The Midnight News 5.11.01 

Posted By Hyatte on 05.11.01

Arn, Heenan, talking, XFL, Bell, Rey Rey, Angry Web Sites, Fun, Fun, FUN! 

Hey there.

It's been agreed upon by a Shocked-that-I'm-writing-so-much Widro and a Shocked-that-I'm-writing-so-much me that I should have weekends off. So the next two days I won't be around. 

I'll come back on Sunday night/Monday morn with news and more message board clips. Wids will fill in himself, or get someone to.

Speaking of message boards, I'm currently having some FUN (oo, there's that word again) tearing fresh butt on someone in their own space. It gives the kids in there something to talk about and drives the guy NUTS because he knows if he edits out a word, I'd just talk about it in the Mop-Up and make him look even worse than I already have! Stuff like this is like cocaine to me. 

Lots of news to do.... plenty. Sooo

SMACKDOWN RECAP!

Oh please. I am so fried after recapping RAW I don't even want to think about wrestling, much less recap it badly.

Widro recapped it, quicker than anyone. Plus, he doesn't spend needless time rambling on about gay people and his pet bird. He gets right to business. If you don't want to waste time and just want a quick summary of what happened, my Little Seahorsewill fill you in.

OH THANK GOD IT'S OVER!

The WWFE and NBC jointly announced that the great XFL experiment is over. There will be no second season. 

At a press conference call held late yesterday, Vince McMahon and NBC President Dick Ebersol blamed CANADA for the XFL's failures! "What the Hell, they screw up everything else!" McMahon said.

Actually, Ebersol blamed lack of proper preparation time. They basically had to learn how to put on a Football production from scratch, what with all the experienced football producers were tied up.

They had a year, people. A full year.

Vince turned his blame lack of prep time, but also on himself, "Part of our goal was to bring the game closer to the fans, showing players having frank discussions between other players and coaches. We did a lot of that, and a lot of fan interaction. It was the most fan-friendly game ever. We succeeded in a lot of areas, but also failed in others."
Vince also said that it was his fault for not properly telling the press and the people exactly what they would be getting. The XFL was sold under the vague premise that it will be real football but with a WWF style "attitude", but did not go into full details. (more than likely, because they didn't exactly know WHAT they were going to do exactly, they just had a very rough idea and tried to build on it over time).

Vince also boasted about his acquisition of WCW and he will now channel his energies into it.

Thank Bloody Christmas.

Ebersol wouldn't specify, but admitted that NBC's losses were somewhere in the ballpark of $50 million. Let's hope some second banana on an NBC sitcom goes nuts and demands a new contract, just to see how deep Ebersol will shove his foot up the poor fool's butt. 

XFL "star" Tommy Maddox was unavailable for comment, he had tables to clear before the pre-Theater dinner rush.

For the record, this was Dick Ebersol's second biggest blunder. The first was getting Norm MacDonald fired off Saturday Night Live as Weekend News Anchor.

I pulled this news item from The Torch, but all the sites reported on it.

WILL MOONSAULT FOR FOOD

RFVideo reports that a few WCW wrestlers feel that Johnny Ace is about to confirm WCW's official start date. Maybe as soon as a day or so?

Apparently, TNN isn't exactly rushing to make room for WCW. Word is, they would feel better about having a new wrestling show in their lineup if stars like Sting and Goldberg were a part of it.

My feeling.... everyone relax, chill out, and be patient. The WWF will get this one thing right. It WILL be huge and it WILL have everyone talking.

HEATLESS

Nothing is set in stone with WWF's Sunday Night Heat and it's looking like that hour long interview with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H was just a one time experiment. With the Big Show set to sit down with Tazz and Michael Cole next week, the show will more than likely throw some matches and storyline recaps in between Show's "I Love It Here" suck ups.

The show would be huge if they did the interviews, only allowing the talent to break Kayfabe. 

Everyone reported this.

.THE BIG SNOT!

