Hunter's Torn Quad

Dave called UFC 61 horrible. Said there were two questions coming out of the PPV: How much damage did it do, and what is going on with UFC and PRIDE? Said neither question could easily be answered yet. Said its personalities and grudge matches that draw, that Ortiz vs. Shamrock was the greatest combination of both, as well as television build up, in US MMA history. Said it was clear UFC knew the fight could never live up to the hype, which is why it was put in the middle. UFC told the AP it expects UFC 61 to do above 500,000. Said that a lot of people who never ordered a UFC PPV got this one, and that it’ll be a long time before they order another one. Says UFC have had two previous shows that have been so bad as to significantly hurt repeat business; UFC IX, with Shamrock vs. Severn II (which Dave said that, as bad as people talk about the matches on this show, nothing matches Shamrock vs. Severn II), and UFC 33 in September 2001 (this is the one where all the fights went the distance and a lot of companies carrying the show went off the air before the end). Says the long-term effects of this show will be “nothing”, but that short-term it will gave an effect for a few months. Spoke of last year when, after UFC built to what was its biggest ratings match ever, Chris Leben vs. Josh Koscheck, and they had a bad match, that people were claiming that UFC had shot itself in the foot and that people would see it as boring. Said that while ratings decreased the following week, it was only back down to the normal levels it had been doing anyway, and that in the last year UFC’s PPV popularity increased tremendously. Said Joe Stevenson vs. Yves Edwards was a good opener, and that the amount of blood spilt bordered on sickening. Said Frank Mir really should have beaten Dan Christison quickly and decisively, but that both men lost this one because nobody wants to see them fight again. Said the stoppage in Ortiz vs. Shamrock terrible. Said Burkman vs. Neer was a good match, but the crowd hadn’t recovered from Ortiz vs. Shamrock. Said the show needed a good main event to be saved, and that it’s a good sign of how well the heavyweight title match was pushed as Las Vegas crowds usually leave after the marquee match and few people left before the heavyweight title match. Said you would have expected an early knockout from Arlovsky vs. Sylvia, but instead the fight was like a five-round bad boxing sparring session. Arlovsky blew out his knee and ankle in round two. He was hospitalized that night, was put in a cast, and will have had an MRI done this week. Said that a lot people started leaving at the end of the third round, not understanding that title fights are five rounds, and that while most seemed to come back, people left in droves during the fourth round and many of those paid $750 for tickets. Said that in round five, with the match there to be won (two judges at it 38-38 after round four), Arlovsky simply tried to survive and made no attempt to win. After the fight, Arlovsky said that his injuries were why he never attempted a takedown, and that he was concerned that if he shot in and bent his knee to that degree it would lock up and he wouldn’t be able to continue. Said he’s not sure what it says about Sylvia when he fought a guy on one leg for three-and-a-half rounds and was never aggressive in trying take him out. Sylvia suffered a concussion from a punch and passed out in his hotel room later that night. Called the people at Mandalay Bay UFC fans and not MMA fans, and Wanderlei Silva was virtually unknown to them. Says the live fans were unhappy with the announcement, because they weren’t in the mood for hype for an upcoming show. Says UFC has access to all the top Silva footage and we’ll see it used on specials and the like to build up to his fight against Liddell. Dave says it should be enough to do solid business. Says Liddell vs. Silva will be a striking match and that Silva gas faced superior strikers than Liddell has. But Dave also says that were different matches at different times in their careers. Silva will be steroid for the first time in Nevada, and he won’t be able to use his stomps or soccer kicks. Dave says that Liddell is, stylistically, a tough opponent for Silva. Calls Silva super aggressive, a hard hitter and has incredible stamina, but that he throws wild and can floored by someone who comes up the middle. Says Liddell doesn’t do that exactly, but that he is a great counter puncher, and that he is physically bigger. Says that Silva has great recuperative powers, citing that Mark Hunt, who Dave says hits harder than Liddell, knocked him down but that Silva got up. Says Liddell hits hard and has a granite chin. Dave calls Liddell the better wrestler, but that neither man will want to take it there, unless Liddell is having a tough time. Says Liddell would at least have that option, but if Silva is having the hard time then it’ll be harder for him to get the takedown, but even if he does than Liddell will likely get right back up. Liddell has shown that he can be outpunched, but hell take the shot, but all he needs is one good shot at the counter and he can get the KO. Silva has been tested by far superior strikers and hasn’t been KO’d in eight years. They both have big fights coming up they could lose, and with Silva having one or two fights against bigger men coming up, if Silva has tough fights then it could work against him in November. Dave says there are far more important things than who wins the fight, and he calls it a battle for the future of MMA. Dave says a year ago it wouldn’t have mattered, but with UFC growing so much and PRIDE being almost gone, the feeling in Japan is that this is a Hail Mary move from PRIDE to save the company. “However, what if, on a UFC PPV show, that Silva beats Liddell?” Dave says that would mean that everyone would now know Silva, but not necessarily PRIDE. Says it’ll also mean that every UFC fan will know that PRIDE exists and that its champion is really the top guy. Dave talked about the risks being taken by this, in terms of what both have to lose and perceptions and says that this is one risk that UFC should not be taking, as the risks are too high. Dave called it the MMA equivalent of Muto vs. Takada I where New Japan had Muto beat Takada; “It wasn’t UWFI getting mainstream exposure it was UWFI’s last stand.” Dave said that UFC would not book this match unless there was no way they couldn’t come out a winner, which Dave says tells you something about PRIDE and its future. Dave says the entire situation is so sensitive that why the deal was made or anything about where it is going and that Dana White himself told Dave that he’d be able to talk about it at some point but he couldn’t talk about it now. Gate figures aren’t official, but indications are it won’t break the current record set by Liddell vs. Couture III ($3,447,600). Dave was told to expect a gate of $3.2m to $3.4m. The early PPV numbers are said to be strong. Dave talked a lot about the stoppage in Ortiz vs. Shamrock, having watched it “over-and-over in super slow motion”. Dave says he knows why the ref made the call, to protect Shamrock, and Dave thinks the idea that was had by people that Shamrock was going to get killed worked against him, because no other fighter would have been stopped in that position. Fans did worse than boo, as one woman from the TV crew was injured by a beer bottle. Says the fans were infuriated by Ortiz talking about a