quote:

---

- Everybody expected Steve Austin to mend his fences with WWF management and return to RAW tonight... but nobody could have foreseen the dramatic turn of events that would have to take place before Austin finally agreed to resume his spot as one of the company's top stars.
As part of Austin's decision to come back to the WWF, management has decided to terminate the contracts of nWo cornerstones Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Both had clauses in their contracts allowing the Fed to release them within their first 90 days on the active roster; it was designed to be a last resort "out" for the WWF if the nWo wound up "living the gimmick" as locker room poison. Instead, it was a clause that Austin insisted upon exercising before he came back, causing many to question just who should be saddled with the reputation as a back stage politician.

Austin was openly unhappy with being shunted into a second-level program against Hall leading into WrestleMania X-8, and went positively berserk when it was suggested that he lose the match to Hall at Mania (via interference from Vince McMahon). Austin was instead granted his wish, and won the match at WM... but the damage was done, and Austin believed that the infusion of the nWo would ultimately erode his character even further.

I had begun hearing rumors on Saturday that the very real tension between Austin and the nWo members was going to necessitate a shift in storylines as part of accommodating Austin... because Austin did not want to be a part of shows involving the nWo, and because Austin was penciled in to join the WWF-RAW roster, Federation management had to promise Austin that the nWo would be shifted over to the SmackDown! roster. And that seemed to be the extent of the drama as of earlier this weekend.

Then late Sunday night, it all exploded, as word got out that the WWF wound up going one step further, completely excising the nWo from the WWF. It remained in the realm of the "unconfirmed rumor" until Nash himself revealed that both he and Hall had parted ways with the WWF in a brief update to his official website. The tone of the commentary suggests that there is a chance this situation can be mended at some point in the future; Nash certainly didn't call out Austin specifically or burn any bridges in making the announcement.

At this point, the situation has two humongous dangling issues...

First is whether it was Austin who insisted on completely axing the nWo members or whether WWF management simply decided to act on their own and remove an influence that caused a once-happy locker room leader to go on tilt. If further information surfaces on that front, it could go a long way towards determining how fans react to Austin, who has already caught some flack from fans for his two-week self-imposed vacation following Mania.

And second: Nash and Hall were not just a two man back-stage operation... though Hulk Hogan had wisely distanced himself from the duo and remains in everybody's good graces, Sean "X-Pac" Waltman is perceived by many as having walked into a main event spot in the nWo simply because of who his friends are. The release of his real life friends and on-screen partners puts his future in some question. And to a lesser extent, Triple H may feel the effect of the loss of two political allies. Though intimately tied to Hall and Nash backstage, he might escape any serious damage to his position simply because of his status as the WWF Champ. [It's ironic that HHH finds himself in this spot today, as five years ago, he was the ONLY one of the "Clique" members who the WWF could punish after the MSG Incident; Nash, Hall, and X-Pac had all departed to WCW, and Shawn Michaels was "untouchable" due to being WWF Champ.]

It'll be interesting to watch RAW tonight to see how they work this sudden personnel change into storylines... you might also want to keep an eye on WWF.com through the day on Monday to see if they publicly acknowledge this move (the Fed has been increasingly good about this sort of thing in the last year or two).

---

quote:

---

Hook, line and sinker.

---

quote:

---

DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET!!!!!

---

quote:

---

Will someone please tell me what the MSG Incident was?

---

Daddy's Little Girl

WE'RE ARTISTS TOO!