Hektik

An Excerpt From the 5/17 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: There has been a notable demographic change in WWE audience since its peak, and it's actually quite surprising. The average Raw viewer is a 33 year old male. During its peak of the Raw vs Nitro wars, the average Raw viewer was a 24 year old male and the average Nitro viewer was a 35 year old male. The audience change for Smackdown is similar, going from a 25 year old male to typical viewer to a 32 year old male. The oldest skewing program is Heat, which had the typical viewer be a 40 year old male. What is interesting is the WWE targets its product to the 12 to 34 age group. But the actual audience is older. What is surprising is that in 2001, it was the the over 30 wrestling audience that died a brutal death, dropping almost two-thirds after the death of the older skewing WCW product. What this seems to say is that WWE is not attracting a lot of new fans , because if you figure 2000 as the peak year, the 24 year old would now be 28. So they've retained their older fan base while losing some of the younger base they had at the time. Currently, 24% of the WWE television audience is under the age of 17. That is down from 37% at the peak of company popularity four years ago. The curent WWE television audience consists of: 3% under the age of 6 9% between 6-11 12% between 12-17 10% between 18-24 19% between 25-34 24% between 35-49 23% above the age of 50 In other words, they are they are writimg shows with the idea that their target audience is actually only half of their real audience. After running off the adult audience a few years ago, they are now keeping them, and the audience they've been writing for is the audience they've been running off to an almost incredible degree. Well, not incredible, but when you are talking about 12-23, that is the fad audience, and when the fad is over, they're going to be gone. Other Observer Notes: The USA Network announced that one of its major projects for the new TV season will be a movie called "Ring of Lies." This will make no one in the WWE happy. The movie has been described as how a 5/2, 110 pound woman brought Vince McMahon to his knees, based in Martha Hart's quest for justice after the death of her husband, based on the book "Broken Harts." The plan for October looks to be not just for two PPVs, but both Raw PPVs, one on 10/3 and one on 10/19. Foley wrote a letter to Flair and complained to Laurinaitis after reading Flair's comments about him. Foley felt that if Flair had written it in his book he would be ok with it. His complaint was that Flair was saying it on a promotional tour for Backlash, and by saying Foley wasn't that good, it would be taking heat away from the match. Kevin "Mordecai" Fertig has been told to sell a lot less than he's been doing, and to concentrate on beating people up as opposed to having a good match.

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From WWE.com ‘Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story’ coming to UPN Eddie Guerrero is an inspiration to millions of WWE fans, not only because of his charisma and in-ring ability, but also because he’s faced his demons and been able to rise above them. Eddie will be profiled in “Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story,” a one-hour UPN special on Wednesday night, May 26, beginning at 9/8 CT. In one of the most-inspiring stories in the history of sports or entertainment, Eddie Guerrero not only regained his life, but also surpassed even his wildest dreams. Sober for nearly three years now, he has reconciled with his wife, reclaimed his job and won the WWE Championship. “Cheating Death, Stealing Life” will chronicle, in depth, Eddie’s amazing childhood, his struggles with addiction, and his miraculous recovery. “Cheating & Stealing” will have all-exclusive footage, including never-before-seen home movies of Eddie’s family dating back to 1940s and ‘50s, and the emotional backstage footage of Eddie winning the WWE Championship for the first time. You’ll meet his wife, two daughters and mom. And Eddie himself will take you on a tour of his hometown in his favorite low rider. Mark your calendars for this must-see special! “Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story” premieres on UPN on Wednesday, May 26 at 9 p.m./8 CT!

No contest? You haven't seen a lot from AmDrag, have ya? Eddie has a lot of years of experience on Dragon, but as far as wrestling talent goes, Dragon is light years ahead of where he should be for his age.... But Eddy was way ahead of Danielson when he was his age. I have said in the past, and still believe, that Eddy on his best day is better than anybody in North America.

Actually, in this weeks Observer Newsletter, Meltzer said the plan being talked about is dropping the TNA initials and just going with NWA.

Baseball only stadiums have helped in some cities. Here in San Diego the new stadium has helped revitalize the east village, which was a decaying section of Downtown San Diego. Before the stadium, the east villiage was where homeless, drug dealers, and gang members were at. Now the surrounding area of the stadium has new shops, restaraunts, and hotels. The stadium just opened a few months ago and the Padres are in first place in the NL west and have the most wins in the National League. Yeah, that has more to do with the players but it is a success story nonetheless.