Lot of interesting news bits on the 411 Newsboard yesterday, but this bit Widro pulled from the The Torch Newsletter stood out for me. 

The Big Show was reported to have been humbled by his stint in OVW, but now some are doubting the sincerity of his humbleness. 

He seems humble most of the time, but there are times he seems to "slip up" indicating that he is not actually matured, and is only pretending.

No specifics were given.... a scary habit from these folks. HOW has he "slipped"? What has he done or said that wasn't "humble".

Jeeze, the guy is under enormous pressure and probably feels like a major failure. Is it not allowable that he get stressed out and snap once or twice? Does it have to mean that he is still the problem child? Give the guy a break.

SATURN KICKS URANUS

Perry Saturn was sent home by the WWF after pulling a Rick Steiner and real life kicked the living turd out of journeyman Mike Bell during a taping for WWF Jakked.

The word is that Bell had screwed up a spot and actually hurt Saturn by making him land badly. Saturn got up and brutalized the poor kid.

Word from the locker room was that Saturn's actions were "uncool". (Looks like Edge or Christian are the sources here).

Saturn has a rep for sometimes being difficult. In ECW, he was known for the occasional tantrum. In the WCW, he was a known "whiner". Suddenly, we may have stumbled on a reason why Saturn has been the least pushed "Radical" of the four.

In related news, for the first time in my life, I want to watch the next WWF Jakked.

NEWSFLASH!! This just in. I changed my mind. I still don't want to watch it.

This was all Scherer.

ARN SPEAKS

Arn Anderson talked to Matt Lane for Timesnews about working the Mark Curtis Memorial Weekend of Champions this Saturday at the National Guard Armory on Kingsport. I think that's in Louisiana, the article didn't specify. Arn showed himself to be a class act as he spoke on a wide array of topics. Yes, even he doesn't have good things to say about Eric Bischoff either.

-Arn admits not knowing what to do with all this free time on his hands, but he still tries to make a few Indy shows that are within reasonable distance from his home in Charlotte.

-Arn has been thrilled with the way Time Warner has treated him. More than fair.

-Arn knows how Vince McMahon operates and is confident that Vince can make WCW succeed.

-The sting of being there when Nitro was lessened by the very positive way Shane McMahon handled the transition that night. Arn looks at is not as a "death", but as the start of a "brand new day".

-He met with Jim Ross in Atlanta for a general "meet and greet", and liked what he heard.

-His favorite wrestler now is still Chris Benoit. His favorite match is when he fought Ric Flair on PPV. Arn admitted to throwing up for the first time before getting in the ring against Flair.

-The first group of the Four Horsemen was the best. Tully Blanchard was the best partner he ever had. (eh, personally, the team was at it's finest when Luger tossed out Ole.)

-on Hulk Hogan: "Bigger than the business."

-on Eric Bischoff, Arn tastefully refused comment

-on Vince McMahon: "Smartest man in the business."

-on Sting: "Most honest man in the business."

-on the Rock, Arn doesn't know him, but took his hat off to him for rising so fast.

-on himself, Arn said he should have been more political. He should have learned to say "no" more. But was happy to be just "one of the boys" after it was all said and done.

-He regrets not being their enough for his first son, because the WWF kept him on the road 24 days a month. But now has a 4 year old child and is rectifying past mistakes. 

-He talked about the challenge of working the road, 336 days in 1986.... many of them double shots.

It was a great piece. If Arn has bitterness, he ain't showing it to some punk reporter.

To check out the complete piece, go here. 

HEENAN TOO

Bobby Heenan had a chat with the Miami Herald. Here are select cuts from it.

-On the "Buyout": ``Well, WCW had no choice. WCW was out of business. They were not making any money that is why they did not want to renew the last year of my contract. They could not afford to pay me what I was making.'' 

-On being used as the WWF Manager to the stars they wanted to push the hardest: ``Well I think they thought it would work well with my experience and my years managing. I did not really make anybody. Everybody made themselves. The ones that made it, made it on their own. The ones that did not make it was not my fault. I didn't worry about creating anything. I always worried about Bobby Heenan.''

