Caliban

Prelim numbers usually come in a couple of months after the PPV. It varies how long it takes for the final numbers to be released. This document is updated pretty regularly: http://www.shareholder.com/wwe/downloads/K...nessDrivers.pdf So, according to WWE... Rumble 2005 575,000 No Way Out 240,000 Wrestlemania 21 980,000 Backlash 2005 320,000 Judgment Day 260,000 ECW One Night Stand 340,000 Vengenance 420,000 GAB 280,000 Summerslam 650,000 Unforgiven 250,000 No Mercy 230,000 Taboo Tuesday 250,000 Survivor Series 400,000 Armageddon 320,000 New Years Revolution 300,000 Rumble 2006 550,000 No Way Out 220,000

Though the show did have it's iffy moments, Raw was once again an entertaining show from top to bottom. 2006 has been a great year for Raw so far IMO, with pretty much a good show every week. Remember what things were like in 2004 or even last year when WWE could NEVER string together two decent shows in a row? The difference between now and then is that they have a clear direction on where to go. We are seeing a new WWE style coming through that is somewhat a blend of WWF Attitude and the 80s cartoon era. And I like it. A lot. And if you don't... I've got two words for ya...... Joey Styles. Apparently the new ECW will cater more towards wrestling and less towards sports entertainment. So everyone happy? In theory. We'll see how it goes, but these are interesting times again to be a wrestling fan, to be sure.

