WWF Monday Night RAW: Taped 3/24.
HOUR ONE: Hosted by Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler.

 - Tonight kicks off with a clip of Bret Hart's speech from last week, shown
   in black and white (slowly going to color) with dramatic music. This
   unfortunately replaced the new kick-ass opening.

 - OWEN HART vs. THE BRITISH BULLDOG
   Owen jumps the Bulldog outside the ring, setting the tempo for this one
   right off the bat. Owen scoops up the Bulldog and rams him repeatedly
   into the post. The match hasn't even started yet, the bell only sounding
   once they enter the ring. Owen nails a crossbody off the top and gets a
   two count. Owen goes into a lengthy series of offense, keeping the
   Bulldog down on the mat. The Bulldog is able to block an early Sharp-
   shooter attempt. The Bulldog stages a brief rally, but is halted by a
   boot to the face after whipping Owen into a corner. The two trade a few
   pin attempts, with Owen generally maintaining the upper hand. The Bulldog
   finally stages a major comeback and applies a Sharpshooter of his own,
   but Owen is able to power out of it, then nails an enzuguiri kick to the
   head. The match spills very briefly to the floor, back into the ring,
   then up to the ramp where the Bulldog suplexes Owen. The Bullodg is
   firmly in command now, but makes the mistake of getting whipped into the
   ropes. On the rebound he takes out the ref, knocking him to the floor.
   Owen hits a spinning heel kick, then slips to the floor to grab a chair.
   Before he can use it, the Bulldog kicks him in the midsection. Owen drops
   the chair. The Bulldog clotheslines him and Owen falls on the chair. The
   Bulldog then retrieves the chair and ...

   Suddenly Bret Hart comes to the ring. He lighly clips the Bulldog from
   behind, then sits on his chest with the chair pressed lightly against the
   Bulldog's throat. Owen comes over, telling Bret to "let him go." Bret
   tells Owen to quit it. He then spends the next minute or so holding the
   two apart, yelling "stop" repeatedly. Bret gets a house mic. He tells the
   two that this whole feud is the fault of the fans, who have no sense of
   "family values." He tells them both he needs them. He typifies America as
   a country that pits brother against brother. He recounts past matches
   between all three, and how the fans ignored their sportsmanship and
   turned on all of them, forcing all three into meaningless feuds against
   one another, Bret's sister Diana, and the whole Hart family. Bret appeals
   to Owen to recall their childhoods, and how Bret was always there for
   him. "Because Americans don't understand family!" Owen begins to cry.
   Bret pleads with the Bulldog to join him. "Owen ... I love you. I love
   you." The three embrace. Bret tosses down the mic. Lawler turns away from
   McMahon, wiping away tears. McMahon questions Hart's motives.

   The Hart Foundation is reborn.

 - Sunny comes out for color commentary. She says everyone was in tears in
   the back, and she'd love to get her hands on the Hart team.

 - SUPER NOVA vs. EL MOSCO
   This was a solid singles match, but Sunny's presence made it hard to
   concentrate. First she trades quips with McMahon. ("Do you know what
   'buenos noches, senor' means?" "Yes ... 'I'd like a drink of water!").
   She then heads over to the Spanish announcer's table and chats it up with
   them. (The real jawdropper being her witnessing a dive through the ropes
   by Super Nova and remarking "a beatiful tope ... a 'muy bonita tope' by
   Super Nova!"). She then comes back to the other table and Lawler talks
   her into holding him, so that he can cope with the emotion of the Hart
   reunion.

   Super Nova misses a moonsault, landing flat on his back. El Mosco hits
   a legdrop, then finishes him off with a springboard splash (a la Sabu and
   Marc Mero).

 - Jim Ross interviews the Road Warriors, who are now sporting new tights
   and shoulder pads (black, with silver skulls on the shoulders). Animal
   says that in other sports, the fans only remember the winners, not the
   losers. To this end, it's the LOD's goal to win the Tag Titles at In Your
   House. Hawk says he's going to knock the "doggy dumplings" out of the
   British Bulldog. Hawk still does the best "G" rated interviews around.

 - The Honky Tonk Man comes out, promising big news regarding his search for
   a protege.

 - "DOUBLE J" JESSE JAMMES (w/ some little kid) vs. JERRY FOX
   Jammes (there's that extra "m" again) tries his best to elicit some kind-
   any kind-of reaction from the small child that serves as his guest ring
   attendant. No go ... the kid is stonefaced. Jammes then turns his
   attention to the jobber and quickly splats him with an abdominal stretch
   suplex.

