INSIDER'S ACCESS (WWF, WCW, ECW)


REDJED'S INSIDER'S ACCESS This page contains all of the latest news and rumors for each of the 3 major wrestling organizations respectively. I will update Insider's Access every Wednesday afternoon, so be here for all the latest and some exclusive news from the Redman that you won't see anywhere else! So be here then or get the hell out!!! <<<<< WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11TH >>>>> --------------------
	WWF [WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION] TOP STORY - BIG CHANGES TO SUMMERSLAM MADE LAST NIGHT AT RAW TAPING IN MILWAUKEE Well, we all knew that Chyna wasn't really going to take on Stone Cold at SummerSlam, but after last night, things got even more crazy with the main event at next week's big ppv. WWF.com has reported on this also, so it is official (two different spoilers were wandering around the net, but the real ones had finally been confirmed). The main event at SummerSlam will now be Stone Cold VS Triple H VS Mankind! Yes, you heard me right, Foley made a big impact last night and has now been thrust into the main event spot. Why is this? Well, two main reasons....1) So HHH can win the WWF title without having Austin losin any heat, since Foley will probably be doin the job 2) Austin is having complications with his knee injury and might not be 100 percent, so with adding Foley it will take some pressure of Austin and his injury. Chances are Austin will take some time off perhaps after the ppv, depending on how bad the injury is. But that exact injury seems to be the defining reason why Mankind will now also be a part of SummerSlam in a big way. It should be an outstanding match. Anyway, how this all occured went like this. As expected, Chyna & HHH had a match, and thanks to Foley, Chyna actually won. Then Foley made a challenge to Chyna, and she refused. However, HBK came out and demanded the match happen. Foley ended up beating Chyna to take the number one contender spot, but HHH came out then and wanted a match with Foley for the shot. Shane McMahon used his power as owner and made the match happen, with him and HBK as duel refs. An unusual ending occured (double pin) which forced both refs to determine that BOTH men are now the number one contenders, thus both men wrestle Austin at SummerSlam. I just have to say this is kick ass booking on the part of the WWF, I can't wait to see RAW next week to watch the action. So, as of now, this is what the SummerSlam lineup looks like..... MAIN EVENT - WWF TITLE MATCH - TRIPLE THREAT RULES Stone Cold VS HHH VS Mankind The Rock VS Billy Gunn WWF TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Kane & X-Pac VS Undertaker & The Big Show WWF IC TITLE MATCH D-Lo Brown VS Jeff Jarrett WWF HARDCORE TITLE MATCH Big Bossman VS Al Snow WWF WOMENS TITLE MATCH Ivory VS Tori LOVE HER OR LEAVE HER MATCH Shane McMahon VS Test LION'S DEN MATCH (W/ WEAPONS SURROUNDING) Ken Shamrock VS Steve Blackman Chances are one or two matches may still be added. More SummerSlam news next week right here, and at PPV Central. JERICHO DEBUTS....WHAT A RESPONSE! The big RAW last Monday saw the real Millenium Man, Chris Jericho, finally debut in the WWF. His entrance was indeed spectacular and very Jerichoesque, you could say. The gimmick he is goin with right now seems to be very similar to his WCW one, except that he is dissin on the WWF and everything related to it, wrestlers, RAW, ppvs, the crowd, everything. I guess you could say in a obtuse way, he is kinda like Hall when he entered WCW, but note the light sarcasm in Jericho's comments, which makes his gimmick almost a rib on this old employer, talkin about the plummeting numbers in buyrates and ratings. Now then, what will Jericho's first feud be with? It probably won't necessarily be the Rock, as word is that Rocky will feud with the Big Show after SummerSlam. Look for a Jericho-Rock feud to be milked out for awhile, with a possible first match at Survivor Series if not even later perhaps. Also, Jericho had some words for Taker and TBS at the RAW tapings, so chances are Jericho will just do this sort of thing to all the big names first before a certain feud is inked out. A LOOK AHEAD - WWF RANDOM NOTES Cindy Margolis (yeah baby!) will be a part of the first Smackdown show, which will be taped August 24th in Kansas City (same site of the tragic death of Owen). She apparently will commentate a little bit at ringside, promoting her new UPN show. Look for this to happen alot on the Smackdown show (ie - promos for other UPN shows).......Stevie Richards showed up last night, helping his former BWO friend, the Blue Meanie, beat down Al Snow. Look for Snow and Richards to feud very soon....The latest on the Dudleys is that they will probably show at the tapings after SummerSlam, either on that RAW the day after on at the first Smackdown....Chances are Road Dogg will be HC champ before too long, he might even be added to the HC match at SummerSlam.....Rumors are that Terri Runnels will be the one behind G-TV, since most of the clips catch guys in compromising spots or situations. However, how do you explain the one with Terri and Co?.....Don't count out Vic Grimes out of the whole G-TV thing though, as he was called "G" last night in a dark match....Derrick "Starfire" Dukes, the guy known for taking the scripted aspect of wrestling into boxing (he "worked" a boxing match against some guy back in the early 90s after his stint with the AWA failed) got a tryout at the RAW taping last night for some unknown reason....So who was the guy that hit Austin with the cinder block? Two possibilities in my opinion.....either Big Show or else it could be HBK...Big Show could have been helpin Taker out by beatin down Austin and as for HBK, he could have been doin the same for HHH. We'll see if this angle goes anywhere or if it is just assumed that HHH did it in the first place.
