The wrestling world is about to be shaken up. Television is the name of the wrestling game now-a-days and with organizations jumping from station to station there is most likely going to be another wrestling boom. Whenever Raw switches networks it is a huge deal. They are consistently the number one cable show.
USA will be hosting Raw in the fall, and that is big news because of the all-out promotion the show will get. To combat this, Spike TV is considering signing NwA-TnA to a ratings-based contract. If the deal gets done, expect wrestling to get back to its hay day, circa 1996.
As for Smackdown, well that is another story. Smackdown has done well on UPN Thursday nights. Due to the fact that Viacom owns UPN/Spike TV and that the WWE has decided to jump ship from Viacom to go to USA in the fall, the Smackdown show has been banished to Friday nights. The change will take effect in the fall.
The WWE had its ECW “One Night Stand” PPV this past weekend. Since the deadline for this article is before the PPV I cannot go into detail about what went down, but I can give some thoughts on what one wrestler thought. Rob Van Dam was the man who planted the seed in Vince McMahon’s mind about doing the ECW PPV.
He was, however, very disappointed that the WWE decided to get involved. On his personal Web site RVD had this to say, “They don’t deserve the credit for drawing this Pay Per View’s success and it sucks that they are even going to be part of a show that they had nothing to do with. Had I not taken a minute off for my knee, I would’ve fought like hell to prevent this”
Those were some strong words coming from a WWE worker. Usually that is met with a suspension or a firing, but since RVD just signed a new deal that will not happen. As for a possible WCW PPV down the line, the WWE is toying with the idea of it. The WWE plans to put out a history of WCW DVD this year that should coincide the WCW PPV along with that.
As for this coming week of wrestling the Sixshooter urges all wrestling fans to take a gander at this Sunday’s NwA-TnA “Slammiversary.” The PPV marks the three year anniversary for the company and features a special four-way dance for the Heavyweight title.
The featured match entitled, “The King of the Mountain” pits the Champion A.J. Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown, and Abyss in a match that will knock your socks off. There will be no better wrestling action than in that match, guaranteed.
As for some other matches on the card there is a three-way dance for the X-division title that puts Champion Christopher Daniels against Michael Shane and Chris Sabin. These three together in a ring can make for a superb match-of-the-year candidate.
Now to some odd happenings in the wrestling world: NwA-TnA’s Shark Boy is suing Walt Disney for copyright infringement in the upcoming movie “Sharkboy and Lava Girl.” It turns out Shark Boy actually copyrighted his name and now wants 5 million dollars from Mickey Mouse.
As for Brock Lesnar, his case against the WWE to become a free agent is still ongoing. Look for this one to drag out until around December though. The WWE is playing hardball and they do that very well.
In video game news, the Game Cube is about to release “Day of Reckoning Part II.” From what has been seen of the game so far, it looks like it may be a winner. The graphics are spectacular and the game play is far better than last year’s game. As for the story mode, somebody actually got it right. You start out as the champion then work your way from there. No more meaningless matches vs. jobbers like Garrison Cade and Steven Richards. You are thrown right into the top tier as soon as you start playing. What a concept.
Matt Hardy, who is a month away from his TnA debut, has recently signed on to do a reality show via the Internet. The project is about to start up and will be available via his Web site, Matthardy.com. As for his brother, Jeff, he is still serving a suspension with TnA for missing a show last month.
Hulk Hogan’s reality show is about to debut on VH1. “Hogan Knows Best” will show his family life as his daughter rises to musical stardom. If you are a wrestling fan I am sure this will be a must see. Just imagine being the guy that shows up to pick her up on a date and you have Hulk Hogan staring at you.
Well, that is all for this month Sixshooteraholics. Make sure to check out my Web site at http://www.expage.com/mattygsite along the way. I update often and provide some worthwhile links to other Web sites.