ECW
Masato Tanaka is the New ECW champion, he beat his nemesis Mike Awesome for the title. Hopefully he can live up to his full potential in ECW because if he does ECW could have found the perfect man to lead ECW into the 21st century.
It appears that Sabu and Rob Van Dam are in for another match at either of the next two big ECW shows. Many wrestlers within ECW believe that Sabu knows enough about Rob to succeed him as the ECW TV champion, but I have my doubts. Has Sabu ever held a title in ECW or any other federation for that matter for 18 months not as far as I know this should be an interesting series of matches.
A rumour that has been flying around of late is that Spike Dudley is about to join the WWF, but that is untrue because the WWF have admitted that they didn’t contact him about a contract and also by Spike Dudley himself who says that he has no intention of leaving ECW, but we’ll wait and see what happens over the coming months.
Another rumour that was has been brought up in magazines even though Paul Heyman put a notice up on the official ECW website is the one about I.C.P. In late October/Early November I.C.P. contacted ECW and asked about a position with the group but Paul Heyman told them he has no interest in using them in anyway shape or form.
Paul Heyman has announced that ECW will become bigger and better in the New Year and he has also said that ECW fans should be prepared to see things in ECW that have never been seen before in the fed.
ECW has on the surface been hit by many wrestlers leaving but also have also seen the return of a couple of ECW legends. ECW not only lost the services of their most dominant tag team the Dudley Boyz but they also lost one of their biggest crowd pullers when TAZ like the Dudleyz went to the WWF.
But business began to look up when Raven made his return and winning the tag titles of the departing Dudleyz and then the grass became even greener when The Sandman and Mikey Whipwreck came back to the ECW. With the Sandman and Raven back ECW has two of the hardcore wrestlers back that made ECW stand head and shoulders above the big two i.e. WWF and WCW.
ECW have also added Vic Grimes back in to the fold after a unsuccessful stint with the WWF, Grimes is back because the WWF and ECW want to show that there is no hard feelings between them and to make sure that there working relationship keeps going.
Chris Chetti has recently been annoying his tag partner nova by dancing to his entrance music during the match, he points at the sound booth and Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin starts to boom out the speakers and this has seen Nova get rather upset by the fact that Chetti would rather pose and dance than concentrate on the match they are in. But they still seem to win their matches because when he stops dancing he just beats the opponents from pillar to post then tags Nova to finish them of with what ever finisher he has invented for the week.
On Nova he is currently most copied wrestler in the world of wrestling at the moment, don’t believe me? Well earlier this year The Hardyz in the WWF started using the Spinning Stone Cold Stunner as their finisher, but they copied this from Nova who did it at least three to four months. But he still has the most devastating finisher in the world the Kryptonite Krunch, this is a Backdrop DDT/Brainbuster combination that has gained victories over some of the best wrestlers in the ECW.
Well it appears that Taz had his final send of recently in ECW, he will now go to the WWF with the name Taz but for copyright reasons he will be known as Tazz.
WWF
The WWF are about to kick start the whole Lightweight Division again, they will be bringing in the Reckless Youth, Taka Michinoku and other high flyers form Memphis Power Pro. Gillberg is also rumoured to be coming back but only to be in the title tournament then he will return to the minors again.
With the Lightweight talent that the WWF have already like, Edge, Christian, The Hardyz, Too Cool and even Crash Holly they should be able to make it a success. Many of their top stars like Chris Jericho and Stevie Richards all weigh in under the cut off point so we could see them being utilised if the division looks like failing.
On the Raw after Armageddon Chris Jericho and Vince McMahon had a heated argument about the fact that Triple-H has been trying to make his life a misery, during the fore mention altercation Vince offered Jericho his release, but Chris Jericho told him he didn’t want to leave because he loved the fed so much.
Ken Shamrock is almost ready to make his full return, he has been fighting on house shows for the last few weeks and even though does have some ring rust it hasn’t slowed him down or made him less dangerous. It is believed that he will renew his feud with Chris Jericho before he heads back to the UFC in June of 2000.
Scott Vick has still to make his debut with the federation but it is rumoured that he may be in with in the next three or four weeks. He will probably make his debut the same week as Tazz who is scheduled to debut on the 12th of January, so it should be interesting to see how Tazz and Scott Vick are pushed.
The British Bulldog is being lined up for a run as Intercontinental Champ, but it appears that it won’t be Jericho but the person that defeats Jericho. It is also believed that the WWF will be trying to get a feud between the Rock and Jericho because they are the two wrestlers at the moment that can get the fans on there feet everytime they speak.