rematch, as they felt screwed and the last thing they wanted to hear was talk of a rematch right after. Dave said he heard the stoppage defended, with Goldberg and Couture saying Shamrock wasn’t intelligently defending himself, but at no point was that the case; The pay sheets show Ortiz got $200,000 for the win and Shamrock got $100,000 for the loss. Both men are also getting a percentage of the PPV. Says UFC are in bind, because with Ortiz getting two wins over Shamrock, and the second one being so quick, a third match, especially when nobody thinks Shamrock has a chance, would be controversial. Putting it on PPV could make people feel leery, because it would be charging for a one-sided fight. Dave is torn, because he doesn’t want to see Shamrock get destroyed again, but at the same time “he was screwed”. He also said the fans were screwed. “As much as people in the know recognized what this fight was, they are a tiny percentage of the people who support the organization. To the masses, they are two well-known superstars whose name value is incredibly high. Even Ortiz was screwed out of the decisive win that he probably deserves to end all of this. After six years, it left a terribly bitter aftertaste that the longest and greatest feud in UFC history would end in such a manner.” Dave talks about the Spike shows UFC has until the end of the year, and how the have no marquee match they could put on that people would care even one-tenth as much about. He suggests putting Ortiz vs. Shamrock III on the November show, which will be the Ultimate Fighter 4 finale. Says Ortiz is put in the best position if you’re the promoter, as he needs at least one win before his title fight in February against whomever the champion is. Another match against Forest Griffin would be a better fight, and make more money, but Griffin has a strong chance of winning, especially as a lot of people thought he won the first fight, and Ortiz title fight is the big money fight you don’t want spoiled. There is a big cost involved, as Spike would be spending more money on this fight than any other. If it costs so much more than a normal fight, then “chalk it up to the cost of doing such great business on this show and doing a favor for the near record paying audience”. Dave also calls it an investment in the future, because there will be a lot of first-time viewers who’ll be drawn in if the fight was put on free television, and they’ll see two fights, the UF 4 finals, here the winners will be getting PPV title fights very soon after. If either Ortiz or Shamrock want the kind of payday they got from UFC 61 then it would become too much financially. Dave can’t see doing the third match on PPV, as it would only make a bad situation worse. Dave can’t see Shamrock turning it down, because from where he is he has nothing left to lose after the 78 second loss, and Ortiz would be getting $200,000 for far less risk than any other fight he could have for the rest of the year. The fighters might not se things the same way. Dave has talked about this with people inside UFC, but the feeling he got from people was not positive towards the idea, and was given the impression that it couldn’t financially be done for free TV. Says Dana White could announce that because so many were unhappy over the stoppage, that they’re giving them a PPV rematch on free television. Dave said it would a great goodwill gesture, and would soothe over the people who swore off of UFC after what happened. However, Dave says that a rematch does have a lot of negativity. Firstly, it “backstabs Herb Dean’s decision”. In addition, Dave says that UFC’s enemies will use this match as fodder, with many of them using the end result of the match as reasoning that it should never have taken place it all, which Dave says ignores the record level public interest in the fight. Says there are two key questions that need to be answered that aren’t so easy to answer; Do we really want to see Ken Shamrock fight again? And, after all he’s done to draw and build for this business, for over a decade, does he at least deserve the chance to end his career with the same chance that any other name fighter would have had? That is the opportunity to at least have the chance to escape from a bad position. Ortiz was the crowd favorite going into the fight, but was booed heavily in his post0-fight interview, especially when he talked of doing a rematch. Dave talked about how a lot of people were laughing about Ortiz kicking up a fuss at the weigh-in over Shamrock, in his eyes, not making weight, when Ortiz was the one who turned out not to make the weight at first. Drew Fickett vs. Kurt Pellegrino: Fickett got $12,000 for the win and Pellegrino got $2,00 for the loss. Cheick Kongo vs. Gilbert Aldana: Kongo got $6,000 for the win and Aldana got $2,000 for the loss. Jeff Monson vs. Anthony Perosh: Monson got $20,000 for the win and Perosh got $3,000 for the loss. Dave says there is a good chance Monson got the $5,000 bonus for the best knockout. Hermes Franca vs. Joe Jordan: Franca got $8,000 for the win and Jordan got $4,000 for the loss. Dave says Franca had to have gotten the $5,000 bonus for the best submission. Joe Stevenson vs. Yves Edwards: Steven got $24,000 for the win and Edwards got $8,000 for the match. Dave said it’s a good bet that both men got the $5,000 each bonus for having the best fight. Frank Mir vs. Dan Christison: Mir got $56,000 for the win and Christison got $5,000 for the loss. Josh Burkman vs. Josh Neer: Burkman got $10,000 for the win and Neer got $6,000 for the loss. Sylvia vs. Arlovsky: Sylvia got $120,00 for the loss and Arlovsky got $90,000 for the loss. Other News HBO says don’t expect a deal with UFC anytime soon. There will very likely be a Spike TV special in September that will come from the Hard Rock café in Hollywood, FL. The special in Texas, in either October or November, is right now being talked about has taking place in a military base. Kenny Florian pulled out of his 8/26 match against Sean Sherk, citing the need to train more for the fight. Ken Shamrock did an interview with Newsday, and when asked about TUF 3, he said he stopped watching three episodes in. He said the show w as entertaining but it didn’t portray him in the best possible light. Dana White met recently with Phil Baroni, who will be returning on the November PPV. Baroni coming back is a different deal than Silva coming in, as White didn’t go through PRIDE for Baroni, and PRIDE are not happy about Baroni making the deal. They are currently working on an opponent for Baroni. The PRIDE website said that Kazuyuki Fujita would be debuting on the November PPV too, but Dana White told Dave that is not true. Jeremy Lappen, the promoter of the WFA PPV, was kicked out of the UFC PPV. Lappen made a big deal about it after the fact, and claimed that it was because of WFA that UFC was working with PRIDE. He also claimed that Joe Silva was calling all the WFA fighters trying to get them to come to UFC. Undertaker was at the PPV, but never acknowledged. Dwayne Johnson was meant to be there, but because of his injury was unable to attend. Kevin Kay, GM of Spike, says UFC is their highest rated show and their biggest revenue generator. Dana White has said that he believes UFC will hit the 1 million buys mark “very soon”. When a UK reported told Michael Bisping that Dana White ha called him UFC’s answer to Ricky Hatton, Bisping said, “Great! Does that mean I’ll be getting $4m a fight then?”

