Austin/McMahon nearer, Fox says deal not near, Undertaker reduced schedule and more
April 8 2004 at 5:23 PM
- 1wrestling.com reports that sources close to Steve Austin indicate tha Austin himself is confident that he will work things out with WWE. This seems to put to rest the rumors earlier this week that Austin's WWE career could end due to his current dispute with Vince McMahon over control of outside projects.
- Steve Austin and Vince McMahon have yet to reach any sort of resolution regarding their dispute over whether WWE gets control of Austin's outside projects. It seems as if McMahon's plan now is to wait out Austin with the feeling that Austin needs to be on WWE TV to keep his value and also loves to be on RAW and will want to return soon.
The dispute does not appear to be as serious as thought earlier this week, but Austin isn't scheduled to appear on RAW again this Monday and probably won't appear until a new deal is reached. History shows that Austin and McMahon often have disagreements but always work them out.
- In an article in the New York Post, a Fox Sports Network Spokesman confirmed that the network has had talks with TNA but that a deal is not imminent.
"We've had some conversations with [NWA/TNA] but there's been nothing beyond that at the moment," said the spokesman. "If something was going to happen, we'd be looking at a mid-afternoon weekly show, and June would be a date we might be looking at."
It is somewhat interesting that Fox Sports spoke publically about the TNA deal since TV networks rarely ever reveal details about anything before a deal is reached.
Internally, TNA is going forward as if the Fox deal is just about done. Jeff Jarrett is planning a trip to Orlando, FL next week to meet with Universal Studios officials regarding taping the weekly TV show there. Las Vegas and Atlantic City have also been discussed as potential TV taping areas.
- WWE management feels that at this stage in his career, The Undertaker should only be used as a special attraction, not a regular performer. The feeling right now is that by having him work house shows, it adds a special feeling to them.
- Many backstage in Smackdown continue to be shocked that WWE is booking Booker T in an angle where he acknowledges that Smackdown is inferior to RAW. This has many upset since backstage everyone realizes that WWE pays more attention to RAW. The feeling is that mentioning this on TV will just smarten up fans to the fact that it is true.
