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Thursday's Smackdown from Anaheim, California was highly anticipated
as we awaited the fallout from the "Wedding That Wasn't" from Monday's
RAW. Although there wasn't a tremendous amount of angle advancement
where the wedding was concerned, Smackdown didn't dissapoint as
several other storylines were progressed. In an attempt to settle their score
with X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws, the Hardy Boyz teamed up with
WWF Champion, The Big Show, and were able to extract a measure of
revenge against DX by defeating them. Al Snow finally went over the edge
and attacked the Rock twice, the second of which attacks prompted
Mankind to come to Rocky's aid. Mick ended up swinging at the Snow
with a steel chair, so I guess we know where he stands as far as his two
best friends are concerned. It was also a big night for Chris Jericho, as he
was able to score a big win over the aforementioned Foley.

If you missed the show, you can read about everything that went down in
the Smackdown Report. Pics of the show can be found here, courtesy of
Wrestlesite.com.

Also on Smackdown last night, we were informed that "Stone Cold"
Steve Austin will indeed undergo neck surgery. Austin, who has been
diagnosed with a bone spur touching in his spinal cord, will likely put off the
surgery until after the holidays and go under the knife sometime in early
January. Although the injury could be career threatening, Austin has been
cleared to continue training prior to the surgery, which the WWF views as a
good sign. After the surgery, Austin will rehabilitate for 4-6 weeks, at which
point he will be re-evaluated. Until that point the severity of the injury will
be unknown; only then can we begin to specualte on what effects it may
have on his career. It is important to reiterate that even if Stone Cold has
wrestled his final match, he fully intends to remain a part of the WWF.

At precisly 12:01 AM EST Saturday Morning, Wrestlemania 2000
tickets go on sale at WWF.com. At that point you can obtain a print a
ticket order form from the website, fill it out, and order your tickets by
mailing it to the WWF. If you are someone that is considering purchasing
tickets, you'd better brace yourself. Rumor has it that to seats anywhere on
the floor section are going for $400 a pop and the cheapest ticket in the
arena will be a cool $100. What is this; the NBA? It may sound asanine,
but I guess it all goes back to the law of supply and demand, and the WWF
is definitely at high demand right now. Wrestlemania, of course, will
originate from the same venue as Thursday's Smackdown, the Arrowhead
Pond in Anaheim, California.

By now I'm sure you all know that the WWF has been losing more than a
few of their major advertisers. Coca Cola, AT&T, The Coast Guard, Mars
Candy, and the Armed Forces have all withdrawn from the WWF, citing
the many sexual innuendos and the overall violent WWF programming as
valid reasons for doing so. That's right, the Army is pulling their spots due to
violence. Apparently, it's something they won't stand for. They don't have a
problem with contributing to any wars or anything, but fake TV violence is
inexcusible. The WWF has acknowledged the problem, and Vince
McMahon has released a statement that the WWF would tone down their
product by reducing foul language and sexual content. Some characters that
have been dubbed "offensive", namely the Godfather, will only appear at a
later hour. In adddition, Smackdown's TV rating will be lowered from TV
14 to TV PG. As a result of McMahon's willingness to cooperate, many of
the advertisers have said that once they see an improvement they will
reconsider and may do business with the WWF again. But as for now, the
WWF has successfully replaced all the spots with new advertisers that are
actually paying more than the previous companies. Perhaps coinciding with
all the recent controversy, the WWF stock, WWFE dropped to a record
low18 per share.

The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels is in the news again. Rumors are
swirling that the former three time World Wrestling Federation Champion
will take on a short term role in ECW. Needless to say, he wouldn't be
wrestling, although it is unknown at this time exactly what part he would
play. Michaels, who still has a year and a half on his WWF contract has
been in the dog house with Vince McMahon as of late stemming from
comments Shawn made about many of the WWF's top stars back in
September. Not only is the WWF unhappy with Shawn, but quite frankly
they don't have much of a role for him. He hasn't been involved in shows on
a week to week basis, and while there is no denying that HBK equals
ratings, the WWF doesn't need him right now. Furthermore, Titan has
already began talking about moving Mankind into a comissioner-type
position upon Mick's pending retirement; a slot previously designated for
Michaels. If the WWF were to "lend" HBK to ECW, it would obviously do
wonders for the relationship between the two promotions. Can you imagine
what the WWF would hold over ECW after lending them one of their top
stars of all time? Their debt would be unbelievable. In other words, ECW
would owe the WWF a big one.

