- The Big Show in a thong? Well, he did film the video for the follow up to Sisqo's (did I spell that right) Thong Song this week. Let's just hope we don't have to see a sequel to "Showkishi".

- In Your Houses are no more. Even when the title of In Your House was droppped from the monthly Pay Per Views, there was still something inferior about them. The monthly PPV's debuted in May 1995 yet the World Title never changed at an "In Your House" until May of last year when The Undertaker defeated "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to win the Title. Since then we've seen Triple H claim the Title at Unforgiven last September and The Rock win the Title last week at Backlash. With No Way Out and Backlash being arguably the top two Pay Per Views this year, In Your Houses are a thing of the past and are in no way still inferior to the "Big Five PPV's". I suppose this is exactly what the WWF wanted to accomplish in time, and they have, but you know what the big loser in all this was? Summerslam. An annual Federation blockbuster since 1988, Summerslam is the only PPV that suffers from the new jazzed up monthly PPV's. It's lost all its prestige. Wrestlemania will always be Wrestlemania, The Royal Rumble will al ways have the Rumble, Survivor Series will always have Survivor elimination style matches (one would hope), and King Of The Ring will always have the tournament. But Summerslam (Wrestlemania without the history or celebrities) is just another card. Children will grow up thinking Fully Loaded is of the same magnitude as Summerslam! A miscarraige of justice if I've ever seen one, but I guess it's a small price to pay for twelve months of success... OK, good, mini-rant number, shall we say, four (?)- done.

- Kayfabe's List Of Look Alikes? Observe:
Gerald Brisco and ABC's Sam Donaldson
Kevin Kelly and ESPN's Bob Ley
Dean Malenko and Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux (OK, it's a stretch, but if you look at Maddux while he's on the mound with his hat on his face does kind of resemble Malenko's.... It's true, it's true.)

- The hell do all these columnists thing they're doing by having their fans write in, publishing their letters in their column, then responding to it? Why that's the most blatant rip off of the Mailbag since... well, I won't get into that now. Just kidding, of course, just kidding.

- Flyers/Pens, five OT's? Damn. And I thought sitting through WCW Road Wild was long and tedious...

- Sawan's Avalanche vs. Rajah's Red Wings? (Shouldn't they both be Oilers fans anyway?) Not looking good for the Red Things.

- By the time you're reading this it will be over, but man, if Sacramento can pull one off over the Lakers that would be so incredible...

- Which makes a better brawl? Austin/Undertaker or Tigers/White Sox?

- Alright, enough with my sports break.

- I suppose it's time for my personal favorite part of the update- the end. As I said, not a ton of news, but I guess I did turn it into a pretty good sized report, so maybe I should stop selling myself short at the start of these things. I'll look into that. A few notes before I leave, we will have free live coverage of the WWF UK only InsurreXtion Pay Per View on the newsboard this Saturday night... no wait, it's Saturday night in England which means that in the States it'll be, what, like Saturday afternoon/evening? Something like that. Just be sure to check it out. I'm hearing that there's a good possibility we'll see at least one title change. You won't want to miss it.

- Rajah will be back early next week, though one would think he might be just a little grumpy after being isolated from the WWF for a week. That can't be good for his morale. Anyway, I think you should all give it up for Sawan, Rajah's brother, for holding this place together in Raj's absence. I'll bet you guys didn't even realize that Rajah was gone since the site didn't miss a beat; a testament to the terrific job Sawan has been doing. Let him know you appreciate his efforts. Now I know I've been talking about this new section on the site that will be debuting soon and you all keep patiently waiting for it. Well, you'll have to hang on just a little while longer. When Rajah does return and once he gets back in the flow of things, we'll get this new section up as soon as possible. Believe me, you won't want to miss it.

Thanks to Rajahs WWF.com for all.

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