Hunter's Torn Quad

Was there a two-hour Impact that some people saw that the rest of us didn't? The two-hour show was just as rushed as the normal Impact, perhaps more so.

Yes, but it didn't draw money or lead to anything that could draw money. Is it wrong that it didn't draw money? Not so much. But it was 20 minutes of time that could have been devoted to something that might have drawn money at the next PPV. I know it's a sin around here lately to dare to think about anything that happens in terms of how it draws money, which is kind of the point of the wrestling business, because lord knows it's far more important to think purely about your own enjoyment and to hell with something as minor as making money. Comedy doesn't draw. Comedy is fine for the midcard, but in the main events need something to get emotionally involved in to where you want to pay to see the match it's building. Goofy skits involving two guys who are meant to be draws doesn't do that. It makes you laugh, which is fine, but people don't pay $34.95 to see two comedians wrestle. Austin and Rock didn't draw 1 million buys because of any stupid comedy. They drew money because of two strong personalities. Hunter and Batsita didn't draw almost a million buys because of any comedy skits. They drew those buys because the World Title was important to both men, and Batista wanted to take it while Hunter wanted to keep it. But I'm just thinking about the big picture and how things should make money, and we can't have that, can we?

A casual fan on the internet is going to go to WWE.com and that's about it. It's one thing to go online and see the latest WWE news on their own website. It's another to go beyond that, and check other news sites, message boards, etc. That type of fan is what is generally meant when people talk about fans on the internet. The ones who go to message boards like this. A casual fan isn't going to bother with that. That's why they're called casual.

I could see it working if done right. IMO, people are more passionate about about who's actually running ECW or whose vision is being presented than just about anything that's currently on the show now. If the shows were entertaining, word got out that Heyman was put back into power and given more free reign over the product, and if the Originals were made to look strong, it could bring a lot of people back to the show. It wouldn't even be that much of a storyline contradiction, because Heyman could always say that Vince forced him to act against the Originals (which is what most people probably believe anyway). Not saying it's a work at all, but if it was, it may not be a bad idea. You don't need to work the internet fans to do that. You just need to actually put on a good product. The working of the fans on the internet is just done for kicks and to get a buzz out of 'fooling the smarts'. It serves no real purpose other than kicks, because the internet fans make up such a small percentage of your fanbase even if they are usually the most vocal ones. It's the casual fans you need to worry about and as far as casual fans are aware, they don't even know any of this has happened and won't know until ECW airs. I don't exactly disagree with you, but in this issue especially, I don't think it'd hurt to work the net, and in this case it could possibly help more than it'd hurt simply because this isn't some random this is one of those issues that people tend to care about. Yes, we're a small portion of the fanbase, but we're the portion of the fanbase with the most connection to the ECW. We're the ones who are most likely to put down money to see ECW, and to get us riled up and really believing in the product (not to say that net fans would think the whole storyline's a shoot, but more along the lines of them being really vocal and involved) could--if done correctly--create a big enough buzz to attract some more viewers. And the thing about this type of angle is that while it'd be geared more to the hardcore fanbase, it's not so complicated that the casuals wouldn't be able to understand it, so the risk of alienating them isn't all that big if it plays out on TV. Plus if the hardcore crowd gets vocal enough and the weekly TV is entertaining enough, I think they'd fall right in line. Because this is an issue people care about is one reason why working the internet fans will just as likely keep them away than bring them back. Swerving them into coming back, even assuming you can do it, under the promise of Heyman coming back and gaining control isn't going to last long because those same people are going to quickly realize that Vince is running things, which he will do eventually. When that happens, they'll leave, and will be even less likely to come back the next time they try to swerve them or, somehow, Heyman really does gain power back. The internet fans create a buzz within their own community, but it's rarely a buzz that can bring in and sustain new long term fans unless the product in question is good enough to keep the casual fans around, and they make up the vast majority of fans. Casual fans are drawn in by what creates a buzz among them not among internet fans. Anything done with Heyman at this point creates no buzz among casual fans. Casual fans are the ones they need to worry about and the ones they need to hook in. Trying to work the internet fans to draw in the casual fans would a pointless exercise. They're totally different creatures.

