The Bryce Jordan Center and scores of fans are crossing their fingers in hopes that professional wrestling will return to State College.

Between the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the center has hosted 11 shows in the past five years. The most recent one, last September, sold out as expected.

Since then, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. has not booked another show in Happy Valley, leaving an unhappy crowd and a confused venue in its wake. In the past year, the match between the Federation and State College has been just as confusing as the televised plotlines.

For starters, WWF bought WCW from the Turner Broadcasting System, a division of AOL Time Warner. The WWFE joined forces with Viacom, a media Goliath that controls a slew of networks. Viacom's arsenal includes CBS, MTV, VH1, Nick at Nite, and the two channels that broadcast pro-wrestling: UPN and TNN.

After last September's "Raw is War", WWFE reserved tentative dates for January 2001, said Bernie Punt, director of public relations at the center. Those dates were mysteriously taken off hold for "scheduling conflicts," and new dates were penciled in for April, Punt said. When the spring holds were also removed, the concerned center searched for an explanation.

The WWFE said that perhaps the market needed to cool off, citing slower ticket sales at the last show, Punt said. Wrestling events usually sell out same-day in State College, but September's event took its time.

However, tickets for the September show went on sale at 8 a.m. on April 18. The center was notified about the ticket sales April 17 after hosting a sold out "Raw is War" that aired live on USA. The center told the WWFE that Tuesday morning sales, with little advance notice, would not move quickly in the venue's market, Punt said. The center prefers to open sales for wrestling events on Saturdays after some advance promotion. In addition to students, Punt said, the fan base covers a 90-mile radius. Those who missed opening day were reluctant to purchase leftover seats.

It's been nearly a year since the last show, Punt said, and the center has continued pushing for dates and continued receiving "very nebulous answers." Eventually, Punt said, the center asked the WWFE point blank why it wasn't scheduling. According to Punt, the WWFE said that because of its complicated story lines, live shows would only be going to markets that carry both TNN and UPN. Most State College viewers only had access to TNN.

Jayson Bernstein, the WWFE's director of marketing and communications, said, "There's no correlation between us coming to your school (Penn State) and the local Cable Company." We clearly have your school on the map to try to get back to."

While Bernstein said the WWFE currently had nothing scheduled for State College, he was aware of the new campus cable system and the ability to access TNN and UPN on satellite systems.

The WWF's absence this year, Bernstein said, "has nothing to do with ticket sales." He said the tour does well in State College and "we (WWFE) highly anticipate that we'll get back there."

Still, the Center's Web site, www.bjc.psu.edu, includes a news link revealing the WWFE's previous cable stipulation.

"The BJC doesn't usually disclose behind the scenes information," said Punt, "but in this particular instance, I thought it was important for the general public to know what was happening. They may have an influence on getting the WWF to come back."

What both contenders do agree on, at least, is the positive nature of continuing discussions between the center and the WWFE. In fact, Punt said the Federation was aware of the Center's Web site.

"If you're a WWF fan, there could be good news on the horizon," said Punt. "To quote Steve Austin, 'That's the bottom line.'"