Future of the Hardys, Bischoff, Heyman’s Security & More

News

The addition of MNM and the Hardys to the Armageddon card was very much a last-minute decision, directly based on the bad reaction to the ECW PPV. The company felt they ought to deliver a better card than advertised to make up for the bad show, as well as trying to encourage people to buy future PPVs even if the advertised line-up is not that great as you never know what you might miss. Vince McMahon was quite adamant that the Hardys should not be kept together as a tag team after he returned from the Iraq trip. However, their quarter ratings have often been the highest on every show and he allowed the writers to use them as a team for a while longer. It’s not known what the final decision will be but there are many people pushing for them to stay as a team.

Kevin Federline might not be around WWE following his match with John Cena on New Year’s Day. Rumours are that he will be on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, starting on the 3rd January.

A potential plan for WrestleMania is Hulk Hogan & Vince McMahon vs. The Big Show & Eric Bischoff. The build up would play around teasing a Vince turn on Hogan after Bischoff turned up to claim WCW peaked because of him and not Hogan. They could then deliver a McMahon/Bischoff fight at Mania in addition to the Hogan bodyslamming Show spot. No word on how this would impact the rumoured Foley/McMahon match, although Shane facing Mick wouldn’t be surprising.

Internally, the belief is that Tazz will be gone when his contract is up. He has been appearing on New York radio shows and may try to use that as leverage but appearing on ECW rather than Smackdown has diminished his value to the company, especially with JBL replacing him so successfully. Brad Armstrong’s recent appearance on ECW was thought to be a trial for Tazz’s replacement.

Nobody knows what the plan is for Doug Basham and Derrick Neikirk, who had been playing Paul Heyman’s security team on ECW. They could be brought back without masks, kept together as a tag team, or put back together with their old tag partners. Neikirk had teamed with Roughouse O’Reilly in OVW before O’Reilly was suspended for a drug test failure. He also teamed with Mike Knox in Deep South, which is another possible plan for ECW. Doug Basham teamed with Danny “The Damaja” Basham on Smackdown, as well as in Paul Heyman’s security team before Damaja got injured and went to OVW in a commissioner-type role.

Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)