PHEW!!! That's the only word I can think of to describe the amazing events of Wednesday December 1st, here in the UK. As those of you have read the always-essential Ross Report this week will know, the next WWF UK-only Pay-per-View sold out Earl's Court (which I guess will be configured to hold around 20,000+) in a mere SIX HOURS!!!! In fact, THE most electrifying UK columnist in [slash] wrestling today was very nearly FROZEN OUT of this huge event!!! After trying unsuccessfully for over 1 hour thirty minutes to get through on the venue's own Credit Card hotline, I tried the WWF National Telephone booking number: I got a ringing tone right away, but when the clerk answered, he regretfully informed me that the tickets had sold out 25 minutes earlier. I felt like I'd received a low blow from ThatSlutChyna or a geetar shot from Double J: after attending the best three out of the previous four UK PPVs, I wasn't going to be going to London. Suddenly, I had a brainwave: what if he meant that THEIR allocation of tickets had sold out. I raced up to the PC room at my halls (what you would know as dorms in North America) and got online. I tried ticketweb first, but the volume of people trying to log on there had crashed their site. I then went to the Earl's Court own online booking site: YES!!!!! There were still tickets available here: not the top priced ones, mind you, but the second most expensive which would do for me... I completed the purchase, and then spent the best part of three hours wondering if I had bought 'phantom' tickets which had been sold online by a dodgy server. However, that afternoon the phones at Earl's Court were working again, and I got the news I craved: no, the computer had been OK: I had a REAL ticket for the show!!! Now I have NO IDEA where I am going to be seated, but as I said to my parents the night before when I still expected to get my pick of seats, as long as I was in the building, that's all that mattered. I *really* didn't expect that last part to be so literally applied, however. Again on JR's latest update, he has announced that there is a SECOND WWF Pay-per-View tentatively scheduled for early December 2000 in the UK, to emanate from the Sheffield Arena.

Those WCW tour dates in full:

Friday March 10 Birmingham NEC Arena 7-30pm 
Saturday March 11 London Arena 7-30pm
Sunday March 12 Manchester MEN Arena 2-00pm

Tonight (as far as I am aware) marks the debut of WWF Livewire airing on Saturday evenings on Sky One at 9pm. Until I get the tape on Monday/Tuesday, I have no idea if this is:

1. Merely an additional screening of the Livewire episode that aired at 11am that morning
2. An unedited repeat of that episode in a post-watershed timeslot
3. A complimentary episode of Livewire showing all the Smackdown highlights which couldn't be accommodated in the first show

Given that the Earl's Court PPV sold out at such a phenomenal rate, the WWF and Sky can surely not keep Smackdown from British screens for very much longer, instead of this potential 'half-measure', if that is indeed the purpose of this new episode of Livewire.

I had tried *really* hard (and had succeeded) in avoiding the 'net so as not to spoil the wedding for myself. However, I recently subscribed to Meltzer's newsletter, now available here in the UK and was sent a free copy of the current issue, as my first issue won't come until next week. Anyway, after reading the excellent article regarding the WWF and its advertisers, and the 'toning down' of Smackdown, there was the briefest cryptic reference to the wedding at the conclusion of the piece. I then was too weak not to skim through the Raw review to learn more. Suffice to say, I am really looking forward to seeing this play out (I know the 'surprise' but don't know much on how it was revealed, or the dialogue used etc.)

There really isn't a lot more to say: news is fairly slow in the UK this week, I suppose.

In closing, I would like to say a short word about WWF PPVs: who the hell is booking some of these matches? The undercard of the past few PPVs, especially former IYH-status events is rapidly beginning to resemble that of a WCW supercard. Ivory v Barbara Bush (who should have been called Deedee, obviously: it matches her cup size...), Rikishi Fatu, Viscera on the card AT ALL and Venis vs The "Finished" Bulldog: doesn't exactly make you salivate, does it? I won't get a chance to see the show until December 17, as I have exams running from Dec 13 to Dec 16, and don't need the distraction of having a PPV sent to me. (However, that day I plan to gorge on a feast of WWF action, given that I will be watching the 6th December "Raw" on tape, "Livewire" and "Metal" from December 11th, "WWF Armageddon", not to mention the December 13th "Raw", which airs that night on Sky Sports: yes, for FOUR WEEKS, I will have satellite TV again!!!! That's a potential TEN hours of WWF in one day: cool!) I only hope that Chyna/Jericho, Vince/Triple H, Rock'n'Sock/Outlaws and Show/Bossman can save the show from "Worst Card of the Year" status...

I plan to check in again before Christmas, but for the next couple of weeks I must concentrate on my exams...