	WCW [WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING] TOP STORY - HOGAN AND FLAIR PERHAPS SET TO RETIRE As unbelievable as it is, two of the top stars "back in the day" may be set to call it quits for good at nearly the same time. First off, as we all know Hogan and Nash will collide in a career match at the ppv this Saturday. Now then, many believe (including me) this stip was put in place because of Hogan's comments, which were reported by WCW shill Bob Ryder, that he only has a handful of matches left in him, since his knees are still badly messed up. If that is indeed fact, I personally couldn't be more happy. Also, that may explain the return of the Hulkster on Monday night. The reasoning behind that is Hogan may have wanted to go out the way he was best known as. The latest on all of this is many believe that Saturday night will probably lose on Saturday, but perhaps not lose the belt. Say Hogan loses by DQ or something, thus he would hold onto the belt. Then, from there, there would be a sort of a controversy whether or not Hogan can retire while he's still champ, and that will lead to a sort of swan song for the Hulkster, perhaps culminating in the next few months with a finale match at a ppv. As for Flair, word came down that his doctor has not cleared him to wrestle because arthritis has apparently come down on Nature Boy in his back, which was broken about 20 years ago in a plane crash. Now then, if this is indeed true, it is likely it would be very difficult to ever wrestle again, and regardless, if he can't get medical clearance, he's screwed. But, alot of people have been talkin that this whole scenerio is indeed a lie from Flair, as he ironically was scheduled to take on Shane Douglas this past Monday on Nitro (or at least that is what Mark Madden said). Plus go with the fact that Flair has not been happy at all with WCW lately in regards to how he's been treated and it is a high chance that Flair is just using excuses to not be around in the storylines and matches right now, since he is so unhappy with them with (in my opinion) the whole pushing of a Douglas-Flair feud regardless of Flair's wishes not to do so. I guess time will tell with both of these situations, but it's a possibility that by the new millenium, we won't see either of these two in action. ROAD WILD UPDATE Well, as I type this, a huge bunch of WCW stars are trekking from Boise to Sturgis, in the annual motorcycle trip that WCW does every year goin to the ppv. The big news out of that whole scenerio is that Dustin Runnels is a part of the group, which means he should be at Road Wild in some form, perhaps showing up with the Rednecks. And some interesting news came down late tonight on the WCW Hotline which could be very serious, since the whole pack is only around Yellowstone Park right now currently (and stuck there because of horrible weather). Anyhow, a group of wrestlers, including Goldberg & Rick Steiner are MIA, and nobody has no clue where they are since nobody has cell phones, etc. I doubt this is an angle, but I guess you never know. Lots of talk is abound that DDP will get the U.S. Title from new champ Benoit at the show. I say don't count on it, taking the title away from Benoit would be a huge slap in the face to most of the pure wrestling fans, and they damn well know that they don't need to lose any more viewers! Also, a new match has been added to the card, perhaps finalizing the lineup. ICP & Vampiro will take on Rey, Eddie, and Kidman in six man tag action. I hope WCW made sure that ICP had the night off, cuz they are currently on tour! Finally, some more heat was drawn for the Savage-Rodman match last night on Jay Leno when Savage speared Dennis and knocked him over the chairs on the set. Look to see highlights of that on Thunder tomorrow if you missed Leno. UPCOMING RETURNS The big one is Bret Hart, who should be back on Nitro as early as this upcoming Monday night. If not then, he should be back within the end of the month. As for Scott Hall, only the lord knows, but I'll make a safe bet and say he'll be back before Fall Brawl. Also, Scott Steiner should be back on TV within a few weeks, as should Lex Luger, who is completely healed. I have no idea why WCW just took him off TV after he had an alliance with Sting building up, but anyway, it's WCW so who knows. Hak seems to be having complications with his injury and has yet to recieve medical clearance. Chances are he'll be back in a few weeks too however. Finally, it still seems like Fit Finley is going to be out of action for a really long time, as the poor guy has lost all feeling below his knees.
