Every Tuesday and Friday we give you the scoop on what's happening in and out of the wrestling ring. Every Monday a brand new Book It.

I played computer games all weekend.

Chairshots
5-6-02

I missed doing a Chairshots on Friday and I'm sorry. On my way out of town for the weekend, I just ran out of time. However, there are two big stories breaking and so I'm making it up to you with a Monday column.

World Wrestling Federation Changes Name
The WWF has changed their name to World Wrestling Entertainment, due to a court battle taking place in England.

If you recall, the World Wildlife Fund, which owned WWF long before Vince McMahon, did let McMahon's federation use it under certain restrictions. A year or so ago the Wildlife Fund felt those restrictions had been broken and took Vince and his lawyers to court. Last I heard, the wrestling organization had lost the battle, but was delaying things in court with appeals. Vince and company must see that as a losing battle and have changed their name.

From the WWF, er, WWE press release: "The court ruling prevents the World Wrestling Federation from the use of the logo it adopted in 1998 and the letters WWF in specified circumstances. The "Fund" has indicated that although the two organizations are very different, there is the likelihood of confusion in the market place by virtue of the fact that both organizations use the letters WWF. The Fund has indicated that it does not want to have any association with the World Wrestling Federation. "Therefore, we will utilize this opportunity to position ourselves emphasizing the entertainment aspect of our company, and, at the same time, allay the concerns of the Fund."

Pandas = 1, Wrestlers = 0

WWE will continue to trade as WWF on the New York Stock Exchange until a suitable replacement symbol is found. A new logo and campaign, "Get the F out of the WWF," will debut on Raw tonight.

Goldberg Cometh
In a potentially even bigger story, Goldberg announced Friday that he is giving up the remainder of his guaranteed Time Warner contract and has accepted a buy out. Read my lips: Goldberg is now a free agent. Goldberg had over a year left on his old WCW contract and has repeatedly said he'd be stupid to give up guaranteed money in exchange for going back to work. So this opens the question of why?

Goldberg's representatives talked with the WWF early last summer. The money offered to Goldberg at the time wasn't strong enough to get him to settle for less than his full guarantee with AOL Time Warner. With The Rock off making movies and Kurt Angle expected to take time off to participate in the 2004 Olympics, did the WWF, I mean WWE, raise their offer? Will Goldberg be showing up on Smackdown shortly?

Or, will Goldberg join an upstart promotion like XWF or WWA? Will Goldberg join Jeff Jarrett in his attempt to raise the NWA from the ashes and compete with the WWF, I mean WWE.

As yet, no one knows what Goldberg's plans are, but don't expect to see him in action soon. He's still healing from an arm injury suffered weeks ago during a celebrity car race. His cast will be on for another 3-4 weeks.

Stay tuned to your mostly regularly scheduled Chairshots for breaking news.

See ya tomorrow.

Michael Goodson