It needs to be Joe vs. Sting at BFG. Joe beating Sting will mean more than Joe beating Jarrett, whether it’s for the title or not. The fans have twice seen someone beat Jarrett for the title and then Jarrett wind up getting the belt back relatively quickly. Having Joe beat Jarrett for the belt runs a very real risk of people thinking that they’re going to see the same thing again, with Joe getting the belt for a few months before it goes back to Jarrett again. What the fans have not seen before is Joe beating Sting. Joe vs. Sting makes sense because they have still to resolve the issue of Joe shaking Sting’s hand at Sacrifice only to leave him to get laid out by Jarrett and Steiner. After Joe beats Sting for the title, the next night on Impact they can have Joe shake Sting’s hand, before teasing Joe leaving Sting to get another beatdown from Jarrett and Steiner, only for Joe to finally make the save. Joe can then tell Sting he’s earned his respect at last because he finally faced him in the ring, while Sting can tell Joe, and the fans, that Joe has proven he’s the man and that he is the man to carry TNA. This can bring out Jarrett and Steiner, they can go back and forth to set up Sting/Joe vs. Jarrett/Steiner as the main event that night, and they can run an angle at the end of the match to set up Joe vs. Jarrett as the main event of the next PPV. Samoa Joe beating Sting for the belt means people will see Joe beating a guy who was seen as one of the top names from wrestling’s boom period, and that alone means Joe’s big World title win will mean far more if it’s against Sting than Jarrett. It will not just be Joe winning the World title, but it will be the rubber-stamping of the new face of wrestling, Joe, beating the old face of wrestling, Sting, and that will do wonders for the perception that TNA is about the new rather than the old.

