Guest TSMAdmin Report post Posted October 3, 2002 THE MIDWEEK NEWS Light preamble this time, I promise. There was no Spot the Classic Sunday in the Weekend News because I didn't want to double up on the obscure literary references. If you're curious to know what last Wednesday's classic was, and you didn't read me on Sunday (perish the thought, I know), then look here. I'm not doing the research for you, but I will point you in the right direction, grasshopper. Spot the Classic resumes this week, so keep your eyes sharp and email me your guess. See, I told you it would be a brief preamble. That's just more room for all the news that's fit to steal, all the dirt that's fit to deal, and all the mud that's fit to sling. Pimpin' Ain't Easy Actually, there's nothing difficult about it. Verbally fellate, include link. You don't even have to be in Las Vegas to enjoy it. Want to know what many of your favorite TSM Writers thought of Summerslam? Go here and read the Summerslam Crossface. Want to know what The Dames thought of Summerslam? Here's his Diatribe. Not to imply that Dames isn't among your favorite TSM writers (The numbers don't lie, though! Kidding, really.), but he did do his own thing and deserves equal pimpage. Fake Razor, the poor devil, was actually on-hand at Raw. Watching it for free is one thing, but I'd have trouble not killing people after paying to watch a show like that. Anyway, Razor decided to commiserate with us and file a live report from MSG. In another sign that TSM is growing into something big, we've landed another exclusive interview. This time, JHawk chatted up former ECW star Danny Doring at an indy show, and the insightful transcript is right here. Speaking of JHawk, I don't get to pimp his Raw report this week, since he didn't write one. BECAUSE WE FIRED HIS ASS~! No, actually, I covered Raw this week because Smackdown is being pre-empted in my area for preseason football. Thus, there will be no Raw Rewind today, and that's good, because I wouldn't want to write about that show more than once. Props to JHawk for switching with me this week; I do appreciate it, even though I'm sure I sounded less than appreciative a few times in the Raw report. Last but not least, Brandon has another shoot interview posted, this one from Al Snow in 1998, before he became a trainer on Tough Enough. Check it out. That's all the pimping for this week. Now go out and earn me some money, bitch! Divorce Me, Untie, Or Break That Knot Again After a tumultuous few months, Steve Austin has filed for divorce from his wife, the former Debra McMichael. Austin filed for divorce on July 22nd and the case is pending. In case you're really curious (read: just plain nosy), Lexis-Nexis list the case as 2002CI10602 for the 288th District Court in Bexar County, Texas. On June 15th, shortly after walking out on WWE, Austin allegedly battered Debra, who called the police but declined to press charges. Bexar County decided to pursue the case anyway, and issued an arrest warrant for Steve Williams on August 12th. Austin turned himself in the next day and posted the $5000 bond. It's sad to see what looked like a happy marriage until a few months ago turn out like this, but I really can't say it's unexpected. (Credit: 1wrestling.com) Who Was That Masked Man? Despite a few rumblings to the contrary, that was indeed Glen Jacobs behind the Kane mask last night. Due to being out for several months with an injury to his biceps, Jacobs lost a good bit of size, and looked to be about 30 pounds lighter than he was when he left. He definitely looked leaner and in much better shape. Despite the retooled costume and mask, the Kane character is said to be heading in the same direction he was before Jacobs' injury. WWE has done a lot to humanize this once very mysterious character, and his popularity has soared as a result. (Credit: 411wrestling.com) Tales Of The Drunk And The Unmotivated Scott Hall has not appeared on NWA:TNA television recently. Hall was signed to a four-show deal, and has not signed a new deal since that one lapsed. Hall is said to have been very professional and "clean" during his four-week stay in TNA, but his absence since then is probably due to economics. Hall was reportedly making over $3000 per show, plus first-class airfare. Following his glorious release from WWE, X-Pac has expressed interest in working with TNA. As the two men are friends and former members of the dreaded Kliq, there is talk of bringing them in as a team for future TAN events. The September 18th show, hyped as being a big one, is mentioned as a possible date for this. TNA has no plans to fight the extreme cold that will be invading their small arena after X-Pac sucks all the heat out of it, though. (Credit: both the PWTorch and Wrestling Observer newsletters) Ratings Are Worthless Raw on Monday earned a 3.9 rating. That's consistent with where it's been of late, but has to be a huge disappointment coming off of what was universally hailed as a good PPV in Summerslam. Summerslam certainly gave me some good hopes heading into Raw, but the show was shitty and quickly dashed those hopes. No hourly breakdown is available right now, but I'd be curious to see it. (Credit: Wrestlingobserver.com, Nielsen Media Research) Easy Eric Faces The "Hard" Questions WWE.com has posted an interview with Eric Bischoff. Some of the more interesting tidbits: -- Says he hasn't gotten into the creative side. Bischoff said he's pitched a couple ideas for his character like everyone does, but that right now, he's following the direction the creative team has laid out for him. -- Gave mad props to the production team, and cited that as the major advantage WWE had over WCW. -- Talked about a "reality-based martial arts show" he is working on, with the hope that it will air in the fall of next year. Just what we need, another "reality" show, even if it does show people kicking each other in the face. For those who don't know, Eric Bischoff is a black belt in karate. -- Said he is also working with the Indy Racing League to develop some ideas for them, and that he has a cable TV show in the works that we should hear more about within ten days. -- Put over Summerslam as a "work of art." Follow the link if you want to read the whole thing. (Credit: WWE.com) Suggested By Their Accounting Firm, Arthur Andersen Due to WWE profits being down, both Vince and Linda McMahon have elected not to pay themselves any bonuses this year. Last year, both earned close to $1 million in bonus pay. Don't cry for them, though, as Vince still pulls down $1 million in salary, with Linda earning $750,000. SEXISM~! (Credit: Wrestlingobserver.com) Bean Counters Again Supplied By Arthur Andersen Recent buyrates for NWA: TNA are in. No word over whether this figures will force them into a courtroom, but they sound pretty accurate. Cable industry estimates place TNA as earning 20,000-25,000 buys per week. Considering the cutbacks they made in the past month, they're not losing any money at that buy figure. However, it needs to stay the same or improve in order for the promotion to avoid becoming unprofitable in the future. Fifty thousand seems like the unreachable star right now. (Credit: PWTorch newsletter) It's a slow week, so that's all for this edition of the Midweek News. Usually, I'd be saying I'll be back tomorrow with Smackdown, but JHawk will be handling that this week. This weekend, look for Byron and The Dames to hit you up with the next two doses of your news fix. I'll be back . . . sometime, with something. Over and out. Dr. Tom Send me mail! I live for the mail! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
