The Midnight News 5.03.01 

Posted By Hyatte on 05.03.01

Ratings, Teasers, Ohio, Interviews, Canadians, and plugs. 

Day two and already a MAJOR CHANGE!! I'm dropping the Mop-Up tag in the title. Widro and I decided on this. Only Widro and I. No one else. Yeah, I mean YOU!

Quiet day today. Even the Torch stayed silent through much of the day. I was able to cobble up some notes here. It'll get you through your life.

WHO'S WATCHING THIS NONSENSE?

Ratings for Raw until Wednesday. This week's show pulled a 5.0 cable rating Monday, with a 7.7 share. You can find full details right here, yes here They have yet to benefit from the absence of Monday Nitro. Did you really think wrestling would stay hot forever? Now we see who the "real" fans are.

TALKIN' SMACK

I think posting spoilers is sort of cliché, as well as an annoyance to those who want to be surprised (relatively speaking, of course). I'll just tell you what to expect, but keep things vague enough to let you decide whether you want to... yadda yadda.

Expect a high profile night for the Undertaker, including what might be a serious contender for his best promo ever. Not exactly a long list to choose from, actually. Considering all those lame "Paul! I worship the Urn! I am the Lord of Darkness!!" spots over the last 8 years, he's got a lot to make up for. 

Expect a bad night for Austin, Helmsley, and Vince McMahon. The Undertaker also has a confrontation with Debra. 

Rikishi returns too. Jerry Lynn makes a main show debut, and is clearly a Heel. Mid-card programs move along nicely too. Oh, and Shane Douglas was spotted in the seats with Al Snow. If this means anything, I'm sure the cameras will show them. 

Of course, Survivor is on against them. Priorities, people!

STAMPEDING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU?

Stampede Wrestling announced that it's in negotiations for a Summer Tour, National and abroad. They are hoping to kick off the tour at the Pavilion in Calgary, a frequent "home base" for Stampede Wrestling during it's long fifty year history. They are also working on running shows in the U.S.

Bruce Hart, President of Stampede Wrestling promises big time production values. As far as who will work the tour, Hart says, "The list of talent being considered for shows this summer is extensive." No names have been released, but two stars have already made verbal agreements and stars from Japan, the UK, and Europe have been in contact with them for work. 

Well, they certainly have the Hart name for prestige. You can bet they'll have a solid fan base in Canada, but gaining a foothold in the States is a different animal entirely. Viable alternative or glorified Indy show? For this Canadian start-up, time will tell if they take off, eh?

The company's re-launch is set for April. Presently, it is May 3rd. What month is it in Canada? 

All this information is coming from Stampede Wrestling's official press release, produced by
Blake Norton.

BLOOD FROM A STONE 2

A Dayton Newspaper reported that Ohio Legislature now seems to be giving up on the notion of adding a 5% tax on all Professional Wrestling Events in the State. The State's Athletic Commission realized that a tax may result in less live events. Judd Everhart, a WWF Spokeman stated that the company would "think twice" about sending House Shows and Television tapings to Ohio venues should this Tax Proposal be passed. The WWF is well known for making these kind of threats against States that charge a tax % for live shows. 

Interestingly enough, roughly half of the States in the U.S. actually do tax Wrestling events, yet the WWF has only kept it's product out of Oregon, and that's because Oregon has a mandatory drug testing policy. Yeah, that'll keep Vince and company away, far, far away.

I caught that on The Observer

TONGUE ACTION

One guy who isn't afraid of an Oregon drug test is Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who turned up on a local radio station to promote a show called "Anarchy at Piper's Pit" in Eugene on the 11th of this month. It's being held at the University of Oregon. Hacksaw said that he's just about finished up with his WCW contract and may hit Europe and Japan for some dates. He'll also work the Indy circuit.

Duggan said that WCW pushed the young guys too fast and overspent on "unreliable talent". He respected Russo for giving him airtime, felt that Bischoff really didn't care for him, and credited Hulk Hogan for getting him into WCW in the first place.

He said that Bischoff wanted him to keep his damn tongue in his mouth, which is harder to do than you might think, apparently. Hacksaw also reminisced about Bill Watts and the days when he owned the Mid-South territory. The highlight of his career was when he pinned Andre the Giant at Madison Square Garden. 

Needless to say, Hacksaw has no plans to formally retire and pursue a career building Rockets for NASA.

I got this one off Scherer

SO LONG AS HE STAYS OUT OF A RING

Sid Vicious spoke to Jeff Kohl of the LAW. It should be noted that Jeff has a nickname. I refuse to recognize nicknames. 

Basically, he says a broken leg is a broken leg and it will heal when it heals. His Doctor seems to think that Sid won't have to go through any physical therapy. He's currently on crutches for the next six weeks, then he'll be able to limp.

Sid kept telling WCW that he didn't want to do the move that injured him, citing how "dangerous" it was. Yes jumping off the second rope and stomping down on your opponent is so feared, only the most experienced Luchadors should try it.

Yes, I know there is a slight weight difference between Sid and your average Luchador, but come on, a second rope stomp? 

Sid doesn't blame WCW for airing the injury so many times. Wrestling is all about shock value, after all.

Sid said that he was thinking of retiring after his WCW contract ran out, roughly a year after the injury. He had a cool little send-off program in mind, but chose to keep it quiet until he knows what direction he will be heading after healing up. His thinking is that he has headlined cards in both companies, and even headlined Wrestlemania twice, so he has nothing left to prove. He has a Bud who writes for Hollywood, and may give acting a try. The Interviewer didn't bother bringing up the impending Strike that will paralyze the Entertainment business for the next 50 years! Just you wait and SEE!! 

Sid said that the famous "scissors" ordeal with Arn Anderson was "a really bad incident" helped along by booze and lack of sleep. Since then, he and Arn have become tight once again.

He also discussed the situation involving Chris Benoit's title win over him. Terry Taylor asked him to put Benoit over. Kevin Sullivan later told him to place his foot under the rope, just to give his character an "out" sometime down the road, (or the very next night, as it turned out). 

Sid proved to be a company man who left the decisions to the management. He had little problems dealing with both Sullivan and Vince Russo and wouldn't have signed any "Save Russo" petition even if he knew about it. Sid chose to remain ignorant of the power struggle between the two. 

He also had kind words for Paul Heyman and described his brief run in ECW as "fun". Others would call it "working your butt off".

Sid also told his side of the whole "Softball" controversy. Basically, he blamed Ole Anderson.

Needless to say, Sid won't be pursuing a career at NASA either.

To hear the whole interview, go to Kohl's site. Too bad he never asked Sid about the rumors that he pooped his pants during his WM match against the Undertaker. Look closely, towards the end of the match you might see some lumps back there. 

PLUGS-A-RAMA

411 is giving away a sealed box of Fleer WWF Trading Cards. All you need to do is answer some ridiculously easy Trivia questions once a day. Check it out 

Everything else is all ME!!!!!! 

I have a two new Mop-Ups all set. The Raw recap isn't all that bad. I actually had fun writing it for once. That bad boy can be found, well, you just passed it. 

I also have the Bonus Mop-Up. If you read the first one, then you know what this one is going to be about. If you LIKED the first one.... you'll probably (maybe) enjoy this one too.

That's all I have. Yesterday was dead. DEAD, I tell ya'

Boogum

This is Hyatte