Good news where Ken Shamrock is concerned. Shammy, who reinjured
his neck a few months back will be back in the WWF shortly. As it stands
now, three weeks from now is the target date for Ken's return. Some
expect that he may show up on the RAW or Smackdown Tapings after
Armageddon although the earliest he will wrestle is December 17th. The
whole situation may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise as pertains
to the WWF. Shamrock had been preparing to jump over to the UFC for
awhile, but now as a result of his injuries, he'll be unable to compete in
shoot fighting of any kind. Having said that, it looks like he'll be staying in
the WWF.

Getting back to Smackdown, it has been confirmed that Edge's apparent
knee injury is a work. The injury angle was designed to give the former
Intercontinental Champion time off, as he'll be filming on the set of the
movie "Highlander" overseas in Romania until December 8th, not to mention
give the Dudley Boys a solid win over an established team. If that above
date is accurate, that means Edge will miss both RAW on Monday and the
Smackdown Tapings on Tuesday, but will be back and ready to go in
plenty of time for Armageddon. Edge will also miss the big Madison Square
Garden house show on December 4th, but it is obvious that the WWF has
been aware of this for some time now. I was wondering why they had been
hyping Christian for the show, but not Edge. Now I know why.

"The Godfather" Charles Wright has signed a three year extension with the
WWF. Despite getting tremendous pops and lots of mic time over the past
few months, the Godfather had been working without a contract ever since
his old deal ran out in the summer. But, couple the fact that he has signed
this extension with the cheers he's been getting and his ability on the
microphone, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Godfather get a bit
of a push.

As has been reported, Torrie Wilson is in contract disputes with WCW,
and rumors are already running rampant that the WWF may be interested in
persuing her. I know Rajah and I aren't the only two guys that think she's
the most attractive woman in wrestling, and I would find it most interesting if
she were to head to Titan. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though; after all
she is still undercontract to WCW. Here's what Torrie herself had to say on
her website, www.torriewilson.com:

December 1- Hi guys! The rumor going around town is that I have been
released from WCW as of late. All I can say is that WCW and my agent
have not been able to agree on much in the way of a contract and that I
hope that things work out with them...but I also know that everything
happens for a reason and I have a lot of options at the moment and, as
always, will just go with the flow of things! I will be shooting with a
fashion photographer today in downtown Los Angeles and am looking
forward to it...this photographer is awesome! Have ya checked out my
profile on playboy.com?.....Be sure to do so and I hope you like it!
(sorry, but no, I didn't shoot with them) Later Gators!

According to several sources, WWF Sunday Night Heat will become a
more intregal show and return to the status it was once at. Instead of
featuring music videos that recap ongoing storylines and angles, Heat will air
more matches and in some cases go back to being a preview of sorts for
the next night's RAW. If you ask me, it's all good. There is plenty of time
for the stars to shine each week on RAW and Smackdown, but with Heat
focusing more on matches, I think it provides a golden opportunity for the
WWF to showcase some of their younger talent. Given the chance, such
wrestlers as Stevie Richards, Shawn Stasiak, Prince Albert, Joey Abs, and
others can really shine. All in all, it creates a good forum to push the young
talent and expose them more to the fans.

Fresh off the heels of Mankind's success with his autobiography Have a
Nice Day, another WWF superstar is ready to release his life story. The
Rock's autobiography, entitled The Rock Says, had been rumored to be
coming out before Christmas, but is currently slated to go on sale on
Wednesday January 5th. You can view both the front and back cover of
the book at WWF.com.