ECW [EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING] TOP STORY - ECW GEARING UP FOR THEIR FIRST EVER TNN TAPING This coming Saturday in Toledo, Ohio, the first TNN taping will occur, set to air on August 27th on the debut show. There wasn't been much word what is going to happen exactly, but it's possible that the Dudleys might wrestle in a fairwell match at the taping. Also, expect a cruiserweight match, and perhaps RVD defending his TV title. For the most part, chances are teh first couple of shows will just give everyone a brief overview of ECW and it won't be strong on angles in the outset. But in due time, look for three matches a week, plus angles, of course. Either Joel Gertner or Cyrus will join Joey in the announcing booth and it is expected that there will be whole new type of set and entrance for the TNN show. TAZ SIGNS A THREE-YEAR DEAL, ECW RUNNING TO RESIGN OTHER BIG NAMES Well, now that is was made official today that Taz signed with ECW for a three year period (and thank god, having a world champ without a contract is just plain stupid) Heyman is trying to get the same thing to happen to the other big names in the fed, like RVD and Sabu, thus guarenteeing that Heyman can build a base to work with in the long run, which only makes sense. Also, in my opinion, Heyman should try to sign the mid-card talent right now to a deal, since I feel he has a very strong roster right now, and with the TNN show coming around, that means more $$$, so they certainly can afford it. Also, with the TNN deal and more $$$ means they can possibly sign other big names, which brings me to my next subject.... RAVEN BACK TO ECW? Some rumors flying around lately are talkin about Raven perhaps positioning himself to get out of WCW and back to ECW. This comes from the last two interviews that Raven has had, on 1wrestling.com and the WCW Live audio show, respectively. Basically, Raven said many derogatory things about WCW and bashed them to a degree. On the WCW Live show, he even went to the point of spoiling the results of the opening match, even telling which guy of the six man match was going to do the job. Even though this is highly unlikely (since Raven is under contract) it could be possible that WCW fires Raven and releases him if he keeps it up with this. And I'm sure if he gets released, Heyman would love to take him back. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK FOR MORE NEWS......


REDJED'S INSIDER'S ACCESS This page contains all of the latest news and rumors for each of the 3 major wrestling organizations respectively. I will update Insider's Access every Wednesday afternoon, so be here for all the latest and some exclusive news from the Redman that you won't see anywhere else! So be here then or get the hell out!!! <<<<< WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11TH >>>>> --------------------
	WWF [WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION] TOP STORY - BIG CHANGES TO SUMMERSLAM MADE LAST NIGHT AT RAW TAPING IN MILWAUKEE Well, we all knew that Chyna wasn't really going to take on Stone Cold at SummerSlam, but after last night, things got even more crazy with the main event at next week's big ppv. WWF.com has reported on this also, so it is official (two different spoilers were wandering around the net, but the real ones had finally been confirmed). The main event at SummerSlam will now be Stone Cold VS Triple H VS Mankind! Yes, you heard me right, Foley made a big impact last night and has now been thrust into the main event spot. Why is this? Well, two main reasons....1) So HHH can win the WWF title without having Austin losin any heat, since Foley will probably be doin the job 2) Austin is having complications with his knee injury and might not be 100 percent, so with adding Foley it will take some pressure of Austin and his injury. Chances are Austin will take some time off perhaps after the ppv, depending on how bad the injury is. But that exact injury seems to be the defining reason why Mankind will now also be a part of SummerSlam in a big way. It should be an outstanding match. Anyway, how this all occured went like this. As expected, Chyna & HHH had a match, and thanks to Foley, Chyna actually won. Then Foley made a challenge to Chyna, and she refused. However, HBK came out and demanded the match happen. Foley ended up beating Chyna to take the number one contender spot, but HHH came out then and wanted a match with Foley for the shot. Shane McMahon used his power as owner and made the match happen, with him and HBK as duel refs. An unusual ending occured (double pin) which forced both refs to determine that BOTH men are now the number one contenders, thus both men wrestle Austin at SummerSlam. I just have to say this is kick ass booking on the part of the WWF, I can't wait to see RAW next week to watch the action. So, as of now, this is what the SummerSlam lineup looks like..... MAIN EVENT - WWF TITLE MATCH - TRIPLE THREAT RULES Stone Cold VS HHH VS Mankind The Rock VS Billy Gunn WWF TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Kane & X-Pac VS Undertaker & The Big Show WWF IC TITLE