It’s good to see that Al Snow is finally getting a descent angle worthy of his talents, because over the last year or so he has been in a couple of stinkers for instance the eating of Pepper the Dog and the phase of coming out dressed as his old gimmicks like Avatar, Shinobi and Leif Cassidy.
I feel and Al Snow & Chris Jericho v The Rock and Sock Connection could be big business because in the match you have the two best crowd workers in the WWF plus you have the two guys in the fed that will stop at nothing to make the crowd go home happy. Also it’s probably the last chance to keep the Rock and Sock Connection over with the fans, because if they have another break up and make up the fans will see it for what it truly is an attempt to keep Mankind in the spotlight before he retires.
The WWF have also utilised the talents of Jim Neidhart and have been pushing his strong points i.e. he can be crap while wrestling but not be put on TV. If the WWF were going to put him on TV they would have to find someone like Chris Jericho and or The Rock to hide his limitations and carry him to a decent match.
It appears that Stone Cold Steve Austin will not be returning to full time WWF action after his neck surgery, the reason for this because Stone Cold said so. Steve Austin has said that he is happy with the amount of appearances that he makes and he doesn’t want to go back to the old schedule that he had before 1997 Summerslam.
Shawn Michaels may also be back soon, but he is probably going to wait for a while longer to help his trainee who almost got crippled in a match recently back to fitness. Shawn Michaels was over in FMW recently to referee a match and he got involved physically. During the match Shawn connected with the Sweet Chin Music on the babyface wrestler so that the heel wrestler could get the win.
It also appears that Sky Sports have pulled the plug on showing WWF PPV’s live on Sky, but Channel 4 are going to been showing them so British WWF fans don’t have to worry you won’t miss any of the PPV action. But Sky will still be showing Raw and the other shows, they are also adding Smackdown to it’s show list in early January so we have that to look forward to. Channel 4 in Britain has also got the rights to show HeAT in Britian.
WCW
Why do WCW keep pushing the man most useless wrestlers in the world, first it was Brian Adams becoming Demon and being a representative of the rock band Kiss. Then there is the man who has had the most gimmicks in a year in wrestling without disappearing of screen Vincent umm I mean Curly Bill umm no I mean Shane, what’s next they make it that he wins control of the company and they call him Vince.
Shawn Stasiak was backstage at the last WCW PPV and he signed a WCW contract on the Monday morning after it, he will probably make his debut in a tag team or as a mid-card wrestler who will probably be pushed to the stars like all WCW’s former WWF wrestler on their roster. I mean you just have to look at Jeff Jarrett, he was good in the WWF but WCW have pushed him in a way that makes me think they think that the Sun shines out his ass.
Sting has recently been talking about becoming the Sting of old, he says he preferred the way he was packaged before the end of 1996. Sting last year alone asked Eric Bischoff and people with power in WCW to be aloud to go back to the old colourful Sting instead of the Crow look that he has know. Each time he was told that they would if Hogan agreed to it. Hogan each time told Sting that he must stay with the Black and White paint.
It’s finally good to see David Flair getting aloud to beat-up people instead of being a jobber to everybody. When David locked the Maestro into the Piano then the week after when he kidnapped Symphony, you realised that he was finally getting a push. It will be interesting to see what happens.
The Ultimate Warrior has not yet been fired from his contract, it is rumoured that WCW has struck a deal with him where all his trainees are first offered first to WCW and if WCW have any trainees from it’s training facility the Power Plant that need further training on things that The Warrior university offers he will train them. But as I say it’s only a rumour but when I find out the truth you will hear it as soon as possible.
It appears that WCW are about to bring back Lenny Lane and Lodi, but they won’t be the same as they where before. Apparently they will have shorter haircuts and they will be dressed different and they will be given a good angle instead of a gay brother’s angle like before.
WCW really need to get rid of this it was good enough for the WWF when Ferrera and Russo where there so it’s good enough for WCW now. I mean Jeff Jarrett’s current angle is like Triple-H’s when he became the game claiming he is the man to take the company to the top and the Juventud Guerrera one where he is pretending to be the Rock when all he will ever be is a Luchadore from Mexico that WCW signed because Konnan is his boss in Mexico.
Talking of Konnan he has recently claimed that he wants out of WCW, but WCW won’t let him go because if they do they would lose all of their Luchadores like Juvi, Rey Misterio Jnr, Eddie Guerrero, Psychosis and La Parka. The reason they don’t want him to leave is that WCW would be able to put a Konnan can’t work for WWF for a year stipulation in his release contract but all the Luchadores would be free to join the WWF because WCW don’t own their contracts.