Here is the latest card for the Armageddon Pay Per View to be held on
Sunday December 12:

+Kurt+Angle+vs.+Steve+Blackman+
Rakishi & Viscera vs. The Hollys
The Hardy Boyz, The
Acolytes, Too Cool, The Dudley Boys, The Headbangers, and The Mean
Street Posse
X-Pac vs. Kane
+Ivory+vs.+Barbara+Bush+(BB)+in+an+Evening+Gown+Match+
Val Venis vs. The British Bulldog for the European Title
+Chris+Jericho+vs.+Chyna+for+the+Intercontinental+Title+
The Big Bossman vs. The Big Show for the WWF Title
but is merely my own speculation.
Based on what happened during the D'Lo Brown/British Bulldog match on
Smackdown, I would not be at all surprised to see D'Lo thrown into the
European Title Match at Armageddon at the last minute to make it a Triple
Threat. It seems that all three men have a beef with one another, and this
would be a good way to involve D'Lo in a storyline, which he is in
desperate need of. D'Lo has been left relatively angleless after the start of
his feud with Droz was unable to be finished due obviously to Droz's
unfortunate neck injury.

No Friday News report would be complete without mooching off the
Ross Report. So, to end off here are a few brief paraphrased notes from
good 'ol JR..

JR implied that Trish Stratus turned down a rather lucrative offer from
WCW and instead opted to sign with the WWF. She will be starting on
WWF TV soon which is good news for every male WWF fan.

this should end up
destroying whatever Thunder may have drawn.

MTV will be doing business with the WWF once again. Not only will
Chyna appear on their "Timeout" program, but the New York based MTV
will be heavily promoting Royal Rumble 2000 to take place at "The World's
Most Famous Arena", Madison Square Garden. Tickets for the Rumble, by
the way, go on sale Sunday.

+Fabulous+Moolah+and+Mae+Young+will+be+at+the+Billboard+Music+Awards
Show.+

Al Snow and Mankind recently taped an episode of Loveline that will air
next month on (you guessed it) MTV.

+Both+Vince+McMahon+and+the+Rock+will+be+featured+as+"Entertainers of
the Year"+by+Entertainment+Weekly+Magazine.+

Apparently, WWF merchandise has been doing excellent as we near the
holiday season. The "Titan-Tron" set is among the hottest selling toys.

~ JR reiterated that D'Lo Brown has every intention of remaining with the
WWF and still has a year and a half left on his contract. The internet reports
earlier in the week that D'Lo has an out clause in January are false; he has
already waived it.

As Rajah often does, I have some simple observations to end off this report
with:

- I would have thought that Smackdown would have centered around not
only Stephanie apologizing to Test, but also the annulment of her marriage
with Triple H. Thus far, it hasn't happened, which leads me to believe that
they are still actually married. Why wouldn't Stephanie immediately annull
the marriage? Perhaps there is more than meets the eye here...

- There is no doubt that "Barbara Bush" is a welcome addition to the WWF
women. But I don't think I'm surprising anyone when I say her mic skills are
lacking. Not only did she stumble all over herself, but the words that
actually were coming out didn't make a whole lot of sense either. She spoke
about how degrating it was to have her top ripped off and then proceeded
to challenge Ivory to an Evening Gown Match. Don't get me wrong; I'm
fully aware that as the story goes that is how she wants to get revenge on
Ivory. But the way she came across, things got awfully confusing.

- Interesting Fact Of The Day: On RAW last Monday, the New Age
Outlaws teamed with X-Pac to take on Kane, the Rock, and Mankind. All
six men were no stranger to tag matches. In fact, if you add up all of their
Tag Team Title reigns, the number comes out to an astounding 32 reigns!

- The WWF Women's Division is making leaps and bounds, and where as
wrestling may not be the focus the T & A is increasing by the second.
Ivory, Jacky, Luna, Marianna, Chyna, Terri, Kitty, Debra, Tori, Trish
Stratus, and "Babs" are now all a part of the WWF (excluding Moolah and
Mae Young). With the on screen role of Stephanie McMahon, the
Godfather's ho's, and celebrity appearences by Cindy Margolis among
others, we've been getting more than our fill of the ladies as of late.

- I'm glad to see Al Snow get a push. With wrestlers like him, the Outlaws
and the Big Boss Man becoming involved in central angles and storylines,
the WWF has been a lot less predictable and funner to watch. It's also
refreshing to see Mankind's willingness to put younger wrestlers over.

- I am convinced tha as far as wrestlers go, Triple H is the best actor the
WWF has.

- And finally, to end on a positive note, there is absolutely no doubt in my
mind that Chris Jericho will capture the WWF Intercontinental Title at
Armageddon.

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