MATCH D-Lo Brown VS Jeff Jarrett WWF HARDCORE TITLE MATCH Big Bossman VS Al Snow WWF WOMENS TITLE MATCH Ivory VS Tori LOVE HER OR LEAVE HER MATCH Shane McMahon VS Test LION'S DEN MATCH (W/ WEAPONS SURROUNDING) Ken Shamrock VS Steve Blackman Chances are one or two matches may still be added. More SummerSlam news next week right here, and at PPV Central. JERICHO DEBUTS....WHAT A RESPONSE! The big RAW last Monday saw the real Millenium Man, Chris Jericho, finally debut in the WWF. His entrance was indeed spectacular and very Jerichoesque, you could say. The gimmick he is goin with right now seems to be very similar to his WCW one, except that he is dissin on the WWF and everything related to it, wrestlers, RAW, ppvs, the crowd, everything. I guess you could say in a obtuse way, he is kinda like Hall when he entered WCW, but note the light sarcasm in Jericho's comments, which makes his gimmick almost a rib on this old employer, talkin about the plummeting numbers in buyrates and ratings. Now then, what will Jericho's first feud be with? It probably won't necessarily be the Rock, as word is that Rocky will feud with the Big Show after SummerSlam. Look for a Jericho-Rock feud to be milked out for awhile, with a possible first match at Survivor Series if not even later perhaps. Also, Jericho had some words for Taker and TBS at the RAW tapings, so chances are Jericho will just do this sort of thing to all the big names first before a certain feud is inked out. A LOOK AHEAD - WWF RANDOM NOTES Cindy Margolis (yeah baby!) will be a part of the first Smackdown show, which will be taped August 24th in Kansas City (same site of the tragic death of Owen). She apparently will commentate a little bit at ringside, promoting her new UPN show. Look for this to happen alot on the Smackdown show (ie - promos for other UPN shows).......Stevie Richards showed up last night, helping his former BWO friend, the Blue Meanie, beat down Al Snow. Look for Snow and Richards to feud very soon....The latest on the Dudleys is that they will probably show at the tapings after SummerSlam, either on that RAW the day after on at the first Smackdown....Chances are Road Dogg will be HC champ before too long, he might even be added to the HC match at SummerSlam.....Rumors are that Terri Runnels will be the one behind G-TV, since most of the clips catch guys in compromising spots or situations. However, how do you explain the one with Terri and Co?.....Don't count out Vic Grimes out of the whole G-TV thing though, as he was called "G" last night in a dark match....Derrick "Starfire" Dukes, the guy known for taking the scripted aspect of wrestling into boxing (he "worked" a boxing match against some guy back in the early 90s after his stint with the AWA failed) got a tryout at the RAW taping last night for some unknown reason....So who was the guy that hit Austin with the cinder block? Two possibilities in my opinion.....either Big Show or else it could be HBK...Big Show could have been helpin Taker out by beatin down Austin and as for HBK, he could have been doin the same for HHH. We'll see if this angle goes anywhere or if it is just assumed that HHH did it in the first place.
	WCW [WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING] TOP STORY - HOGAN AND FLAIR PERHAPS SET TO RETIRE As unbelievable as it is, two of the top stars "back in the day" may be set to call it quits for good at nearly the same time. First off, as we all know Hogan and Nash will collide in a career match at the ppv this Saturday. Now then, many believe (including me) this stip was put in place because of Hogan's comments, which were reported by WCW shill Bob Ryder, that he only has a handful of matches left in him, since his knees are still badly messed up. If that is indeed fact, I personally couldn't be more happy. Also, that may explain the return of the Hulkster on Monday night. The reasoning behind that is Hogan may have wanted to go out the way he was best known as. The latest on all of this is many believe that Saturday night will probably lose on Saturday, but perhaps not lose the belt. Say Hogan loses by DQ or something, thus he would hold onto the belt. Then, from there, there would be a sort of a controversy whether or not Hogan can retire while he's still champ, and that will lead to a sort of swan song for the Hulkster, perhaps culminating in the next few months with a finale match at a ppv. As for Flair, word came down that his doctor has not cleared him to wrestle because arthritis has apparently come down on Nature Boy in his back, which was broken about 20 years ago in a plane crash. Now then, if this is indeed true, it is likely it would be very difficult to ever wrestle again, and regardless, if he can't get medical clearance, he's screwed. But, alot of people have been talkin that this whole scenerio is indeed a lie from Flair, as he ironically was scheduled to take on Shane Douglas this past Monday on Nitro (or at least that is what Mark Madden said). Plus go with the fact that Flair has not been happy at all with WCW lately in regards to how he's been treated and it is a high chance