The Midnight News 5.10.01 

Posted By Hyatte on 05.10.01

Hogan, Smackdown, Pillman, Benoit, Nash, Me, You, and Jablomee 

Big welcome to the last news recap of the day. The news only smells stale. 

On second thought, yeah, it is stale. Oh well.

FRESHLY DOWNED SMACK

What can I say about Smackdown without giving anything away? 

Well, it's not the greatest night for the two Canadians named "Chris".

HHH gets a chance at avenging Stephanie's "Stinkface".

The Big Show ends up with three possible people to feud with.

Spike Dudley and Crash Holly have a match.

And the Undertaker/Austin feud progressed.

From all accounts, it's business as usual, and that ain't good these days.

Take a pick of any website for this information

WILL THE NEW NAME BE SMACKDO?

It looks like UPN will agree to pick up the XFL next season so long as they get to shorten Smackdown to 90 minutes and allow a 30 minute sitcom to hitch a ride to complete the 120 minutes they have programmed on Thursdays. Vince McMahon has stated in the past that 90 minutes is preferable to two hours anyway, so this deal is almost a lock.

Actually, I'm reasonably sure that Vince would prefer to go back to the old ways of an hour show filled with stars showing their wares against journeymen and house feuds getting started in between matches and commercials. He went kicking and screaming into a live two hour format for RAW to begin with. 

Broadcasting & Cable is a trade magazine that reported this.

SOMEONE PAYS FOR THIS?

UPN would also like a shortened Smackdown because it's getting tougher and tougher to sell ad time for the show. The WWF had a meeting scheduled with potential sponsors yesterday at their New York restaurant in order to sell ad space for the show this fall. Even though the WWF still brings in a large number of the 18-35 male demo that is the wet dream of just about every advertiser, they are still hesitant to put their ads on WWF programming.

All it takes is a few uptight people with a loud megaphone and strong convictions to change the world. So far, the WWF has lost millions in potential revenue from pulled sponsors thanks to a few noisy hardasses.

Dave Scherer reported this.

TAKE A PILL, MAN!

The Brian Pillman Memorial Show is scheduled for August 8th. The main event will be a rematch to last year's Benoit vs Regal throwdown that some say single handily convinced the WWF to re-hire Regal. This year, Ricky Steamboat has been named guest referee, so expect Regal to end the night with a beat red chest from all the chops he'll no doubt take from Benoit and maybe even Steamboat.

X-Pac, Justin Credible, and Raven have already promised to be there. Nash was there last year in a non-wrestling role and is still hoping to re-unite the Outsiders for this year. With old friends of Pillman like Austin, DDP, and Mick Foley as other possible attendees, coupled with the fact that there is no more problems with cross promotional problems.... this might very well be a total all-star dream card.

RF Videogave this item away.

HE WON'T GO AWAY, HE IS IMMORTAL!

So, Hulk Hogan wants to start a new wrestling company. He has Universal Theme Park as his backers. Hogan's plan was to offer once a week TV events, the occasional pay per views, and very little house show activity. Of course, he's be the top name, but more than likely would call upon his currently non contracted friends to participate. He might not be the force he once was, but never underestimate the power of Hogan's influence.

Still, USA network, still stinging a bit from the WWF pulling up stakes and leaving them for the Viacom family, has demanded 30 million dollars from the Hogan group as "up front" money to help guarantee that they get at least five years of programming out of them. 30 million is some serious scratch for any company, and Universal hasn't made that many hit movies. 

Did Hogan and Universal pull out of the deal, or are they working on getting the money together? More than likely, they are busy trying to get them down to a more reasonable price. 

Somehow, I doubt Bollea calling Barry Diller's house and screaming, "But you don't understand, I am Hulk F***ing Hogan!!" will work.

One thing, there is every reason to think that talent like Nash, Goldberg, Savage, Hall, Flair, Duggan, and a whole host of other "Friends of Hulk" would be open to sign up with him. Roddy Piper stated that he'd hook up with Hogan in a flash. Believe it or not, even though it's way too soon to tell, you could speculate that if Hogan pulls this off, the WWF might possibly have competition again. Hogan’s no dope, he knows that a company starring him and a bunch of no-names just won't cut it anymore. Following this story will be very interesting. 

Dave Scherer reported this too.

SIT AT HOME AND GET PAID FOR IT!

On the 411 Newsboard, Widro posted this interesting data culled from the latest Torch Newsletter

Scott Steiner’s current AOL Time Warner contract is set to run out on December 1, 2001. It was for one million dollars over one year, so he is owed around $600,000 on the contract. 

Sources say that Steiner would only accept a buyout for about 70 cents on the dollar, while the current AOL offer is around 50 cents. 

Kevin Nash’s WCW contract ends on January 1, 2002, and he is very unlikely to accept any sort of buyout. 

Jeff Jarrett has a relatively low contract of about $400,000 guaranteed, and it is set to run out over the summer. In total, Jarrett is only owed about $75,000 and would not lose 

Figure Nash is making somewhere between 800 k to about 1.5 mil.... that's just what I personally heard.

BUT, PLUGS!

Just the Mop-Up. The RAW recap went up early yesterday. Usual stuff. For the first time ever, I watched someone read it for the first time and watched him laugh. It's a strange thing to see.

Anyway, it's here., 

It's been a long day. I am gone.

This is Hyatte