-On Vince Russo: ``I don't believe I have said five words to the man. The only time I would see him was at a production meeting, and they did not even know how to have a production meeting. They would bring everyone who had nothing to do with TV, and then they would have them read the format, and then everyone would go to lunch. If you had an idea or something, they thought you were affecting them.'' 

-On having fun working at WCW: ``I had limited amounts of fun with Mike Tenay. He is a real lot of laughs and smart guy. Other then that, no, I didn't have a good time. It was depressing to work -- from where I came in the Major Leagues [WWF] and going to T-ball [WCW], but it was my choice. I did not want be in the WWF, and I was burnt out and wanted to take some time off.'' 

-On showing up at Wrestlemania X7: ``The producer Kevin Dunn gave me a call and asked if I would be available. I said, `Sure'. I have worked with Gene for almost 30 years, and you never know who will show up. They treated me really well, by the way.'' 

-On Andre the Giant: ``I remember he was in pain a whole lot of time through his life. I remembered he liked doing movies, and he liked wrestling. That's all he wanted to do was act, drink his wine, wrestle and play cribbage. He didn't like people because people always asked, `How tall are you? How much do you weigh? How big are you? Were you really from France?' Enough is enough after all those years. He just did not like to be around people.'' 

-On going back to the broadcast table: ``Sure. I am always open for negotiations. The new WCW would not be run by the old WCW people. It is just three different letters but different people running it. I would be interested. If the money is right, we can talk. If you're in this business for anything else than money, you're a fool.''

-On his philosophy of being a good Manager: ``Some managers will be running up and down, and they will be yelling at the people, and they will be tripping guys and kicking guys and doing this and that all at the wrong time. Their man may be in there trying to tell a storyline and get a match going and watch this goose running up and down and being an idiot. But if you work that corner like you were in that ring, every time your man gets hit, you have to register. You have to feel what he is feeling. You have an investment in this man. You're his manager. He is a member of the Bobby Heenan Family. He has to mean something to you. Then, when you get him in the ring and he has to work matches, the manager breaks into it, and that's how you get over.''

Heenan is auctioning off his old WWF wardrobe and other cool items. You can check it out at
his own site.

BUT, PLUGS

As well as the aforementioned Smackdown recap, Ron Gamble has a new Explain THAT which offers readers opinions on the Jericho/Regal "Duchess of Queensbury" storyline. He also sent me a snotty e-mail last week.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE

RFVideo reports that the WWF isn't very interested in Crowbar, Konnan, or Disco Inferno.... but may hire Rey Mysterio Jr, because he doesn't ask for too many pesos.

SPEAKING OF RFVIDEO

They posted this message yesterday:

If you borrow our news please credit the backstage section of RFVideo.com. Willie Martinez is the worst at borrowing news. He takes the news, runs in on the main page for a week on his site, and then gives us credit once it goes into the archives. Just credit us when you run it please. Ryan Mcsomething and Justin something are guilty, too. Eric Less may have been critical of us in the past, and everyone is entitled to their opinion so I don't have a problem with that, but I respect him because he credits us every time. We are trying to operate a business here and crediting us is very important to keeping this thing going. If I don't credit someone for something on this page it's because they take their fair share of news from us and don't credit us. You can Observe who I am talking about, although I have a good relationship with that guy and we give each other an equal amount of information so it is a fair trade. Those others I mentioned don't give us anything and just steal our news like they have their own sources. I worked seven years to get my sources and asking for credit isn't asking for much. Please be more considerate in the future. Thank you.

I'd just like to say that, as you all know, I've so far credited EVERYONE I steal from in this news column.... including RF Video. I would like to be thanked for being a stand up guy, especially since I am known for being an ass.

It's sad that a Lord of pain gets acknowledged, but the King of the Internet doesn't.

I never even HEARD of RF Video before starting this news gig, now here I am, making them famous. 

sigh

Okay, I'm done. See you late Sunday.

This is Hyatte