   The Honky Tonk Man enters the ring and, to make a long story short, asks
   Double J to be his protege. Jesse acts all surprised and honored, accepts
   Honky's "prized" guitar, then (predictably enough) smashes it. "It's a
   little out of tune for me!" Though he doesn't say so, you know Honky is
   planning revenge. Lawler is almost in tears again over Honky losing a
   treasured "hair-loom" (sic).

 - SAVIO VEGA/CRUSH (w/ the Nation of Domination) vs. ADAM O'BRIEN/ROD BELL
   Total, lengthy squash, which served as a backdrop for a telephone
   interview with Shawn Michaels. Shawn says his recovery has been set back.
   He's got a lot to say to Bret Hart, and will do so on next weeks RAW is
   WAR ... in person.

   Crush drops an elbow on O'Brien, and Savio plants a foot on the chest for
   the pin.

 - They show a highlights package featuring Ken Shamrock. It starts with his
   humiliation of Billy Gunn, then shows footage from numerous UFC bouts. It
   finishes with his confrontation with Bret Hart at WrestleMania. Shamrock
   will be on RAW next week in a "No Holds Barred Exhibition."

   As they go to break we see Paul Bearer praying by the Undertaker's
   coffin.

HOUR TWO: Hosted by Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler.

 - More fireworks, but they don't show the new beginning (like they've done
   the last two weeks). Could the WWF have pulled the Marilyn Manson tune.
   (Manson is the controversy of choice in the music world these days).

 - Paul Bearer comes out and again pleads for the Undertaker to take him
   back. The Undertaker arrives, stopping at ringside to make sure the
   coffin (which was wheeled out during the break) is locked shut. He says
   that he will never forget what Paul Bearer has done to him, but that
   perhaps he could forgive. He then hands Bearer the belt. After a suitable
   pause to allow the fans to react, the Undertaker pops him one. He then
   pursues Bearer to the ramp (grabbing the urn, which lay atop the casket).

   Out from under the ring comes Mankind. He fumbles about with something in
   his hands. The Undertaker, sensing Mankind, turns to deal with him.
   Mankind flicks a lighter and tosses a fireball into the Undertaker's
   eyes. Bearer and Mankind then briefly embrace, but are chased off by
   Sycho Sid, who runs in for the save.

   This, along with his beating of one of the Brisco brothers on Superstars,
   ought to makes the fans interested enough in hating Mankind again.

 - Sid, with comments from the back. He says the Undertaker was the better
   man at WrestleMania, but he'll always be a better man than Mankind.

   Jerry Lawler says Mankind's Mandible Claw must be bionic, and it
   "accidentally" exploded tonight.

 - GOLDUST vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY
   This was mostly a low speed brawl outside the ring. If you didn't see it
   at WrestleMania, you got a look here at Goldust's new black and gold
   outfit. (My own bias against Helmsley made it hard for me to be
   interested in this one). The crowd heat completely trickled away during
   the match, as everyone awaited the eventual interference by Chyna (she
   had been "barred from the arena," but having see her in the course of
   last weeks's show, they knew she was there).

   After the match dragged for quite some time, Chyna puts in an appearance
   at the top of the ramp. Goldust finally makes his comeback and nails the
   Curtain Call, but is stopped from getting the pin by Chyna. She kicks
   him, then nails him with a spinning backhand. She and Helmsley stomp on
   Goldust as the ring fills with officials. Pat Patterson pulls Helmsley
   away and gets knocked to the mat. Patterson comes back and attacks
   Helmsley, drawing a good reaction from the crowd. Chyna joins in that
   fight and she and Helmsley stomp Patterson to the mat. Goldust clothes-
   lines Helmsley out of the ring, then gets into a staredown with Chyna.
   Booooriiiiing match, but the finale was okay.

   They show another shot of the Undertaker getting flamed, then "Stone
   Cold" Austin pacing in the back.

 - Austin comes to the ring for an interview. He makes sure we all know he
   didn't quit at WrestleMania. He then says he "ain't changing for nobody!"
   The fans can boo him when against the "good guys," and they can cheer him
   when against the "bad guys." He tells Hart to "put on a clean pair of
   panties" and come out to get his ass kicked!

   Hart comes on the jumbo screen and says he's finished with Austin.
   "You'll have to kill me to be finished with me!" says Austin. "Some day
   I'll be standing over your grave ... looking down ... and it'll say 'Here
   Lies the Biggest Piece of Crap That Ever Lived!'"

