In the interest of fairness

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

The following news and rumors are from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter:

 

- As reported earlier, Scott Hall apparently had an "incident" at the Smackdown! tapings a few weeks ago. However, word is that he has apologized for whatever he did to offend anyone and his match with Steve Austin is all but locked up for Wrestlemania. Previously, Austin himself had expressed reservations about working with Hall predicting that Hall wouldn't even be around by the time the PPV occured. That is no longer the case now with Austin.

 

- Also in response to the Hall/Bubba Ray Dudley incident where Hall reportedly told Bubba that he could not wait to kick out of his finisher has drawn some "chuckles" from the other wrestlers since a lot of people feel that Bubba is not exactly the most well-liked wrestler backstage.

 

- Kevin Nash apparently did not fare well in the ring during his brief HWA stint, although most agree that it is primarily a by-product of his recent in-ring inactivity. Nash volunteered to wrestle on a couple of "official" HWA shows, however, the WWF rejected his offer to do so.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Eh. I hope hall makes it to Mania cos I don't think Austin could carry nash to a good match. from the looks of your house show report bps, it seems Hall-Austin might be watchable. I'll take your word for it.

 

Now Nash in HWA I could handle.  I've never seen it and would not have to worry about him on my tv screen.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Hall was better than I thought he would be.  He's not as good as he has been...but if the match is well planned...I'm confident he can carry himself through it.  He sells pretty well...and that's half the battle.

[Guest goodhelmet]

I really hope he comes to the ring by himself. If he has Nash by his side, I think he'll probably stall in the beginning. If they want the match to be exciting, fuck the dirty heel tactics, just go out there and start fighting. The exact same way Austin and Rock began their match last year. That goes the same for Hogan-Rock. I don't want to see the backrake of doom. Go toe to toe muthaffucka and get it on.

 

Man, can you see one match that you think will break three stars besides HHHvs. Jericho and that's a big maybe!

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

It depends.

 

So far...NO.

 

But Angle vs. Kane could.

 

And we'll see where guys like RVD, Storm, Christian and Edge land.

 

HHH is looking better (At least he did on Raw)...so MAYBE Jericho can drag some stars out of him.

[Guest goodhelmet]

My only concern is that some of those guys get shafted or get stuck in abattle royal for an IC title shot on RAW or a battle Royal on Heat or something.

 

Let's look at the card so far:

 

Stone Cold-Austin

Rock-Hogan

Taker-Flair

Billychuck-APA

HHH-Jericho

 

They'll probably pull a 4way for the IC

Can't leave out the obligatory women's match

Angle and Kan is probably on the slate

The intergender tag match

 

That's 9 matches and don't be surprised to see Rikishi-Booker either. This card does not look good at all if it comes out like this. Who booked this shit?

 

I hope those mains turn out decent esp. since evrything looks so subpar.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

So much talent...such bad booking.

 

Why not use the star power of Rock vs. Austin to put on quality wrestling?

 

The WWF has NEVER tried to get quality wrestling over.

 

If it did get over...business might start booming.

[Guest goodhelmet]

I think they were on the right track with last year's mania. I thought Angle-Benoit was a clinic on how to wrestle right. Then they had to ruin it with the ironman submission match in which the gimmicks hurt the match, not enhanced it.

As for this Mania, I'm personally hoping for an RVD-Storm match. I haven't seen that matchup yet in the WWF and it could be a show stealer. They have also bothimproved alot since their ECW matchups.

 

Sidenote- bps, did you get my message about the unreal wrestling site? i can't find it.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

unreal wrestling site?

 

No...I don't know what you're talking about.

[Guest goodhelmet]

never mind man. i went back and you pimped GWP but it wasn't your post hyping the other site up. It's in the general chat forum. Disregard!!!!

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Now that you mention it...I should probably write another column soon.

[Guest goodhelmet]

You should wait until the Mania card comes out and evaluate the matches then book a much more logical, wrestling friendly Mania. Or you could just bash Steph and the writers since that's always a popular subject.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

It's taking everything I have not to deliver a novel size HHH conspiracy column.

[Guest goodhelmet]

screw it man, just list the discrepancies in the RVD push vs. HHH's return. without getting too absurd, you could probably write a good solid column on RVD's abrupt disappearance from the top.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I could write several columns on that...the saga continues.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Ok, here's an idea. look over the WWF's current roster and give me twenty possible tag teams (hell use the same wrestler more than once) that would be better choices for the tag titles at Mania than BillyChuck or the APA!!!

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

HA.

 

I'll probably just write about the house show or the WWA.

[Guest goodhelmet]

ok well, you could definitely have booked a better WWA show than what you payed for.

 

As for the house show, I have a bad feeling those matches are being used as primers for Wrestlemania

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I'll get to Mania when the card is set.

[Guest TUS_02]

WWF has been doing the entertainment over the sports aspect of wrestling for a long time... you can't expect him to just up and change it.... there'd have to be a gradual change, which is probably the best idea...

[Guest Army Eye]

Obviously I haven't been to a house show so I haven't seen much of Hall yet but he did a nice sell of the Stunner on Smackdown

 

Nash volunteering to work off some rust in the HWA is a pretty cool gesture.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Hall looked better than I expected.

 

He really seemed to be trying hard (and selling really well) that's very impressive considering it was untelevised.  

 

He seems like he's trying to impress.

[Guest Tony149]

I think Hall will make it to WM. He seems like he really wants to get his act together.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I was impressed.

 

And that's not easy.

 

 

Here's the funniest thing ever:

 

AT WWF.com (at least as of last night) they have a story about Goldust and the Hall interview.  So there pictures are next to each other (with Gdust above Hall)

 

Under Hall's pic it says "the most controversial man in sports entertainment."

 

Considering he was under goldust...i found that amusing.

[Guest Tony149]

Yeah, that is funny. I wonder if the Goldust story has "Vince hired Dustin Runnels for no good reason. Just to keep him away from upstart promotions."

[Guest goodhelmet]

I don't think it would matter if anyone else had Dustin or not. His performance has not been impressive at all. The No Way Out match was good due to RVD, not cos of Goldie's stalling.

 

hall-Austin may be able to salvage what looks to be a mediocre Mania!

[Guest Tony149]

I don't think it would matter if anyone else had Dustin or not. His performance has not been impressive at all.

That may be the case for Dustin, but I'm pretty sure Vince signed Hennig just to keep him away from upstart promotions.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Well i'm really looking forward to Rock - Hogan. It don't matter one iota is Hogan can't throw any more than a slam, a boot and a legdrop, Rock can carry him through the rest. They will plan the match carefully beforehand as well, so i'm willing to bet small amounts of cash on it being entertaining.

 

HHH - Jericho HAS to be good, otherwise everything goes wrong.

 

Hall - Austin should be ok, make it a no DQ match I say so they can fall back on weapons.

 

Everything else has the potential to be good as well, as long as the talent is motivated it will be a great show. No Way Out is what happens when the talent is not motivated.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I don't know how motivated the talent is going to be.

 

The NWO is taking the high spots on the card...and the other highspot goes to a guy who was out for 8 months.

 

I'm not motivated to order it.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

You should like in the UK, then you wouldn't have to order it - mwuahahahahaha - i love you Sky Sports 1!