Wrestling Observer Newsletter Update

As of now, Matt Bloom (Giant Bernard/Lord Tensai) is expected to fulfill his WCW commitments. He signed a contract for two live appearances with Karl Anderson. One of them is most likely going to be a tag match on iPPV against DOOMSDAY, which has been building since their confrontation at the last the iPPV. I would suspect the other appearance will come on the FOX special. There was hope of bringing in Bloom later on down the line in a Vader-like role, but those plans are out the window now. Bloom signed an actual contract that, according to an interview with Paul Heyman, stated that he could work for other wrestling promotions while doing his dates for WCW - so that's how he was able to sign with WWE but also why he has to fulfill his dates.

The latest news on the John Hennigan matter is that he had the contract and told everyone he had signed it, but never did. Now he's pretty much being blackballed for it.

There's a ton of speculation going around that if the FOX special does a decent enough rating, it could lead to further specials down the road and possibly a TV show on FX. The selling point of the show and promotion is that historically, UFC has always matched up well in the ratings when paired with pro wrestling. While Dana White will never admit it, I would bet he definitely sees an advantage to having WCW lead into TUF or Countdown specials.

The next iPPV will be on 4/28 and will be called Supebrawl.

WCW released a Season 1 boxed set this week which includes every episode of Underground and iPPV in viewing order. This is an interesting concept that has never been done before. The price tag is hefty so it'll be interesting to see how it does as I can't imagine it'll sell past the hardcores. On the plus side they're adding tons of extra features as enticement.