 - BRET "HIT MAN" HART vs. ROCKY MAIVIA
   They show clips of Hart's actions from last week. They also show clips of
   Rocky and his dad at WrestleMania. The match starts off and it's a pure,
   simple scientific matchup. Tony Atlas is shown looking on from his seat
   near ringside. Hart dominates most of the match, with Rocky getting in
   the occasional high flying maneuver. Hart eventually starts to play to
   the crowd and gets plenty of downturned thumbs. They go to a break.

   Hart has maintained the offensive momentum. He sets up for an elbowdrop
   off the turnbuckle but Rocky, having apparently scouted Hart, moves
   aside. Maivia then takes command with move after move: a nice Fisherman
   Suplex, a belly-to-belly suplex, a DDT. He then hits a crossbody block
   off the top. Hart rolls through it and small packages Maivia. Rocky sort
   of kicks out (he kicks, but doesn't get lose). The ref calls it a two
   count and Jim Ross points out that Hart may have deserved the win there.
   Hart then lures Rocky into the corner, low blows him, and applies the
   figure four around the post. The ref tries to break the hold, then
   disqualifies Hart for the illegal move.

   Steve Austin rushes out to attack Hart (he could care less about Maivia).
   The Bulldog and Owen are right behind him and they, along with Bret, beat
   on Austin. The Road Warriors run out to even up the odds. Hart, blocked
   from escape by Hawk, escapes through the crowd.

   The show, even though pretaped, ran a few minutes over again.

 - Next week's main event: None mentioned, but Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart
   will be in the building. Also Ken Shamrock in action.

Comments: A pretty good RAW-made even more remarkable for the fact that it
was taped. The first and last matches weren't too bad. My only gripe was the
dull Goldust/Helmsley match. In a night that featured mostly angles from the
two competing shows, RAW was clearly the winner.

The Hart family reunion was done just right. Hart never asked them to forget
their past troubles, nor to forgive, but to simply set them aside in favor
of personal gain for all three. Owen's emotion was a little over the top,
but other than that, it was top-notch.

This week saw three high caliber matches, (two of which I liked, the other I
didn't much care for-though Goldust and Helmsley fans may disagree), one
decent midcard match, and two squashes. Even those served a purpose, the
Double J match allowing the Honky Tonk Man angle to near fruition, and the
other to fill screen time as Shawn Michaels was interviewed. Tonight's show
was among the WWF's best attemts yet to carry momentum throughout the course
of the entire two plus hours (with, again in my opinion, the Goldust/
Helmsley match being the only low point).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

WCW Monday Nitro: Live.
HOUR ONE: Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko.

 - They start off with clips from Savage vs. Iaukea from last week, followed
   by the opening sequence.

 - Kevin Nash, Syxx, Randy Savage, Scott Norton, Elizabeth and Wallstreet
   are shown arriving. Tony questions the absence of "Hollywood" Hogan, Eric
   Bischoff and Scott Hall.

 - LEX LUGER/THE GIANT vs. RICK FULLER/ROADBLOCK
   Fuller and Roadblock dominate for most of the match until Luger can tag
   the Giant in. After clotheslining both, Giant chokeslams Roadblock for
   the pin, while Luger (with some difficulty) Torture Racks Fuller.

   After the match the Harlem Heat come in and attack Luger and the Giant.
   (I guess with less than a week to go 'til the PPV they figured they
   should finally do something to promote the main event-which was only
   really announced last week).

   Luger and the Giant are still billed as the World Tag Team Champions. I
   haven't yet figured out if this is WCW's position on the matter, or it's
   simply a screwup on the Nitro production crew's part.

   Following a commercial Mean Gene Okerlund interviews the Heat.

 - MEIKO SATOMURA vs. TOSHIE UEMATSU
   Will you get this: WCW is starting a ladies cruiserweight division! This
   match is part of a tournament to crown a new champion (the referee
   displayed the new belt). Question: why? WCW doesn't even feature their
   "heavyweight" women wrestlers with any kind of regularity. WCW doesn't
   even have any cruiserweight women! These two are from the Gaea promotion
   in Japan. Mike Tenay joins the announcing crew for the next couple of
   matches.

   Uematsu wins following some screeching, hair pulling and a splash off the
   top turnbuckle.

 - PSYCHOSIS vs. VILLANO IV
   The "4th Villain?" Conflicting styles here, as Villano is a mat wrestler
   and Psychosis is a high flyer. Psychosis lands a corkscrew moonsault from
   the top to the floor.