The most likely outcome is Heyman stays home until Vince brings him back or signs him to a new deal just to keep him away from anyone else. I'd be shocked if Heyman actually left WWE, but if he was ever going to really leave, it would be now.

Meltzer hasn't said Heyman has been let go or fired, but a lot of other places are seeing he's basically been let go. Heyman has been sent home and he'll probably sit there doing nothing until he's either brought back again or they decide to formally let him go. It is, but that doesn't stop some people. He's gone for a while, but it may turn into forever. Most likely, though, he'll return when Vince panics enough to reach out.

Wrestlemag About one third of PPV buys come from overseas, so the domestic buys for those three PPV's were around 350,000, 200,000 and 130,000. And next week's Raw main event will be Triple H vs. Edge.

From Meltzer: Looks like it was the latest version of the usual Heyman bust up with Vince.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Heyman probably did make the call to only promote two matches, but why would he write a PPV as horrible as D2D? I can see Vince writing something like that because it fits in with what he wants, but Heyman? Even assuming D2D was all Heyman, why would Vince suddenly give Heyman full control of anything? To give himself an out when it fell flat on its face and credibly blame everything on Heyman so he had an excuse to send him home?

I'll post it here as well because it relates to Heyman: Wade Keller is saying it was Vince's call to only promote two matches ahead of time so as to focus the hype on those matches. However, Bryan Alvarez is saying that EVERYTHING on D2D, as well as the decision to promote just the two matches, is down to Heyman and he's been in complete spin mode since Sunday night.

Wade Keller is saying it was Vince's call to only promote two matches ahead of time so as to focus the hype on those matches. However, Bryan Alvarez is saying that EVERYTHING on D2D, as well as the decision to promote just the two matches, is down to Heyman and he's been in complete spin mode since Sunday night.

The usual blowoff then to make sure people know not to care about anything.

Tenkoji will easily carry the load for ringwork, while Muto and Chono will carry the charisma and everything else.

You must have a terrible attention span to think Impact was slow and they didn't do enough. Seriously. Impacts biggest flaw has been they never let anything sink in. A match or angle has barely finished and they're already into the next angle, before anything get's a chance to register.

Have they even mentioned that at all since DX and Flair became the best of friends?

All of this ideas are nice, but they won't mean anything unless Russo and company change the idea that they have to pack two hours of stuff into a one hour show. Cosmetic changes such as these look good but they'll be meaningless unless the underlying problems are corrected.

I could see it working if done right. IMO, people are more passionate about about who's actually running ECW or whose vision is being presented than just about anything that's currently on the show now. If the shows were entertaining, word got out that Heyman was put back into power and given more free reign over the product, and if the Originals were made to look strong, it could bring a lot of people back to the show. It wouldn't even be that much of a storyline contradiction, because Heyman could always say that Vince forced him to act against the Originals (which is what most people probably believe anyway). Not saying it's a work at all, but if it was, it may not be a bad idea. You don't need to work the internet fans to do that. You just need to actually put on a good product. The working of the fans on the internet is just done for kicks and to get a buzz out of 'fooling the smarts'. It serves no real purpose other than kicks, because the internet fans make up such a small percentage of your fanbase even if they are usually the most vocal ones. It's the casual fans you need to worry about and as far as casual fans are aware, they don't even know any of this has happened and won't know until ECW airs.

Cornette didn't object too much to Russo coming in and they worked out something so the two would never have to interact. They'd do the same with Heyman if need be.

Cornette is strictly on-air talent.

If Cornette can tolerate Russo, he can tolerate Heyman. For one thing, Cornette respects Heyman's ability when it comes to booking and his mind for wrestling.

More from PWI:

Mike Johnson at PWInsider posted this: Either Heyman really is gone, or a lot of people are believing he is.

Melter says that Monty Brown is at Raw, so he might be on Raw or ECW.

I'd forget anything they ever tell you. Whatever they say never means anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if those are their real feelings towards Heyman and it's likely he'll be sent home for real if only because they'll blame him for the failings of the brand.