that Flair is just using excuses to not be around in the storylines and matches right now, since he is so unhappy with them with (in my opinion) the whole pushing of a Douglas-Flair feud regardless of Flair's wishes not to do so. I guess time will tell with both of these situations, but it's a possibility that by the new millenium, we won't see either of these two in action. ROAD WILD UPDATE Well, as I type this, a huge bunch of WCW stars are trekking from Boise to Sturgis, in the annual motorcycle trip that WCW does every year goin to the ppv. The big news out of that whole scenerio is that Dustin Runnels is a part of the group, which means he should be at Road Wild in some form, perhaps showing up with the Rednecks. And some interesting news came down late tonight on the WCW Hotline which could be very serious, since the whole pack is only around Yellowstone Park right now currently (and stuck there because of horrible weather). Anyhow, a group of wrestlers, including Goldberg & Rick Steiner are MIA, and nobody has no clue where they are since nobody has cell phones, etc. I doubt this is an angle, but I guess you never know. Lots of talk is abound that DDP will get the U.S. Title from new champ Benoit at the show. I say don't count on it, taking the title away from Benoit would be a huge slap in the face to most of the pure wrestling fans, and they damn well know that they don't need to lose any more viewers! Also, a new match has been added to the card, perhaps finalizing the lineup. ICP & Vampiro will take on Rey, Eddie, and Kidman in six man tag action. I hope WCW made sure that ICP had the night off, cuz they are currently on tour! Finally, some more heat was drawn for the Savage-Rodman match last night on Jay Leno when Savage speared Dennis and knocked him over the chairs on the set. Look to see highlights of that on Thunder tomorrow if you missed Leno. UPCOMING RETURNS The big one is Bret Hart, who should be back on Nitro as early as this upcoming Monday night. If not then, he should be back within the end of the month. As for Scott Hall, only the lord knows, but I'll make a safe bet and say he'll be back before Fall Brawl. Also, Scott Steiner should be back on TV within a few weeks, as should Lex Luger, who is completely healed. I have no idea why WCW just took him off TV after he had an alliance with Sting building up, but anyway, it's WCW so who knows. Hak seems to be having complications with his injury and has yet to recieve medical clearance. Chances are he'll be back in a few weeks too however. Finally, it still seems like Fit Finley is going to be out of action for a really long time, as the poor guy has lost all feeling below his knees.
ECW [EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING] TOP STORY - ECW GEARING UP FOR THEIR FIRST EVER TNN TAPING This coming Saturday in Toledo, Ohio, the first TNN taping will occur, set to air on August 27th on the debut show. There wasn't been much word what is going to happen exactly, but it's possible that the Dudleys might wrestle in a fairwell match at the taping. Also, expect a cruiserweight match, and perhaps RVD defending his TV title. For the most part, chances are teh first couple of shows will just give everyone a brief overview of ECW and it won't be strong on angles in the outset. But in due time, look for three matches a week, plus angles, of course. Either Joel Gertner or Cyrus will join Joey in the announcing booth and it is expected that there will be whole new type of set and entrance for the TNN show. TAZ SIGNS A THREE-YEAR DEAL, ECW RUNNING TO RESIGN OTHER BIG NAMES Well, now that is was made official today that Taz signed with ECW for a three year period (and thank god, having a world champ without a contract is just plain stupid) Heyman is trying to get the same thing to happen to the other big names in the fed, like RVD and Sabu, thus guarenteeing that Heyman can build a base to work with in the long run, which only makes sense. Also, in my opinion, Heyman should try to sign the mid-card talent right now to a deal, since I feel he has a very strong roster right now, and with the TNN show coming around, that means more $$$, so they certainly can afford it. Also, with the TNN deal and more $$$ means they can possibly sign other big names, which brings me to my next subject.... RAVEN BACK TO ECW? Some rumors flying around lately are talkin about Raven perhaps positioning himself to get out of WCW and back to ECW. This comes from the last two interviews that Raven has had, on 1wrestling.com and the WCW Live audio show, respectively. Basically, Raven said many derogatory things about WCW and bashed them to a degree. On the WCW Live show, he even went to the point of spoiling the results of the opening match, even telling which guy of the six man match was going to do the job. Even though this is highly unlikely (since Raven is under contract) it could be possible that WCW fires Raven and releases him if he keeps it up with this. And I'm sure if he gets released, Heyman would love to take him back. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK FOR MORE NEWS......