   They cut to the back where there's trouble brewing amongst the New World
   Order. An argument is in progress. Wallstreet says someone needs to take
   charge of the situation. Nash says he's trying to do just that. Norton
   says they should just take care of business. Wallstreet says he doesn't
   need this and walks away. It's all very cryptic, but Schiavone links it
   to the absence of Hogan and Bischoff. More to come.

 - Mean Gene interviews Ric Flair. Flair, on the topic of "Rowdy" Roddy
   Piper, brings Piper out. Flair again extends an offer to Piper to stand
   beside the Four Horsemen, laying aside the rumors of tension between the
   two factions (rumors that Flair has created by his disparaging remarks
   against Piper). Flair makes the usual hip, "out all night" kind of
   comments and extends his hand to Piper. Piper accepts. Flair brings in
   a woman from the audience and the three dance. The crowd dug it, but this
   was little more than a time killer meant to lure viewers who would expect
   something to happen. Flair, at one point, says "ass," which they left in
   on the replay.

 - Another recap of Savage vs. Iaukea from last week.

 - LA PARKA vs. PRINCE IAUKEA
   La Parka nearly kills Iaukea with a botched moonsault. Iaukea's timing is
   off for the rest of the match. La Parka clearly dominates the match (at
   one point setting the Prince on a chair on the floor and hitting him with
   a tope through the ropes). Later, he does a slide knocking a chair on the
   apron into Iaukea, who's still on the floor. La Parka then uses the chair
   to vault over the top rope and hit Iaukea with a sommersault. Iaukea then
   quite illogically wins with a quick kick to the chin, followed by a
   splash off the top turnbuckle. La Parka blocks the move with a chair, but
   Iaukea doesn't sell it, while La Parka acts as if he's been killed.
   Iaukea gets the pin. Fine ... now that it's been established that a chair
   will in no way hurt a body coming off the top, I don't wanna ever see
   a chair, boot, fist, or anything else used to "halt in mid-air" someone
   coming off the top. You hear me, WCW?

   La Parka looked good this time out. For those that call Rocky Maivia a
   "fraud," Prince Iaukea is ten times worse.

 - Mean Gene interviews Lord Steven Regal. Regal pretty much dumps on the
   entire cruiserweight division.

 - LORD STEVEN REGAL vs. CHRIS JERICHO
   This may have been Nitro's best match tonight, which isn't saying too
   much. Jericho reels off some decent moves, but Regal gets the win with a
   sloppy submission hold. Regal refuses to relenquish the hold (for all of
   five seconds). The Renegade runs in as if he's going to make the save,
   but then backs away, waving his hands. (Just at what point did Renegade
   realize he didn't want to save Jericho? Didn't he know that's who was in
   the ring?). "Desperado" Joe Gomez runs in for then save and Regal pounds
   on him, dropping him with a piledriver. Renegade does nothing to help his
   tag team partner. Billy Kidman then arrives and Regal dumps him out of
   the ring. A no-name scrawny jobber is next and Regal low blows him.

   Someone please tell me this angle is more than a cheap excuse for Regal
   to draw some cheap heat by beating up guys smaller than him, with the
   cruiserweights eventually getting their revenge and embarrasing Regal.

HOUR TWO: Hosted by Tony Schiavone, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Mike Tenay.

 - They replay the footage from earlier of the NWO, and recap the Flair/
   Piper interview. They end with a live shot of M. Wallstreet stalking out
   of the building. Schiavone warns that it may be part of an NWO plot.

 - AKIRA HOKUTO (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. DEBBIE COMBS
   Think about your grandma ... add ten years ... put her in tights ... and
   you have Debbie Combs. The ladies "heavyweight" division has now swollen
   to four wrestlers.

   Hokuto wins following some screeching, hair pulling and a German Suplex.

   Mean Gene interviews Madusa. Madusa mangles Hokuto's name (trying what
   would actually be the correct form in Japan of reversing the names) and
   gets jumped by Hokuto. Mean Gene hollers like a pig caught in a fence.
   Several ring girls, referees, and Debbie break the two apart. Good thing
   they did this now, with what ... less than a week ... until the PPV.

 - They run another lengthy clips package featuring Sting. This one shows
   his evolution over the years.

 - They run clips of Jeff Jarrett and Debra McMichael causing the Public
   Enemy to lose last week.