I have no problem with HHH, he is a good wrestler. I feel people don't rate him properly. He was way overrated in 2000 yet he was underrated last year and up until recently. He does know how to properly structure a match and he gets what the main event style should be. It should have old school storytelling with modern day action. I was never a big fan of his in the past, I didn't think much of him when I first saw him in WCW. It's funny because Flair didn't either when he was head booker. He put Alex Wright (who he thought would be a future superstar) over HHH at Starrcade. He gave Wright an undeafeted streak and didn't do much with HHH. Now Flair is saying how great HHH is but didn't do anything with him when he had the chance.

Do you know what else would make Smackdown better, having Chris Benoit, Edge, and Shelton Benjamin on the show. Having Brock Lesnar stay and having Kurt Angle ready to wrestle. I hear people say how good Raw is, and it is, but the reason is because their fresh talent are Smackdown guys. Smackdown never got properly compensated for all those guys that went to Raw. SD got stale acts like the Dudleys, RVD, and Booker T. The person who should be on Smackdown as the top heel is Chris Jericho. But they've really hung Eddy out there to dry and he will have to be the scapegoat.

I really have no interest in seeing the 100th meeting of HHH and Michaels stroking each others cock and thinking they're Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. Then Ric Flair himself will go out and say HHH is the best in the world and Shawn was the best of the 90s and they will all be involved in a circle jerk. Evertime Shawn Michaels is in a main event I die a little inside. Now, personal feelings aside, I'm sure it will be a good match with both blading, thus adding an extra 2 stars in everyones match rating.

Going into this week, the Padres are still tied with the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. As of today the Padres stand at 16-10 and will face the Braves this week and the Marlins this weekend. Wow, it has been a long time since I've been able to say the Padres are in first place.

Eddy Guerrero

Written by Dave Meltzer from the 5/3 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE is getting very aggressive in trying to purchase pretty much all the available semi-major pro wrestling video footage on the market. The idea is that Vince wants everything that is there. The company alraedy owns the AWA library, the WCW library, theroretically owns the Crockett and old Georgia libraries through the WCW purchase, as well as the ECW library and the SMW library. I believe they have purchased the Stampede library, or are on the verge of doing so. An interesting note on how much of a sweetheart deal the purchase od WCW's assets really was, is that the company paid $2.5 million for the tape library, which includes all WCW plus a lot of old Georgia and Mid Atlantic tapes. However last year, when the company purchased the AWA tape library, the purchase price was $3 million for a company that folded 12 years earlier and hadn't been a major factor in really 16 years. While the AWA library has some clips that date back to the early 70s and does have a lot of colorful names and great interviews, it doesn't have all that much in the way of house show footage and the television itself was terrible by today's standards. They have attempted to puchase the Florida wrestling library which is owned by Mike Graham, but Graham has told them he isn't interested in selling and is still trying to find ways to make money off of it. Graham has done local syndication with some of the tapes, and they've aired some of the footage of big names on Wrestling Classics PPV shows. WWE has opened talks with Kevin Von Erich over the World Class library, which also includes stacks of old Texas wrestling tapes. He's apparently not adverse to selling, but seems in no hurry to do so as he's got no financial pressures. They have expressed interest in the St. Louis tapes, but there are virtually no masters around, and the only tapes are Larry Matysik's collection of 60 one hour "Wrestling at the Chase" television shows, which are now on the market and have been something of an amazing local marketing success. They are also negotiating to purchase the Mid South collection, which is owned by Ene Watts, Bill's ex-wife who got the collection in their divorce. She has not been, up to this point, all that receptive to offers for the tapes. Mike LeBell, I believe, has some Los Angeles tapes, but none from the real strong periods of the 60s and early 70s. I don't know what is left from Portland wrestling, but would assume Barry Owen would own whatever is left. Virtually nothing is left, and no masters for sure, of San Francisco wrestling. San Antonio had alot of great stuff taped in the 70s because they always taped the arena shows, and well into the late 70s and early 80s with Southwest Championship Wrestling. The other stuff would be Gulf Coast, Southeast, Continental, USA which were the various groups around the Pensacola and Knoxville areas over the years. Obviously the goal is to do a 24-hour wrestling channel, although that is still a long ways away. Vince wants to be the caretaker of history, which is ironic on so many levels, since he spent the last 15 years being the one who ignored and tried to ignore history to the point of silliness, sometimes hurting the marketability of some of his wrestlers because of his doctrine that nothing exists except my own creations. The other footage which is a longshot but would work on such a station would be the All Japan collection. My impression is that NTV owns the footage, and wouldn't sell it, but may lease it to the U.S. I'm not sure if Vince would care. If All Japan itself owned it, they probably could strike a good deal because All Japan needs cash. The All Japan tape collection, even though it's voiced in Japanese, features so many classic matches involving the biggest American stars that at least parts of it would probably be among the best collection of all.

