The Midnight News 5.16.01 

Posted By Hyatte on 05.16.01

Angle, Honky, Why Widro is ticked at me, and not much else 

It's a positively dead news day. Corpse dead. Sort of like my deal with the Smarks. But more on that in the Mop-Up.

WHO WATCHES THE NONSENSE?

Fewer and fewer people, from what the ratings tell us.

Monday Night Raw barely broke 4.5 this week. If Nitro broke 4.5 during it's heyday, Bischoff would've freaked.

The scary part is RAW only hit an anemic 3.9 right out of the gate. The built up steam as time went on. Peeking at a 4.7 halfway through both hours.

The overrun, which sometimes hit the "8"s, stalled at a 4.8.

It's almost time to panic. Even worse, it's almost time for me to start agreeing with all the negativity loving "experts" on the net.

Pick a site... these ratings are posted everywhere

ANGLE'S AWAY

Kurt Angle talked to the Salt Lake City Weekly. Scherer posted the link thanks to 1wrestling writer, and my former Scoops sitemate, JC

1) Angle admits that he really is an Olympic Gold Medalist. It's not a work. (that was actually in question?)

2) Angle says that few amateur wrestlers turn pro because they don't want to SPREAD CHEEKS! Sorry, they really don't do it because they resent the implications that what they do is the same as what the professional wrestler does.

3) Angle says that Vince and Linda had approached him initially. he wasn't keen on doing it at first, but after watching and episode of Raw, and seeing how the wrestlers are athletic AND entertaining, he changed his mind.

4) At first, he didn't want to use his medals in his character. He thought it would make him a one note "babyface". He had underestimated the writer's skills and he become the one of top heels in the company 

5) Those medals he wears to the ring? Fake.

6) His amateur peers, especially the ones with medals also, they are now behind Angle all the way. They see this as promotion for their sport too.

7) He discussed the differences between wrestling pro and wrestling amateur. Pro involves telling a story and working slower. The way you fall in both professions are vastly different too.

8) He said that he has gotten banged up more now than he ever did in the amateurs. It sometimes takes a while for him to get out of bed. He cited the concussion received against HHH at SummerSlam as his worst incident.

Decent read. You can see the thing in full right here.

SWERVED BY AN ELVIS IMPERSONATOR

Yesterday, I reported that on his web site, the Honky Tonk Man said that Ric Flair had been suffering memory loss and weight loss.

Well, today, he posted this:

Sources tell me Flair has an incurrable disease, but he hasn't got the guts to kill himself.

Later today, he posted this:

There are reports of a breaking story concerning Macho Man Randy Savage, his one time female companion,Gorgeous George and the male erectile enhancement drug Viagra. Sources are saying there could have been a problem of "raising the flag." Will keep you posted as this one develops

"incurrable"? "erectile"?

Apparently, HTM is goofing around and pissing people off. 

God love the Bastard.

NEWSBOARD NEWS FOR THE BORED

Widro uses his subscription to the Torch Newsletter to post interesting stuff.

Such as Tank Abbott, who has something like an $800,000 per year contract with Time/AOL.... with one year to go. 

Dustin Rhodes, meanwhile, is said to be owed $750 K a year.

While neither man is scrambling to get on board the new WCW, odds are Dustin doesn't have a chance of getting signed anyway. (then again, they did sign Shawn Stasiak) 

Another news flash is that Dusty Rhodes is dreaming of a PPV for his "Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling" group. His dream main event would be Himself and Dustin against Ric and David Flair.

Who says WCW is dead?

BUT, PLUGS

Of course, during this time of the week, 411 becomes HYATTE CENTRAL!!

We have us a brand new And Another Thing, which is a step by step guide to writing your own Internet wrestling column. Heavy on the sarcasm, but I do try to make a point or two. Check out this change of pace edition.

After some serious teeth gritting, I knuckled up and completed the latest chapter of the Bonus Mop-Up edition. It took me three tries to submit it. The first time I missed a / and half the thing was all in italics, the second time I forgot another / and half the thing was all bold. All this means is that Widro is undoubtedly a little pissed off at me.... so I better stay off AOL for a few days.

The Raw Mop-Up is on route. You'll get it when you get it and not a second earlier.

In fact, I should start writing the thing. Right now. 

NOW, DAMMIT!!

This is Hyatte