 - THE AMAZING FRENCH CANADIANS (w/ Col. Parker) vs. THE HORSEMEN (w/ Debra)
   Yup, you guessed it. The Public Enemy come out and return the favor. The
   P.E. tie up Jarrett down on the floor. Col. Parker gets the briefcase.
   As the ref tries to clear out the P.E., Parker whacks Mongo with the
   case. Oulette gets the pin.

   Debra is so busy playing to the camera that she forgets to be concerned
   about her husband, who lies unconscious on the mat. Mean Gene enters the
   war zone for an interview. Mongo asks Jarrett "what happened?" Just when
   we thought they had wasted months of our time with this crap, only to
   "settle it" before Uncensored, they pick up right where they left off.

 - Lee Marshall phones in from Huntsville, Alabama.

 - HUGH MORRUS (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. CHRIS BENOIT (w/ Woman)
   This is a rematch from last week. Benoit wins fairly easily with a German
   Suplex. Konan, Kevin Sullivan and Jacquelyn run in for the attack. Benoit
   is stomped to the mat and Jacquely (in high heels and street clothes)
   hits a splash off the top turnbuckle. She goes up for a second, but Woman
   shakes the ropes and she drops down, straddling them. Flair and Arn
   Anderson then come out. Like last week, Flair cleans house with low
   blows. Arn watches from ringside. Sullivan and his gang flee. Arn and
   Kevin stare down as they pass. Mean Gene comes in for an interview and
   there's a little tension between Benoit and Anderson.

 - Yet another recap of Savage vs. Iaukea from last week.

 - DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. LANCE RINGO
   Ringo comes out with the Playboy Celebrity special with Kimberly in it.
   He flashes the pages featuring her-the letters "NWO" strategically
   covering certain parts. Page comes out and finishes him promptly with the
   Diamond Cutter. He then tells Mean Gene that he's proud of Kimberly's
   spread. Savage appears in the audience and the two taunt each other.

 - THE STEINER BROTHERS vs. HIGH VOLTAGE
   This is the main event?

   Rage shows a glimmer of promise, but Chaos is just plain terrible. As is
   usual in this type of match, High Voltage dominates, only to have the
   Steiners make a comeback. Scot puts Rage in a vertical suplex, which he
   drops into a piledriver (damn cool move). The Steiners get the win.

   As Tony Schiavone is doing the wrapup, Kevin Nash and Syxx come to the
   desk. (Heenan gets his foot tangled in a cord trying to make his escape,
   and for several painful moments we watch him try to extricate himself as
   Nash and Syxx look on). Nash says he's making a "State of the NWO
   Address." He complains that Hogan, DiBiase and the rest of the NWO are
   somewhere in Chicago with Dennis Rodman for the opening of Rodman's
   movie. Nash says they need to be here, taking care of business. He says
   Scott Hall is off attending to personal matters. He goes on to say that
   if need be, he will fight the Steiners at Spring Stampede by himself. He
   finishes with a brief rant directed towards the "little people," and I'm
   not sure if he was referring to other WCW wrestlers, or was making an
   insider comment aimed at sheet writers and such. This whole thing was
   obviously drawn out to keep Nitro on the air longer than RAW, which it
   succeeded in doing. Yay.

 - Next week's main event: None announced.

Comments: What an absolutely weak Nitro! Nitro didn't even have the best
match of the night: a claim they can usually fall back upon to vindicate
themselves. Again Hogan, Sting and Rodman were no-shows (and Rodman will
continue to be, as I doubt his agreement with WCW includes anything other
than PPV appearances). Piper's appearance was wasted in an uneventful
encounter with Flair. Savage was wasted as well-why did he even come to the
arena? Hall's absence still hasn't been adequately explained.

I guess if I had to run down the "highlights" of the show, they'd look
something like this:

 * Luger and the Giant appeared. The fans cheered, and can now say they saw
   Luger and the Giant.

 * Flair and Piper appeared. The fans cheered, and can now say they saw
   Flair and Piper.

 * Regal vs. Jericho was the best match of the show.

 * The Steiner Brothers appeared. The fans cheered, and can now say they saw
   the Steiner Brothers.

 * Nash and Syxx appeared. The fans ... etc.

I'd swear I was watching WCW Saturday Night. As they've done in the past,
WCW usually doesn't give us Hogan when they are hyping a PPV that doesn't
include him. Since he and his immediate entourage compromise the bulk of the
NWO, pulling him from the card shows you how shallow WCW can get. This
especially hurts now since Sting is being groomed to face Hogan. If Hogan
isn't supposed to be on the show, Sting wouldn't be either.