The latest F4W says that Booker and Rey were told, before Mark got injured, that it would a three-way at Summerslam.

According to the latest F4W, much of the reason the SS are being split is because they're getting blamed for DX not getting good ratings.

I'll repost this here because it might generate more reaction. This is why I think it has to be Joe vs. Sting at Bound For Glory and not Joe vs. Jarrett; Joe beating Sting will mean more than Joe beating Jarrett, whether it’s for the title or not. The fans have twice seen someone beat Jarrett for the title and then Jarrett wind up getting the belt back relatively quickly. Having Joe beat Jarrett for the belt runs a very real risk of people thinking that they’re going to see the same thing again, with Joe getting the belt for a few months before it goes back to Jarrett again. What the fans have not seen before is Joe beating Sting. Joe vs. Sting makes sense because they have still to resolve the issue of Joe shaking Sting’s hand at Sacrifice only to leave him to get laid out by Jarrett and Steiner. After Joe beats Sting for the title, the next night on Impact they can have Joe shake Sting’s hand, before teasing Joe leaving Sting to get another beatdown from Jarrett and Steiner, only for Joe to finally make the save. Joe can then tell Sting he’s earned his respect at last because he finally faced him in the ring, while Sting can tell Joe, and the fans, that Joe has proven he’s the man and that he is the man to carry TNA. This can bring out Jarrett and Steiner, they can go back and forth to set up Sting/Joe vs. Jarrett/Steiner as the main event that night, and they can run an angle at the end of the match to set up Joe vs. Jarrett as the main event of the next PPV. Samoa Joe beating Sting for the belt means people will see Joe beating a guy who was seen as one of the top names from wrestling’s boom period, and that alone means Joe’s big World title win will mean far more if it’s against Sting than Jarrett. It will not just be Joe winning the World title, but it will be the rubber-stamping of the new face of wrestling, Joe, beating the old face of wrestling, Sting, and that will do wonders for the perception that TNA is about the new rather than the old.