This was originally written by Dave Meltzer: Most of the talk around the Cauliflower Alley Club weekend revolved around Danny Hodge and Chavo Guerrero Sr., in a number of incidents. Guerrero Sr. showed up a few days early, and confronted Nick Bockwinkle on 4/14. Guerrero complained that the club had never honored a Guerrero and it got bad enough that security had to come. Guerrero was also mad that there were no rooms left at the Plaza Hotel, and reportedly flew back to Texas that night. He flew back and there were more foreworks on 4/16. He apparently was waving a recent WWE paycheck for $18,000, so it may be from the Mania house show, apparently trying to rub it in people's faces how much he was making. At least that is how a lot of wrestlers saw who would be happy he's still there, since he was originally brought in for a two week program and its only because his brother is such a huge star that he's likely still around. On that night, Guerrero got belligerent to Bob Orton Sr., who is wheel chair bound. Hodge had to step in and grab a hold on Guerrero, who couldn't move since Hodge still has his death grip.There were people who witnessed it that thought Guerrero was about to start a fight (Guerrero in his youth was a hell of a tough guy for his size, as I saw him take apart a college football star twice his size who hit the ring trying to show wrestling was fake, even though that was about 25 years ago; and in 1995, tried to start a fight with Vader at a post show party after the Bash at the Beach). Anyway, when he recognized Hodge, nothing happened. The final incident saw Guerrero take off on Gagne and start screaming about being stiffed on a 1988 PPV show. While most recognize he probably was stiffed on a payoff, it was felt is was hardly the time or the place. Some watching thought Guerrero was trying to goad Gagne, now 78, into a fight. Gagne was calm through the situation and told Guerrero to come back and discuss things calmly when he hadn't has so much to drink. Unfortunetly, Verne at this stage, probably has no idea about what Guerrero was mad about, as he didn't remeber people introduced to him five minutes earlier, and couldn't remember how many grandchildren he had. Then Guerrero started claiming Gagne was racist and was predjudice against Mexicans (the AWA promotion was notorious about not promoting African-Americans and other minorities to the top level). Even life long haters of Gagne were mad at Guerrero, and he was escorted by security once again, and this time told not to come back. He was not back on 4/17 for the banquet, and was in Medicine Hat for the WWE Smackdown brand house show on 4/19. The other story involved Hodge and Steve Scarpias, a Jiu Jitsu practitioner from Las Vegas who is a long time newsletter reader and has fought with the King of the Cage promotion. He talked with Hodge, who is now in his early 70s and looks like a nice, somewhat frail grandfather type. He wanted to show him how Jiu Jitsu has evolved in the past years and show him new submission moves that weren't around in Hodge's day. Everything Scarpias tried to show Hodge that was new, Hodge, who still has his double tendon grip strength, countered and stretched him. Hodge made him tap three times without exerting much effort at all, as Jack Brisco got a big kick out of it. Scarpias joked he can always tell his grandchildren some day that he was stretched by Hodge, and noted how I always say in fighting, because of the many different ways one can lose, that the fantasy unbeatable superman doesn't exist. Well, if Hodge came along now, we likely wouldn't have that saying. If this is what goes on at these reunions, I must find a way to go next year. I guess this was Guerrero's revenge on people who screwed him and his brothers in the past.

When you know you are never going to go to a war, it is. Look, if it were up to me, this election would strictly be about the issues. But that is not the case. As for Bush's past, it does anger a lot of people and I will tell you why I think that is. Bush has created an image for himself as a tough talking Texas cowboy. So when you look into his past you see that when he had his chance to "walk the walk," he didn't. His father jumped him in front of 500 other people to get him a spot in the National Guard. In a unit that also included sons of another politician and Dallas Cowboy football players. Then being able to get a deferment to work on a political campaign. All of that is why his past is always questioned.