My guess would be that WCW's intent was to show us less high caliber action,
so as to make the PPV more important. The problem here is that they went
waaaay too far in the opposite direction. Nitro is still WCW's premiere show
on TV. To make it less exciting and uneventful as their other shows is
inexcusable.

They tried valiantly to hype this Sunday's PPV, but did a pretty poor job of
it if you ask me. The biggest hurdle is the fact that they've only had about
two weeks to do so. Most of the matches were only just officially announced
last week. Some matches have been changed. Scott Hall probably won't show,
and Syxx is supposedly in no shape to replace him. Since it would have been
up to Hall to carry his team's end of the match (and lay on the mat for any
pinfall that may have taken place) this match is essentially done for. The
Luger/Giant/Harlem Heat main event is a joke. (I wouldn't rule out one of
the Heat winning. Because it's so improbable, WCW may just do it to catch
everyone off guard). You want my prediction? Luger gets knocked out outside
the ring. The Heat double team the Giant and eliminate him. Luger comes to
and eliminates Stevie Ray. Booker T. (with Sherri's help) gets the upset
win. The next night on Nitro the NWO take out Booker T. Luger, as the
"runner-up," gets the title shot against Hogan at Slamboree. This would also
build the Heat as future opponents for Hall and Nash.

Other predictions: I bet Sting never shows. Neither will Hogan or Rodman.
Spring Stampede has been billed as Flair's return (Viewer's Choice is
actually hyping the show as Flair's return to the ring). I bet Flair does
put in a token appearance, perhaps with Piper beside him. Benoit vs. Malenko
has been woefully underpromoted, and will probably result in some kind of
screwy Dungeon of Doom run-in. Savage vs. Page is the real main event.
Savage will most likely get the win, setting up the much anticipated mixed
match of Savage/Elizabeth vs. Page/Kimberly. The whole rest of the card is
filler and Nitro caliber material.

I'd nominate this as a candidate for worst Nitro thus far this year, mostly
because of the needless inclusion of the women wrestlers, and the general
lack on anything approaching a quality match.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bottom Line: I've already beat on Spring Stampede to death, so enough of
that. I've no doubt that next week's Nitro will most likely be a better,
and more notable show, than the PPV itself.

The next In Your House (subtitled "The Revenge of the 'Taker") doesn't look
to be all that bad. Scheduled thus far:

 * The Undertaker vs. Mankind. I'd expect some kind of stipulations for this
   one: no-DQ, "No Holds Barred," etc.

 * Bret Hart vs. Sycho Sid. A win here (with the help of Owen and the
   Bulldog) would probably establish Bret as the number one contender for
   the next PPV. Hmmm ...

 * Owen & The Bulldog vs. The Road Warriors. Prior to the family reunion, I
   had the Warriors pegged to win this one. Now I doubt it.

These three are fairly "big" matches to the average fans, but I doubt it'll
draw many buys from the real hardcores. The WWF, however, has two more weeks
to really hype this one. If the main event is really promoted, and the fans
get a sense that the two wrestlers will really dig down deep and give a heck
of a match, then it would really help to sell the PPV. Also crucial is if
the whole Hart/Austin/Michaels scenario continues to develope in an
interesting manner.

I don't know how the ratings will shake out this week, but both shows may
have been affected by the NCAA Final Four game between Arizona and Kentucky.
The conventional wisdom surrounding this is that southerners would be more
interested in the game, thus Nitro would suffer more. My own take on it is
that due to the demographics of the respective audiences, RAW could be the
one who's more likely to lose viewers. In the end, I doubt it'll affect
either show all that much.

Rumors this week:

 * Scott Hall has been suspended, and is not in rehab as has been previously
   rumored. There's also the rehab rumor, and talk of him dealing with
   family problems. Hall was suspended by the WWF because of "substance
   abuse" shortly before his leaving them, and this is said to be related.
   (Steroids?)

 * The WWF signed Dan Severn, Del Wilkes (The Patriot) and Disco Inferno.
   (The last one is really speculative, based on an indy show appearance).

 * Vader may have been injured at WrestleMania. It's also been rumored that
   he thought he and Mankind were supposed to win the tag belts, no-showed
   the RAW taping because of that, and was yanked from the main event at the
   next IYH as a result of his no-show.

I only include these rumors because I get so many E-Mails about them. The
above can be found all over the 'Net and the newsgroups. I stand by none of
them, and only mention them because people have asked. Please don't come to
expect them every week: I do not want anyone considering me a "source."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week's Winner: RAW.

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