Diamond Dallas Page has again this week asked for a contract release, but Bill Busch the WCW president has told him that he will not release him. Many in the industry expect that Busch will let DDP go but is just not doing it just know because of Chris Jericho and what he has done since leaving because it is a well known fact that Busch watches the WWF Raw live and tapes Nitro to watch it latter. So look out for DDP coming to the WWF.
Ferrera and Russo have recently said that they feel they are doing a good job but that WCW was more of a sinking ship than they fought. When they signed up with WCW they said six months minimum to get WCW back on track but now they are saying that it will be more like 12 months minimum to get WCW back on track. But already they have made a big change by firing wrestlers that WCW just kept around because they didn’t want the WWF getting their hands on them, but Ferrera and Russo have said they have no ill feelings towards the WWF and that is why they sacked the wrestlers that they felt where being wasted by the fed.
WCW have been looking like going back to the nWo that ever fan knows is now a bit dated and it would just look like WCW where bringing back the now just to counter act the popularity of D-X in the WWF. But if the now is brought back I feel that they should have Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Jeff Jarrett and one other former WWF star, but please don’t let that be Hogan or Lex Luger.
WCW’s new angle where wrestlers are now being aloud to complain about how the gimmick that WCW have given them is very good, because before when Bischoff ran the company if a WCW wrestler did a shoot interview (a interview where they spoke from the heart and told the whole truth) they would have been shipped out to Japan or sent down to Mexico on tour.
WCW are soon going on tour in the U.K. but just like the WWF they aren’t doing a show in Scotland which I think is pretty shocking because Scotland has as many wrestling fans than England, but the main difference is Scotland is Pro WWF and Anti WCW because of the quality of Raw over Nitro. But that could easily be remedy by WCW coming to Scotland because I myself would go to it and it might even make me become more of a WCW. But who knows, there is more chance of Elvis being found alive than the WWF or WCW touring Scotland anytime soon.
Recently many WCW wrestlers have been admitting that they wish they had taken the release that Eric Bischoff had offered them because they now realise that they could have fought anywhere for a year and then had a position with the WWF waiting for them if they where good enough. Here is a list of wrestlers that have stated it on other websites.
Rey Misterio Jr
Billy Kidman
Konnan
Lenny Lane
Lodi
Lex Luger
Randy Savage
Diamond Dallas Page
Curt Hennig
Buff Bagwell
Rumours that Bret Hart, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall where considering it are not true because they have enough backroom power in the federation that they probably wouldn’t have in any other federation in the world.
Here is my favourite and least favourite list of 99.
Favourite Wrestler: Chris Jericho
Least Favourite Wrestler: Hulk Hogan
Rookie of 1999: Shane McMahon
Best Wrestler of 1999: Triple-H
Worst Wrestler of 1999: The wrestler formerly known as Prince Iaukea
Best Wrestling Moment of 1999: Raven and Sandman returning to ECW
The Worst Wrestling Moment of 1999: The death of Owen Hart at the Kemper Arena and the death of referee Brian Hildebrand from Stomach Cancer.
Favourite Match of 99: Vince McMahon v Triple-H (Armageddon)
Least Favourite Match of 99: Any with Hulk Hogan in it
Favourite Female: Terri Runnels or Miss Kitty
Least Favourite Female: Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young
Favourite Tag Team: The Hardy Boyz
Least Favourite Tag Team: Dave Taylor & Steven Regal
Best Angle of 99: The McMahon/ D-X Wedding
Worst Angle of 99: The Big Show’s Father
Most Improved Wrestler of 99: Al Snow
Most Underused Wrestler of 99: Chris Jericho
Most Overrated Wrestler of 99: Hulk Hogan or Sid
Favourite Stable of 99: D-Generation X
Least Favourite Stable of 99: West Texas Rednecks
Best Foreign Object Used in 99: Vince McMahon’s bed pan
Worst Foreign Object Used in 99: The WCW sponge 2X4
Best PPV of 1999: ECW Heat Wave
Worst PPV 1999: WWF Over the Edge
Best Federation of 1999: WWF, ECW & New Japan
Worst Federation of 1999: The Ultimate Wrestling Alliance in England
Also I would like to also say that if you don’t already have a copy of Mankind’s book that you should go out and get it because it is my mind a best seller that any wrestling fan even if they hate Mankind will love reading about the life of Mick Foley.
Well that is all for this time, but the BIG BYTE will be back with more information on the ECW, WWF and WCW next time. So if you enjoyed this column tell your friends and then look forward to the next addition.
You can contact me at tfuclown@hotmail.com