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Random news some spoilers
-Skip these first two paragraphs if you don't want to know what WWE has planned for Survivor Series and beyond. There doesn't appear to be an end in sight to the McMahon family pushing themselves as on-air talent. The Torch has learned that not only is the plan for Vince to wrestle Undertaker in a "Buried Alive" match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, but the latest plan has Vince winning the match when Stephanie returns and interferes on her father's behalf. At that point, Undertaker will take an extended leave from WWE until he returns at WrestleMania XX as the babyface "Dead Man" character for a match with Kane. The idea behind Taker's extended leave is that he and Vince McMahon feel that the return of the "Dead Man" character will mean more if Taker's been away for a while.
-Yes, WWE is planning to hold "interpromotional" matches between wrestlers from the Raw and Smackdown divisions at WrestleMania. In addition to Taker vs. Kane, WWE is also planning to hold Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar at Mania. There are no plans to reunite the Raw and Smackdown rosters beyond WrestleMania. In other words, Raw and Smackdown will be separate divisions after WrestleMania.
-The word in both WWE locker rooms is that Shane McMahon's wife Marissa is pregnant. Not only will this be Shane's first child, but also the first grandchild for Vince and Linda McMahon.
-Taker is said to be one of the few Smackdown wrestlers who is happy with his current push and the direction of the company. This has led to some wrestlers losing respect for Taker as a locker room leader. The perception of these wrestlers is that Taker is either out for himself or blinded by the push he is receiving, and doesn't understand how miserable the rest of the locker room is at this point. How bad has the Smackdown locker room become? "This is the most miserable locker room I've ever been in, WCW included" said one Smackdown source who has worked for both companies. "This is the worst I've ever seen a locker room crumble." Keep in mind, it was only a month or two ago that Smackdown was considered the happier locker room setting.
-There are no plans for Steve Austin to return to the ring in the five-on-five Raw wrestler Survivor Series match. Brock Lesnar will be involved in a Smackdown five-on-five Survivor Series match, so the WWE Title will not be defended on the show.
-WWE officials wanted to call Tajiri's new faction "The Yakuza," but Tajiri refused to work under that name. Apparently, Tajiri was worried someone in the real Yakuza (the Japanese mafia) would be offended.
-NWA-TNA officials were forced to postpone the Nov. 30 "Bound for Glory" pay-per-view due to Hulk Hogan's decision to have his knee scoped next week. As announced on the Oct. 22 show, TNA is planning to reschedule the event, with most sources predicting that it will take place in January. The postponement may give TNA enough time to make arrangements so that the show can be held in a major Las Vegas casino. Although the Nashville Auditorium has been discussed as another site possibility, Hogan made a pitch to hold the show in a Tampa arena near his home. It's not that Hogan doesn't want to travel to the event, but rather that he believes he has enough connections in the area to promote the show properly.
-In other Hogan news, there has been a lot of su••••ion within the industry that Hogan could have waited to have his knee surgery until after the Nov. 30 show. The conspiracy theory is that Hogan was not crazy about the idea of working a major pay-per-view event on such short notice and wanted to make sure that there would be enough time to promote the event properly.
-Major League Wrestling cancelled the show scheduled for Oct. 24 in Jacksonville, Fla., which was scheduled to be headlined by Steve Corino vs. Terry Funk for the MLW Title. The official reason for the cancellation is soft ticket sales. MLW owner Court Bauer told the Torch that he could have papered the town to increase attendance, but felt that doing so would have killed off the town for future shows. "We had to do what's right for business, and unfortunately that means not running this event. Visit Ticketmaster.com for refund information... There are no intentions of shutting down. There is just a minor promotional/logistical problem which is going to cause us to delay some items such as TV." Bauer added that MLW "Underground TV" will air on Oct. 27 as scheduled, although he was still undecided about the direction will take with television shows that are scheduled to air beyond that point.
-Meanwhile, two well-placed sources tell the Torch that MLW officials will likely announce that they are suspending operations until next year.
-PW Torch
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