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Submitted by William Martinez on Monday, August 20, 2001 at 10:33 AM EST
- As Blake reported earlier, Matt Hardy vs. Christian for the European title has been booked for tonight's Raw. Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler and Ivory vs. Lita, Jacqueline and Molly Holly is also confirmed for the show. - Going into last night's Summerslam, there was a lot of talk that Diamond Dallas Page would get somewhat depushed. Due to the fact that he was completely squashed during the cage match, that may indeed be the case. - Several wrestlers were complaining that the ring ropes at last night's show were much looser than usual, which consequently led to more blown spots or spots that didn't look like they should have. - Many in the Philadelphia area got to see last night's pay-per-view for free due to a blunder by a cable provider. Apparently, several residents of Philadelphia turned to the pay-per-view channel at 8 PM and the show was airing unscrambled. It remained that way throughout the show and even the replay was shown. Credit: 1wrestling.com - Ric Russo has posted his latest column for the Orlando Sentinel. This week's column deals with The Rock's return to the WWF, as well as other topics. To check it out, click HERE. Credit: OrlandoSentinel.com WWFE exits DirecTV ring over contract dispute By Cynthia Littleton LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- World Wrestling Federation Entertainment has said it will pull its pay-per-view events off DirecTV as the companies grapple with a contract dispute over how grosses from those telecasts are collected. DirecTV took WWFE to arbitration two months ago in a dispute over their most recent two-year contract that expired, after a six-month extension, with Sunday's "Summerslam" event. The two sides have spent months hammering out a new pact, but the old-contract dispute has delayed the signing of the new one. WWFE declined to elaborate Friday on details of what it terms a "matter of interpretation" on a contract clause. DirecTV would say only that it is a "financial revenue-based line item" in the recently expired contract. WWFE took an aggressive tack last week, sending an "alert" to other PPV distributors and fans to announce that as of the Sept. 23 "Unforgiven" production, the WWF's twice-monthly wrestling spectacles will not air via DirecTV until further notice. WWFE's earnings likely will feel the loss of a prolonged fight with DirecTV, whose 10 million subscribers represent about one-sixth of the potential U.S. PPV audience. Satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish Network are known for their success in marketing PPV titles, and WWFE's deals with DirecTV do not include a middleman distributor, as is the case with most cable operators. DirecTV has aired two WWF events a month -- one live, one taped -- for the past few years. A DirecTV spokesman said the WWF offerings are among the satellite provider's most popular PPV events. DirecTV intended to continue to do business in good faith with WWFE until the arbitration matter is decided, the spokesman said, adding that the company was caught off-guard by the "hard-line tactics" of WWFE's call to fans to "seek alternate means to purchase our September event." WWFE president and chief operating officer Stuart Snyder criticized DirecTV for taking the dispute to arbitration -- as called for in the contract -- in the first place. "First and foremost, we care that our fans have access to our programming," he said. "We've valued our relationship with DirecTV in our distribution network, and hopefully one day they will be with us again." Credit: Yahoo! News Robert Fallon sent in the following: Today (08/20) is WWF diva and Tough Enough trainer Tori's (Terri Poch) birthday. WV: Exclusive Interviews, News, Results, More!
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