– Bob Sapp, who wrestled briefly in WCW before going to Japan and becoming a MAJOR star, met with Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis on 10/15 in Los Angeles. Paul Heyman has been pushing WWE to sign him since 2003, when Sapp was also negotiating with K-1. Heyman wanted to book a Sapp/Lesnar match for WrestleMania, which was ironically something that K-1 tried to book this past year before Sapp walked out on the company over a money dispute at an Amsterdam show. Sapp still has several fights left on his K-1 contract and the company has threatened to sue anyone who uses him even though they will not. He could likely make more money in MMA, especially since Pride is also after him, and the chances of him signing with WWE are said to be 50% at best.
– Bob Collins, a long-time promoter with WWE who worked on WrestleMania III, has been regularly covering the Detroit area in the build to WrestleMania XXIII. He has been telling the Ford Field people that the only match WWE has decided upon for the show is Hulk Hogan vs. The Big Show. However, that match is not even 100% certain right now as Big Show’s contract expires in February and he is in a great deal of physical pain right now. He legitimately weighs 520 pounds, finds travelling difficult, has already been taken off of most minor house shows and plans are being made to get the ECW title off of him soon. The problem with the title is that, realistically, Rob Van Dam is the only ECW guy in a good position to win it and yet Vince McMahon has been said to be determined not to let him be the champion again following his arrest the last time around. He also feels RVD cannot be a draw as champion, although others feel the crowds will be the same no matter who has the belt. Big Show has been telling people he is considering leaving next year and going into acting, since his size and comedic personality makes him rather unique and should get him plenty work. His original contract, signed in 1999, was $950,000 a year for ten years. It was renegotiated later when management felt he wasn’t working hard enough and sent him to OVW, with Jim Ross cutting it down to $1,000,000 a year for eight years. Eventually, Vince got irritated about paying that much for anybody in developmental and they just took him as he was. John Laurinaitis started talking to him about a new deal recently, which involved a major pay cut. After Kurt Angle left the company had more money available for wages and he was offered a five-year extension at the same wage, which he turned down. The company was shocked at this, yet Big Show just doesn’t believe he can continue because of the severe pain he is experiencing. His back is shot and he fears that he may start rapidly deteriorating like Andre the Giant did at around the same stage of his life. Because they cut back his dates he has agreed to work through till February unless things get extraordinarily bad, then take a hiatus and hopefully recover enough to return. He is in a secure financial position but may never be able to handle a full-time schedule again. He has not confirmed anything about WrestleMania yet but the feeling is that he will work the show because of Hogan’s involvement unless he is physically incapable.
– Lita is expected to finish with WWE at Survivor Series, give or take a week in either direction. She is pursuing local acting jobs in Atlanta, with a few plays and independent film offers lined up. Management expect that she probably will work in TNA at some point because of their lighter schedule.
– Monty Brown is expected to sign with WWE in the next few weeks, provided he doesn’t ask for anything out of the ordinary in terms of schedule or wages. He had a major falling out with TNA because of his refusal to work extra dates to improve his performances, which, compounded with his promised title reign going to Christian Cage, prompted him to turn down a new contract with them.
– Vince’s opinion on ECW at recent meetings has been “We need to restructure the public’s thinking of the ECW brand”. WWE in general feels that ECW never really had any significant audience, just a small group of very vocal fans that had a good time going to the shows. Extreme Rules matches will be cut back heavily, including at house shows. All the Extreme Rules matches advertised so far will be done, but future shows will more than likely not have any.
– The 10/19 show in Tokyo was billed as a Raw vs. ECW event. Out of the eight matches, ECW won one, with Sabu beating Nitro in an Extreme Rules contest.
– On the new Hulk Hogan DVD there is plenty of attention given to how Andre was slammed for the first time ever at WrestleMania III. On the same DVD, an hour earlier, they show a match from 1980 in which Hogan slams Andre.
– Eddie Guerrero’s brothers organised a golf tournament in Tampa recently, with the proceeds going to a fund for Eddie’s daughters. WWE did not promote the show or send any wrestlers to participate. There were overseas tours on at the time but plenty of their wrestlers were still available to go if asked.
– WWE has removed all archived Chris Jericho material from their website following his recent quasi-involvement with TNA.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