From the Observer: Raw TV spoilers from London by Andi Turner and Rich Southby Quick Raw taping report for you from London... The order might be a bit off as this is from memory. Looked pretty much like a full house. Opened up with Lillian Garcia singing the National Anthem, then into Heat matches. Big Show came out to huge pop, mainly as he was the first wrestler to appear. He beat 2 jobbers pretty quickly, managing to nearly drop one guy during the choke slam finish. Next up Lance Cade def. Eugene in a comedy match. Eugene was over with the crowd. Goldust & Snitsky def. 2 more jobbers (one of whom was German, so he got lots of heat) in another comedy match, revolving around Snitsky's foot fetish. Finally, Kane beat Trevor Murdoch with the choke slam in a nothing match. Fans chanted May 19th throughout. The announcers came out next. Joey Styles needs some music and an entrance video 'cos he's the only one who hasn't got one and it makes him look like a chump. Re-cap of HBK beating up Shane at WM22 on the screen leads us into Raw. Edge is out first and harps on about having beaten Cena and HHH already. HHH comes interupts to a HUGE pop. He's SO over. HHH spends a while talking about how Edge's title reign didn't last very long, and makes several jokes about his performance in the bedroom. Calls him the "Premature Superstar" (to rhyme with "R"). Very funny, but I'm confused as to whether HHH is supposed to be a heel or not. Cena came out to thunderous boo's and went for HHH, bit of a brawl before Edge and HHH bail and out come the Spirit Squad. I wish they'd talk in time with eachother. No idea what they said but we have a 5 on 3 handicap match for later apparently. During the Ad break Matt Striker talks to Maria backstage and does the usual heel interview. 6 man tag now. Masters, Striker and Shelton Benjamin versus Carlito, Charlie Hass and RVD. Good match live with a couple of cool spots, although I have a feeling it might come across as a mess on TV. RVD pinned Shelton clean with the 5 star frog splash. Don't quite understand why they did that but hey! Maria came out to do Kiss Cam in the break, which was quite good fun. One guy proposed to his girlfriend. Biggest pop went to the 2 girls that really went for it. Kane and Big Show had a row backstage and Kane gouged out one of Big Show's eyes. No, really. They used blood and everything! Vince and Shane cut a promo backstage about acts of God and Shawn Michaels. Diva Bikini contest between Candice, Torrie, Maria and Victoria and hosted by Coach was next. Candice won apparently, although the crowd wanted Maria. Afterwards Coach said the prize was a chance to make out with him. Candice didn't look too pleased and out came Viscera. He beat up Coach and did his usual rape act, then left with Candice. Crowd didn't seem to care. During the break Coach said he'd had enough and left, which will probably make the rest of the show much easier to watch on TV. Shane vs HBK next. Decent match, Shane missed a moonsault and Shawn did his comeback thing before Vince stopped the superkick. Shawn set Vince up on the announce table and teased the elbow off the top rope before Shane stopped him. They hit him with the ring bell (I assume the ref called a dq there) and Shane did his own elbow off the top rope onto Shawn and through the announce table. Crowd loved it. Vince then got on the mic and said Shawn had "no chance in hell" at backlash. Lots of Backlash promos on the screen and some backstage stuff of no importance was followed by Umaga def. Jobber from London (I think it was the same guy who challenged Angle for his medal last year). Quick match followed by a run-in by Ric Flair, who got a great reception. The screen then announced a match between the two at Backlash. Spirit Squad did a backstage promo about David Beckham and the Spice Girls, before HHH ran into Lita. He asked her for advice on how to take on 5 guys at once. More cheers and laughs from the crowd for Uber-heel HHH! Mickie James came out and said she didn't want to be like Trish any more and she was just gonna be herself. Trish came out as Mickie, wound her up and then attacked her. Mickie looked confused and annoyed. Segment died live. Main event time. Spirit Squad are really annoying. Good match, HHH and Edge kept tagging each other with hard slaps to the chest. Cena took a beating to cheers from the fans and made the hot tag to that heel HHH again. Crowd went nuts. It got a bit confusing to watch from there on in. Edge did a lot of standing around. In the end HHH and Cena did their finishers at the same time on 2 members of the Spirit Squad for the double pin, before getting into a brawl of their own ("Boo", "Yay" like WM). Edge speared HHH and Cena FU'd Edge to close the show as the last man standing. Afterwards Cena took the mike, called London a tough crowd and orchestrated a cheering contest between the "Triple H D-X fans" and the "Chain Gang". The Chain Gang lost. He then did the hard sell for Backlash. Obviously no-one told him it wasn't a pay-per-view in the UK. All in all, quite a good show. Not a great deal of wrestling and could well suck on TV. Quite a lot of filler, but crowd was hot for the most of it. Biggest Pops: 1. HHH 2. HBK 3. RVD 4. Austin (on the "This week in Wrestling History" package) 5. Angle (on Smackdown preview) Biggest Heat: 1. Cena 2. Edge 3. Vince 4. Rey Mysterio (on Smackdown preview) Cheers for reading! Andi Turner, London, England. From Rich Southby: My name is Rich Southby, and I attended the RAW taping at the Wembley Arena in London. Overall it was a very enjoyable show with a little