Yeah I know, another TNA-FSN thread, but this seems like important development. This is an excerpt from the 4/26 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: More Details have surfaced regardind the fox Sports Net Deal. The time, which will be Fridays at 3 p.m. Eastern time, is being purchased by TNA, although the figure is unknown. Informercial time nationally does not come cheap. Fox Sports Net has alerted affiliates to the negotiations, and sent out a memo on 4/20 saying "LA is working on a wrestling series. Details are sketchy from the network right now. Airs Friday at 3 p.m. beginning in June." Regarding the ROH controversy, Tom Chiappetta of FSN stated that reports that FSN had any concern over wrestlers appearing for ROH is untrue. "We have nothing to do withe TNA and Ring of Honor's dispute," he said. "We are simply just airing the shows. TNA is paying us and we have no say in which wrestlers are involved, only the content must be family friendly for an afternoon showing." The curent plan is to continue the weekly night PPVs as well as run weekly Thursday TV tapings, presumably in Orlando, with the TV airing the next afternoon. I don't like this deal. I can see it working if it were a weekend afternoon, but not on a weekday. 3 p.m. eastern means it would show at 12 p.m. on the west coast. Who is going to watch it? Housewives and unemployed fans. Teenagers will be in school and older fans will be at work. This is a bad deal that will not work.

1 Eddy Guerrero 1 AJ Styles 4 American Dragon 1 Chris Jericho

I saw this video on BET one night and I thought it was pretty risque. But i'm not easily offended so I had no real problem with it. Janet was on network television which is considered public airwaves. BET is Cable which means they can show anything they want because they are not regulated by the FCC. I am all for them having standards on the 6 Broadcast networks but I am against regulating cable. At the end of the day, it is still a choice to get cable.

Well, as soon as the general public figures out MMA is more dignified and skilled then boxing.

MMA is one of the hotest things in Japan. It has surpassed pro wrestling over there. It also explains Inoki putting MMA before wrestling.

I first found out about Wever a few weeks ago when the cameras pointed him out during a Padre game. He is going to be a great addition when the padres get him (hopefully). He will add more young talent to the core of Lawrence, Peavy, and Eaton, under the guidance of David Wells.

The Mannings have really screwed the chargers here. Now that the Giants know Manning won't play for San Diego, they can make a lesser offer to the chargers. One of the charger's origianal plans was to trade with the Giants so they could get Philip Rivers. Before this, the chargers could have squeezed an extra player or draft pick from New York. But now they can't because the Giants know the situation. Archie is a former player and should have known to keep his mouth shut.

It all depends on what Turner wants to do. He has enough resources that he could just get it on a network like FX (which is the channel TNA should be trying to get on, not FSN). In the years he owned WCW it was just a side venture. If he gets back in the wrestling buisness it will need his full attention. Meltzer made a good point when he said that most WWE fans are not wrestling fans, they're WWE fans. If a promotion wants to go national then they have to be like WWE. They need the production values and big arena shows. Turner is probably the only person involved in wrestling, with enough money and resources to do it. But he has to go all the way or not at all, because Vince has a real monopoly with the casual wrestling fans.

You know, one of the things I do not get is that somewhere people began to think that Pops = Money. Road Dogg, Godfather, Jim Duggan, and Junkyard Dog used to get huge pops. That doesn't mean anyone is going to pay to see them. You need to look at the ratings and buyrates to see how Benoit is really doing. I will say that they have done a better job with Benoit's title run (who is labeled as a short term champion) than they have with Eddy (who is expected to carry Smackdown for the rest of the year).

Northeast Region 1 Eddy Guerrero 3 Rey Misterio Jr. Northwest Region 1 AJ Styles 2 Kurt Angle Southeast Region 4 American Dragon 2 Brock Lesnar Southwest Region 1 Chris Jericho 2 Christopher Daniels

It was actually Eric Bischoff who broke up the Blondes. Ric Flair was given booking powers in November/December of 93. Flair's plans for 94 were to push Steve Austin as the top heel and drop the WCW title to him. Bischoff was able to sign Hogan so plans were changed. Flair did a quick heel turn and Hogan won the title in his first match. Steve Austin was quickly forgotten since Hogan had creative control of his character. Flair, and later Sullivan, only booked the undercard.