Welcome to the weekend edition of the Phat Daily Column. Today, we're going to try something, in a way to possibly bring back the "Week in Review" columns. The problem before was that I couldn't keep them fresh or really worthwhile to do. This time, I'll just review what happened on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the most newsworthy days. You could say this is a good review of what happened throughout the week, to catch up on news, but of course, wrapped with Mr. Tito's opinion.

I will also bring back the Jackson 5, rating the top 5 wrestlers that I view on television, namely the WWF. I've had several requests to bring that badboy back, but given my streak of no-shows on the weekends, it was dropped like a bad Vince Russo angle.

So anyway, let the experiment begin! On to the PDC.

Apples Per Day

I guess we're hopping back into the old Time Machine, to Monday and work our way through to Friday?

-Monday-

Monday was really the first official day of the World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE, as we saw on RAW. This came from the lawsuit between the World Wrestling Federation and World Wildlife Fund for Nature, given the fact that the Fund for Nature actually trademarked the letter combination "WWF". So with some goofy commercials and a new slogan, the WWE started on RAW, telling everyone to "Get the F out". If someone takes that the wrong way, ratings could slip...

This day also started tons of gossip about the plane trip back to America from England, where the WWF just held a Pay Per View show there for everyone in the UK. Lots of partying on the plane, and some strange altercations, such as Hennig and Brock Lesnar. Also, Bradshaw and Michael PS Hayes got into an altercation, and later, Hayes had his mullet snipped off while sleeping. Let's not forget, aside from the plane trip, that the REAL Scott Hall returned. Finally, Goldust got a little drunk and began singing to his ex-wife, Terri, which has put lots of heat on Goldust right now. I bet he's the next to get fired.

RAW was on Monday Night, and it was a poor, poor show. Everyone backstage agreed that it wasn't that strong of a show, and the excuses range from the WWF writers being burnt out from the England Pay Per View show, plus the firings that were to be made official on Tuesday. Aside from the soon to be released wrestlers, this goes to show you that the lack of long term booking is really hurting the WWF. Besides the main event match, which was booked last week, the show was total chaos in terms of storylines.

Horrible wrestling, too, as the midcard wrestling continues to hurt the RAW side as a whole given the talent deficits. The ending of RAW saw a predictable Ric Flair heel turn, although the storyline was building nicely towards it. The surrounding show and the fact that Austin is fighting a heel owner, again, made the turn seem really lame. Austin will now have to take on both Flair and Big Show at Judgment Day. My guess is that Flair and Big Show will actually win at Judgment Day, only for Austin to take on Flair in a one on one match at King of the Ring, where Austin would go over.


-Tuesday-

Scott Hall, plagued by past demons resurfacing, was fired by the WWF on Tuesday. He was drinking more often at shows, insomuch that it began impacting his performance. The WWF did itself a favor by ridding themselves of Hall, whose behavior is NOT a good example for any young wrestler to see. Hall will probably find some work with the WWA or Jarrett's promotion, but who knows? Hall's last chance has come and gone, folks.

RAW's rating was up slightly to 4.6 this week, a rating in which many, including myself, thought would be lower, given Smackdown's rating and since everyone is tired of seeing Hulk Hogan, especially when he does ridiculous scenes where he smashes things with semi-trucks. I still can't get over on how the motorcycle stalled.. HAHA! Last week's RAW rating was 4.4, and before the past 2 ratings, the WWF was averaging 4.8 there for a while.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature mentioned that they weren't too thrilled about the WWE name change, since the initials kinda resemble WWF if you think about it. Hey, screw them. They aren't even called the "WWF" overseas in other countries, but only in America, they can sue over the rights to use initials. How can you trademark a 3 letter combination? That's a bad trademark if you ask me, unless the company always calls themself a 3 letter combination or word. The World Wildlife Fund for Nature likes to be called World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and not WWF all of the time. Stupid pandas.


-Wednesday-

Curt Hennig was officially released by the WWE on Wednesday. Hennig just never caught on to the current WWF style, and his poor actions on the European tour eventually led to the WWF firing him. I honestly think he was just signed, in the first place, to make the XWF lose a top name player. The WWE has destroyed anything left of Hennig, so the start ups will now lack the credibility with Hennig that they had before.

The WWF wisely announced plans for new television formats. The syndicated shows will no longer feature original shows. RAW will continue to feature exclusive matches on Heat, and Smackdown will now have their extra matches on the 10-11 pm hour of what was Excess. The show will now be called WWE Velocity, given that WWE Acceleration would sound funny. Har har.


-Thursday-

Thursday was Smackdown Day. Tough Enough 2 was pre-empted, I guess, so that the Season Finale could be pushed back to a certain date that's somehow suitable for the WWE and Mtv. Tough Enough 2 has been a complete disaster. Aside from Jake, although not that much, I don't really see much WWF potential in any of the contestants. I see potential in Maven and Nidia, but not these new guys. They just don't have that love or appreciation that the finalists of Tough Enough 1 have.

It was revealed that the WWE will be meeting with Bill Goldberg sometime in the near future to discuss the possible entry of Goldberg into the WWE. Yeah, Goldberg said he'd NEVER work for the WWF, and I'm sure the WWE was never pleased with any of his negative comments, but like I said before, money talks and bullshit walks. Goldberg is NOT going to get the much needed exposure in the United States like he'd get in the WWF.

WWF Smackdown was a big improvement over RAW. Decent midcard action, and a watchable main event. Leviathan debuted as D'Von Dudley's new bodyguard. Oh yeah, his name is Deacon Batista, if you can remember that crappy name. Just call him "Deacon", or put him back in Ohio Valley Wrestling for several months and re-debut him with a new gimmick. D'Von, with help from the "Deacon" and Chris Jericho, got a big singles win over Triple H. Hulk Hogan was more playful this show, as he made fun of his baldness, which is actually a sensitive issue for Hogan.

Triple H vs. Chris Jericho in a Hell in the Cell match was announced on Smackdown. A good reason to buy the Pay Per View.

-Friday-

Jim Ross, in his Ross Report from WWF.com, did acknowledge that the WWE was going to meet with Bill Goldberg sometime soon. Nice to have the rumors confirmed...

The final Smackdown rating came in to be a 3.6, which is an improvement over the 2.9 rating last week. Maybe the better use of Hogan on Smackdown helped the Teen Audience to stick around. That's right folks, last week's low 2.9 rating was actually generated by a depleting teen audience, which the WWF mainly appeals to. Not all 1998 WWF fans actually care about Hogan, and note that many of them are teenagers, still.

THE JACKSON 5

5. D'Von Dudley - Big win over Triple H.

4. Chris Jericho - Wow... he's allowed to be a heel without the damn services of Stephanie McMahon.

3. Triple H - 2 beatdowns, and getting screwed out of his match with D'Von. Damn, talk about making others look great.

2. Steve Austin - Poor Austin is stuck in RAW hell. Maybe with Hall gone, he'll become happier?

1. Kurt Angle - Is there anybody better than Kurt Angle right now? Not only is he probably going to be bald, but he'll put over Edge, big time, the process with probably a great match.

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@That's all for this edition of the Week in Review. Did you like it? Would like to see this done every weekend? If so, let me know. If not, let me know!

Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.

Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2002 Exclusive to LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com