bit of everything. Here's a brief rundown of the show... HEAT Lillian Garcia came out to a great reception and plenty of wolf-whistles. She graciously sang the English National Anthem, and welcomed us to Heat. She also wished the Queen a happy 80th birthday, which was a nice touch. Big Show vs. 2 jobbers As expected, a total squash. Big Show received an incredible response, being the first superstar we saw. He seemed appreciative of such a big reaction and it showed. He won with the Showstopper in quick time. Lance Cade vs. Eugene A pretty competitive match, complete with Cade working on Eugene's arm a heck of a lot, while Eugene did his usual antics. After Eugene scored with a Rock Bottom, however, Cade eventually got the pin with a Stan Hansen/JBL-style Lariat. Goldust & Gene Snitsky vs. 2 jobbers Another squash. Only thing of note was Snitsky's foot fetish. He tried to remove the boots of the opponents, then Goldust after the pin, chasing him up the ramp. Trevor Murdoch vs. Kane Squash. Chokeslam. Kane got a good face reaction, however. Chants of "May 19th" from the know-it-all English crowd. RAW The show started with Edge & Lita coming out to a thuderous reaction for an in-ring promo. Quickly interrupted by Triple H, who made some hilarious jokes about Edge that had the crowd in stitches. Seeing his new video and music was awesome. When John Cena came out, the crowd was mixed, although on TV it may seem he got a lot of boos. The 3-way stand-off was ended by the arrival of the Spirit Squad, who danced around like idiots before announcing that the night's main event would feature Edge, John Cena and Triple H vs. the entire Spirit Squad. Matt Striker cut a promo having a pop at the English. Maria stuck up for the Brits in her own dense, loveable way. She later hosted the Kiss-cam, which got quite a few good snogs, including a full-on HLA kiss and another one with a guy kissing anohter guy on the cheek. Chris Masters, Matt Striker & Shelton Benjamin vs. Rob Van Dam, Charlie Haas & Carlito Enjoyable match which ended with a cluster of finishers, including Rob Van Dam's rolling thunder and flying kick before pinning Matt Striker with the 5-Star Frog Splash. Kane & Big Show were backstage, With Show asking Kane what May 19th was all about. Kane told Big Show not to mention that date, but Show did anyway, receiving a beating for his troubles. Kane badly hurt Show's eye during the assault, leaving the 7-footer in agony. Movie promotion if ever I saw it. Todd Grisham came out to a curious set of boos and did a quick trivia round, focussing on English wrestlers (Bulldog and Regal). Diva Bikini Contest Torrie Wilson, Candace Michelle, Maria & Victoria all took part, and all looked hot! The crowd was hottest for Maria, but Coach announced Candace as the winner. When he tried to get off with her, Viscera interrupted and did unspeakable things to the Coach before getting a kiss from Candace. Umaga vs. jobber I went to the toilet during this match, but it was a quick squash. Only notable because Ric Flair ran in and attacked Umaga after the bell, and strutted around doing his "Wooo" thing. Umaga won, by the way. Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels Vince was at ringside for this one, and intervened sparingly. When it looked like HBK had it won after his elbow drop, and was tuning up the band for Sweet Chin Music, the tables were turned by Vinnie Mac, and Shawn was laid out on the announcers table for Shane to hit an incredible elbow drop from the turnbuckle. "Holy shit" chants followed, then Vince proclaimed that at Backlash, God would abandon HBK. Mickie James came out, in normal gear, to state that she was done copying Trish Stratus and didn't need to be her any more, as she was now better than Trish. Miss Stratus then came out wearing exactly the same outfit as Mickie, and cut her off whenever she attempted to speak. Having had enough, Mickie instigated a brawl which ended with Trish hitting the Chick Kick and prancing away all happy-like. Triple H, Edge & John Cena vs. Spirit Squad Even though the SS got in some offence, it wasn't enough to look credible. Edge and HHH exchaned hard tags in the early part of the match before Cena got involved, to a cacophony of boos. The match ended when Cena and HHH executed their finishers simultaneously, and Edge hoped to seize the advantage by hitting HHH with a Spear. Attempting to do the same to Cena, he was hoisted up and FU'ed, the match forgotten. After the show, Cena cut a long rambling promo which basically stated that he didn't mind if "The London Chain Gang" cheered him or for "DX" (HHH) but either way he would win at Backlash. The crowd was mega-hot throughout, cheering both faces and heels. The biggest pop, however, would have to go to HHH. Loudest boos befell Cena. The crowd chanted "England" a few times, and seemed genuinely hacked off by Striker's promo, and a later one with the Spirit Squad belittling England's chances in the upcoming World Cup. Quick note to WWE though: stop mentioning the Spice Girls when trying to get UK heat. They broke up years ago. There wasn't a shirt-gun, but WWE did a good job of getting the fans involved and keeping them occupied. We even got a Mexican wave going, which was a laugh. Plenty of kids about too, who cheered for Cena when the adults booed him. Loads of people were doing the "Mr. Kennedy...." line, oddly enough. People were chanting Wooooo everywhere, in the arena before the show, at the train station on the way home, waiting for the show to start, everywhere! Flair was over like Jehovah. Anyway, hope that helps, Rich Southby