I think it could have been when he had his knees operated on. He appeared a couple of times that year on TV with crutches.

I think it was a "faggot" chant.

Why?

--Raw did another 3.9 rating this week.

-John Cena vs. Umaga, stemming from last night's angle. DQ or CO?

<_<)--> QUOTE(<_< @ Jul 19 2006, 04:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I disagree. Look at Big Show going from jobber to beating Lesnar for the title in a couple of months. Someone like Doane can easily be transitioned. Blame the others for the fact they didn't win, then give him a US/IC push. Even with the rest, it'd only take a few wins for them to be ressurected. SS are jokes, but the individual wrestlers aren't. As has been said, they're interchangeable enough to get away with it. He got the push, but he wasn't over like he could have been had he been treated better. I don't disagree that something can be done with them. Just that they'll need to be taken off TV for a while for it to work. They were beaten up and treated like jokes as all five of them couldn't beat up two people. That leaves an impression on people, no matter how generic they looked.

Whatever gets done with the members of SS, it can't happen anytime soon for it to work. They got beaten up so often and so badly that the fans will never accept them as anything other than jokes without major rehab.

I don't think Savage thought Hogan and Liz were having an affair. I think what happened was Liz became friends with Hogan's wife Linda, and Liz confided in her that she wasn't happy with the marriage, and Linda told her that she didn't need Randy and that if she wasn't happy she should leave him. So Savage blamed Hogan and his wife for the breakup. I may be completely wrong about this. I'm sure HTQ knows. Brother, help me out! You're pretty much completely accurate. Re: Goldberg refusing to work with Jericho in WCW: That was down to Nash getting in Goldberg's ear. Jericho was getting pretty hot at the time, so you can work out for yourself why Nash talked Goldberg out of the program with Jericho. Re: Shawn and Hogan: It was meant to be a two match program, with one match at Summerslam and the second either the next night on Raw or the next month at Unforgiven in a cage match, depending on where in the timeline you're talking about. Shawn suggested either a cheap win or a DQ win at Summerslam to set up the rematch at Unforgiven. Hogan refused and insisted on a the pinfall win. He was open to doing a cage match the next month, and was willing to do a photo finish ending where he'd get out of the cage a split second ahead of Shawn, but he refused to loss. This upset Shawn a great deal, but there was nothing he could do about it. So, the next night, Shawn did the promo he did burying Hogan. Vince OK'd the promo and was somewhat eager that it happen, because he's always had a thing for ruffling feathers over personal issues to get his kicks.

After being humiliated and treated like complete jokes for almost two months straight, what can you do with the members of the Squad apart from take them off TV and wait for the stench to fade?

Shawn refused to work with Owen after Shawn had his fight with Bret. Austin didn't want to work with him after the accident at Summerslam, but nobody else did. After Owen came back in December, the plan was for Owen to beat Shawn for the European Title to set up a series WWF Title matches at house shows, but Shawn refused to drop the belt to Owen and instead we had that 'match' where Shawn literally laid down for Hunter.

The SS members are dead right now. The only way to salvage them is take them off television for a few months, let memories fade, and then bring them back with totally new gimmicks.

Anvil was gone from WCW by July of that year, and was never going to be in the War Games. It was meant to be Hawk, but that deal fell apart, hence the Shockmaster being put in the match.

