Rumors - Entertainment - http://maxpages.com/wwfwcwpage/Rumors

Steve Regal has still not been fired but instead will be given a new gimmic again. This time it will be a English Snob. I may be mistaken but isn't that what he was when he first came to the WWF and Sable gave him that stupid introduction.

Mark Henry went to get his knees check out to make sure that he would be able work Wrestlemania. There is not good news in this one. He will have to have surgury on both knee and will be out for six weeks. That means no tag match with D-Lo and Ivory vs Hart, Jarrett, and Debra.

Giant Silva was sent to go wrestle in Mexico. He will be there for a while to work on some of his in ring skills. This is a good move because there is only so much you can learn at a training camp.

Top WWF prospect Kurt Angle will be on NBC the morning of Wrestlemania. They will be doing a piece on the Olympic Wrestler called "Kurt Angle's Road to the WWF"

The mainevent of the King of Ring will be a Austin/Wight match. This match was originally not going to happen till SummerSlam but I think the WWF is trying to turn the King of the Ring into a major PPV. After last years I could see this happening.

Also at the King of the Ring, there will be a eight man tourney instead of four man like last year.

Raw may go to three hours to compete for those ratings that the WCW gets in the first hour. The USA network said that they would consider it if the Raw got a 5.0 for the next five weeks.

First and foremost, I believe nothing will develop from this challenge. The WWF and Vince McMahon are WAY too smart to be goaded into this little feud and in all due respect to WCW fans, the whole thing reeked of sheer desperation. Furthermore, there is "no chance in hell" that the two promotions would ever work together to sanction an Austin-Goldberg match. Sadly, there are way too many egos involved to make it all come together. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that all this came about on the heels of a disaster week for WCW. The ratings for the Monday night shows clearly tells the story as Turner is being pumelled week in and week out. The bottom line is that this is a failed and unfortunate attempt at getting back on top. And WCW will need far more than a stupid challenge from a no-talented moron to turn the tables. Okay, so I said Goldberg isn't to blame....doesn't mean I still can't make fun of him.

If you caught the second part of the challenge, Steve Austin appeared on Howard Stern and wisely turned down Goldberg's invitation to a back-lot brawl by saying that he has better things to do and if Goldberg really wanted to fight him, he should "get out of the bush-leagues first". Hopefully, this spells an end to all of this, but with the rumors of a Gillberg-Austin match headlining next week's RAW, who knows what will happen.

If you don't know the ratings yet, it wasn't much of a surprise as a taped RAW defeated a live NITRO, coming off of a PPV rather handily. The composites for RAW and NITRO were 5.6 and 4.8, respectively. NITRO bounced back from last week's thrashing rather nicely...actually wait...let me re-read what I typed a few seconds ago...okay, I take it back, it wasn't a "nice rebound" at all. Sorry, that's two shots at WCW in the last two paragraphs, dont' know what has come over me...errr wait, it's common sense. That was the last one. For real.

Now, onto the hottest bit of news for this young week. What the hell was up with the ending to last night's RAW program? Who is the "higher power" that Undertaker keeps making mention of? I've had those two questions posed to be numerous times within the last 24 hours and here's what I could come up with...obviously the "teddy bear" that Paul Bearer brought down and that the Undertaker eventually burned has some sentimental meaning attached to it for owner Vince McMahon. The popular consensus right now is that the bear belongs to either his daughter, Stephanie, or his wife, Linda. For those that have visited this page for a few months, you may remember me saying that Stephanie was expected to enter into the WWF in an on-camera role earlier and it may be that this whole angle is to introduce her and possibly Linda into the storylines. It is also interesting to hear the Taker speak of a "higher power" and many people do not know this...but if there is one person who is "higher" than Vince McMahon, it is his wife Linda. She has been designated as the OFFICIAL owner of the WWF for many years now, although Vince handles all the affairs of the promotion. What may be happening here is and I've seen a couple other reporters allude to this...

Now I'm going to stress, this is ONLY a RUMOR and should be taken with a grain of salt...hell, take the whole salt shaker with it if you want...but it may be that Linda McMahon has gotten fed up with Vince's attitude as of late (in character of course) and is attempting to set him straight. Along with the Undertaker's Ministry and possibly daugther Stephanie, she will (or has begun to) plot the downfall of the Corporation. The original letter addressed to Vinnie may have served to inform him that his daughter was either kidnapped or under the powers of the Undertaker and the teddy may have been to confirm McMahon's worst nightmares. I guess we'll have to wait and see...either way, if it does materialize, it will surely end up leading to a huge intra-promotional feud with the possibility of wrestlers ending up taking sides with either Linda or Vince. Or it could signal the end of McMahon's days in the WWF storylines...

Speaking of this Undertaker angle, I've heard several rumors that this so called higher power will turn out to be Sting. I HIGHLY doubt that people, simply because to the best of my knowledge, he is under WCW contract for the next little bit and secondly, he is still being spotted backstage at WCW shows. Lots of emails asking me where he is and when he will come back...and although I am not a WCW-guy, I believe Sting cites "personal reasons" for his inactivity but he has fought at some recent house shows. WCW is run by a bunch of psychos, so who knows what they have in store for him and when and how they will bring him back into the picture.

Last night on RAW, the three-man scuffle between Ken Shamrock, Val Venis and Billy Gunn pretty much confirms another match for Wrestlemania 15. That being a three way, Triple Threat match between the I-C champion and his main contenders. We could also see Ryan Shamrock play a crucial part in deciding the outcome of this match as she is rumored to be now associated with Billy Gunn. That brings the latest TENTATIVE Wrestlemania card to:

The Rock VS. Steve Austin

Val Venis VS. Ken Shamrock VS. Billy Gunn

Triple H VS. Chyna

Shane McMahon VS. X-Pac

Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart & Debra VS. Mark Henry, D'Lo & Ivory

-Sable VS. Tori

-Mankind VS. Paul Wight

-Undertaker VS. Big Bossman or Kane

The second last match is still highly arguable but it appears that the WWF is setting up Mankind-Wight, with the winner being declared as the special guest referee in the main event later on in the night. Remember, Shawn Michaels is still the commish and as of now, he has not responded to any of the details that have happened on RAW lately...ie. McMahon naming Wight champ, Wight helping Rock defeat Mankind, etc.

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Page Updated Sat Mar 20, 1999 10:47am EST