Buy rate news: The first estimates for the Judgment Day PPV are at 238,000, which is up on the previous ‘B’ shows this year by some margin. It’s up 11% on Backlash. Domestically, JD did between 140,000 and 145,000. Dave says the above average trend indicates either Mysterio as underdog champion actually work, despite his near burial, or that Great Khali drew money first time out. Says the number is by no means a success, but by 2006 standards they shouldn’t be doing this well on the first estimate. Last year’s JD did 233,000 on first estimate, though this year they waited longer to get that estimate, which usually means it will be higher. Last year’s JD did 260,000 on the final number, with 170,000 domestic buys, but PPV last year was going much better business. The raise in price starting with the June One Night Stand PPV will more than make up any monetary differences. Notes on Raw: Said Cena vs. Benjamin would have had more meaning if it had been billed as the winner faces Edge for the title rather than Cena has to win to get the title shot, and Benjamin would have been elevated just by being there. Dave called Melina vs. Stratus the women’s match of the year. Dave also said Melina came off as such a superstar in the match. Dave also said Melina had more presence than Trish, which was a surprise, that she carried herself as a superstar, and that even the top men would be pressed to do a match this good in that short a time (The match went 3:56) Called Foley’s promo one of the greatest in the history of wrestling and that it was easily the best promo of the year. Said the only negative was that he was a total face in the promo and he’s meant to be the heel. The promo itself was actually taped last week, and several who saw it said it was too inside and made Flair the heel, but Vince was so busy with his stuff that he let it go. Said the people who put together the Haas-Viscera-Garcia skit must still be traumatized over a pretty girl they had a crush on in high school who didn’t like them back, and this was them getting the revenge they never got back then. Dave called the Diva Search segment one of the worst ever., and The Miz was “pathetic”, as host. Other news: Jonny Fairplay was talking about an idea to manage The Miz, and Steve Lombardi told him it would be a bad idea because “The Miz has to be a babyface.” Jimmy Hart, Ron Simmons, Maria and Ashley visited military bases in Kuwait. Hart wanted to go because his son was over there for a long time and he wanted to experience the situation as well. Ashley was sick. Hart noted that they found locals and servicemen with bootleg WWE DVD’s, and Hart even picked up a DVD of “See No Evil” for $3.50. Danny Basham will be part of ECW teaming with Doug Basham, but their role is strictly to put over The FBI at house shows. The results of Matt Cappotelli’s latest MRI show that his brain tumor has neither increased or decreased in size. Right now, he’s avoiding surgery. While Van Dam is scheduled to headline an ECW house show in his hometown of Battle Creek, MI on 11/6, it’s not etched in stone because it’s a Monday and they might pull him from the show if he’s wanted on Raw. Daniel Rodimar was signed to developmental deal this week. What he has going for him, apart from being tall and big, is that he looks like a 60s bodybuilding icon called Dave Draper, and that’s someone who Vince grew up on. Someone who saw him recently said, however, that he likes every other generic guy, because of the short haircut and his tattoos. He was told by John Laurinitis that was on the “fast track” to the main roster. Rodimar has done exactly zero pro wrestling matches. Jimmy Hart and Gene Okerlund will be hosting the Hulk Hogan DVD that comes out this year. It will be 9 hours in total, and will include a Hogan vs. Lawler match from Memphis. Stephen DeAngelis being replaced as ECW ring announcer was down to a couple of factors. Vince felt he shouted too much and told him that. He also got labeled an “ECW Original”, which is a big knock internally. Kevin Dunn heard about the criticism and suggested to Vince that he get removed because he had an “annoying” voice. It was also claimed he was too inquisitive for a ring announcer. Atlas Security were gotten rid of because Kevin Dunn said they kept getting in the way of the camera shots.

Could DX be put over Vince and company any stronger? They've come out on top so often and so strongly that I don't see any possible angle that could make DX vs. The McMahon's interesting at all.

The Squad are flatlining after getting squashed that badly. Also, I liked the angle with Hogan getting RKO'd. It was a creative way to have Hogan take the RKO and not have to take a bump.

According to Bret, as soon as they locked up, the first thing DB told Bret was that he had gone blank and couldn't remember anything they had talked about for the match. Bret said that he was proud for having that good of a match that he had to call as it went on, but he also said he regrets that he was caught on camera so often calling spots because wrestlers aren't meant to let that happen.

Dave watched the second week of OVW booked by Greg Gagne and said it was “like watching 1979 AWA matches except you don’t get the 1979 AWA interviews and you’ve got all the green guys with no names doing it”. Dave says Greg tries to get 6 matches in an hour, and it reminds him of TNA on FSN. Dave calls the Al Snow head character in OVW one of the worst of they year. Says part of the deal in wrestling is to make people believe in your character, and because people have seen Al Snow and know that he’s rational, while it would ok on an Indy show as a nostalgia deal, doing it on ECW or OVW is out of touch. Bryan said that Monday the Sabu/Van Dam deal seemed so big and that both guys might be fired, but a few days later Sabu had been fined and Van Dam was suspended for 30 days, and it died down a lot. A month from now, Dave thinks what happens depends on where the charges go. Sabu is scared about what might happen to his deal, but Van Dam isn’t scared at all. Dave says that what usually happens in situations like this is that wrestlers usually offer free tickets to a show or promise to make a charity appearance at a hospital or something and the mess goes away quietly. For whatever reason, it didn’t happen like that this time. Both Sabu and Van Dam are in potentially more trouble than has been let on, but further punishment is unlikely. Dave said he is sure what Sabu told WWE is accurate, and Dave did hear what he said, simply because he knows if he gets found out he’s gone. Bryan thinks this might be a break for Van Dam to be gone for 30-days. Dave thinks it will depend on how it gets handled on his return. Dave points out that WWE changes their mind on an hourly basis, and mentions how Randy Orton was on the verge of getting fired and now is back in the exact same position he would have been had nothing happened. Dave says that Van Dam being out a month is going to cost him around $21,000. On SNME, Dave thinks Edge vs. Cena should be good. Says they should do a DQ finish as it would be stupid to take the belt off Edge this quick. The Smackdown six-man is “just putting them there”. The rating might not beat there expectations, with the first rating being so low and that this SNME will be their fourth show of the week. Said that DX hasn’t drawn a rating the past two weeks. Says the July 3rd rating has never dropped this big before, in relation to the July 4th holiday and being part of the weekend, and WWE has done July 3rd shows before. Dave said that some plans were rushed while some were changed altogether. While watching Raw on Monday, Dave didn’t know what the plan was or where they were going, but when Edge came out Dave figured out he was winning from his facial expression. Dave brings up how some guys, like Cena or Edge, give stuff away from their facial expressions because of how they react to decisions. Dave is disappointed in the ECW thing overall. Didn’t like any of ECW on July 4th. Said the main event was what it had to be, but wasn’t any good. Bryan loved the fans chanting “You take steroids”, at Test, calling it a great TV moment. In regards to the bottle throwing, Dave isn’t sure if it was the right kind or wrong kind of heat. He’s sure there were some fans who were legitimately upset, and we’ll know for sure the kind of heat in two weeks, because the ratings will tell the tale. Dave liked the first week of DX, but didn’t like this weeks DX. Referenced how they went through so much so soon. Dave liked the bit where they did the raising of Vince’s voice, but think they kept at it so long and should have ended it. Called the blowjob skit terrible. Dave said he’s almost hating DX and wanting them to go away, even how good some of it has been, because it’s a one-note joke that is being played to death. WWE is pitching hard to Bret to publish his autobiography. Dave doesn’t know if Trish will come back, but cannot see Benoit not coming back. Says Benoit might even like not being in wrestling. Dave talks about one top name, who he doesn’t name, who loved wrestling and wrestled for a long time, and when he got sidelined for a while he liked it and it changed his view on wrestling.

With almost a complete lack of people to put right into a top spot, they didn't have a choice but to put Orton in the spot. Orton getting suspended then being put in the position he is in right now bodes well for RVD for when he comes back, because chances are pretty good he'll be right back where he was if only because there will be nobody else to put in the spot. And after hearing the reaction for Cena, I'm dying for certain people to explain it away as 'X-Pac heat'.

It might also be that guys are thinking so hard about being careful that they make mistakes they wouldn't normally make. If they're so worried about getting injured, they might tense up for something, and wind up doing exactly what they are trying to avoid.

That wasn't a WCW show. They lent some talent, but it was all organized and promoted by Jacques.