Summerslam 2007 is the 20th Summerslam, that's why they're having it in MSG then as opposed to 2008, which is the 20th anniversary...

WCW in 2000 - over $50 million lost WWE, last financial quarter, - $15 million profit Yeah, I see the similarites...

English crowds tend to be pretty smarky. And we also HATE Cena over here. Raw'll be from London in three weeks. I think it's London anyway.

It's definitely a dark match. Henry/Taker's the TV main event. Why go through the trouble?

The finish to the hardcore match was mindblowing. This segment is quality!

Wrestlemania starts with a positive. Nothing on this card will be as bad as Big Show/Akebono.

You know... Miz might just be the first character that I have nothing in common with, at all. I mean, there is nothing about his character that I can identify with.

Roddy Piper beating The Mountie at Royal Rumble 1992 for the Intercontinental Title got a huge pop... Rey winning the Rumble this year was a huge pop too.

Basically thanked the fans for making Wrestlemania "what it is today"

I won't ask you to list all 200 reasons, but surely you agree that this'd be marginally better than Show vs Akebono, and would probably draw in a fair few 12-14 year old fans along for the ride. Which is pretty much who WWE are going for these days, from the look of things. And it means Takers streak can continue without wrecking someone's career.

Assuming no Bret, Hogan, Austin or Rock, it gets pretty difficult. I'm not going to try and book the lower card matches, but this is what I came up with a few days back. World Title: Kurt Angle vs Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton (Mysterio goes over) WWE Title: Cena vs HHH Edge vs Mick Foley HBK vs Shane and Vince (Ladder) Big Show/Kane vs Undertaker/Boogeyman (only use I could come up with for Taker) RVD vs Shelton

Great Rumble. Everything else reeked. I have just watched the Rumble match again. AFTER the title matches, the order it should be. And it comes off much better that way. There will be some negative perception of this Rumble due to the extraordinarily bad undercard. But this Rumble was actually better than last years, IMO. The problem is with the dull middle portion. The first 20 minutes of the Rumble are great. Everything moves along nicely. The middle, well.. people come in, do a couple of moves, and then nothing really happens, though watching it again, I did feel more entertained. The crowd reaction for RVD and the amount of camera time he got was encouraging too. The ending of the Rumble, the last 15 minutes or so are awesome, with a hot crowd. And I have to say, rewatching it, the pop Mysterio gets for winning is the lowdest I've heard in years. There's only three single pops in history that compare: Roddy Piper winning the IC Title at Royal Rumble 1992, Linda kicking Vince in the nuts at Mania X-Seven, and Mankind coming off the Cell. People sit and write how Mysterio isn't a credible champion for his size. Well, right now, he looks and IS a credible Rumble winner because the match told a great story, and admittedly because they are capitalising on sympathy from Eddie's death. So if he wins the World title in a match that is scripted to be believable in how he wins, what's wrong with that?

I have my moments.

Wow, I wouldn't have had a CLUE what the Rumble card was if you hadn't posted this. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!111 Now fuck off.

You know, ratings have pretty much consistently been half a point up on last year for a couple of months now. More than that, if they can keep it above 4.

1996-1998. The start of the Monday Night Wars, and the start of the boom, I'd been watching for four years in 1996, and it was at this time I started getting "smart"... at one of the most rewarding times to do so. Austin's rise to megastardom, Montreal, nWo...

It should be Orton/Hogan.

Byte This is well worth watching this week, Kennedy is on there for about an hour, and goes into some details of how he got into wrestling, and his influences. Kennedy worked as a pizza delivery boy out of high school, before working as a security guard in a nuclear power plant. It was during the security job (he hated it, living in a "box" as he called it) that he started dreaming of a pro wrestler. When he couldn't get the time to be a pro wrestler doing 13 hour shifts in security, he moved to Green Bay to become a personal trainer, which he was when WWE hired him in March of last year. In between this, Todd gets his nuts bashed in a few times. Kennedy even manages to call out HHH during his appearance, promising that Kennedy will defeat HHH sometime in the future. Ambitious and talented guy. Can't wait until he comes back... up to six months he said, but hopefully before then, eh? KENNEDY!!!

She might have a case, but then WWE could just show how she did have some storylines and PPV appearances, and her release was no different to that of a Gail Kim or a Nidia... who also had a chance in WWE but disappeared and weren't missed...

Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So you guys thought it was crap too huh? I thought so too, that is why I hope tonight somebody anybody takes it away from him and give him the shortest regin ever!!! In the WWE, he would really be mad then. What I don't understand is how every body acted last night, everybody hates Edge and when he won that title every screamed????? What the heck is wrong with people?? I know everybody whated Cena to loose his title but why in the world did it have to be Edge?? And another thing I hope is if Cena can't win it back....I hope Kurt Angle comes behind him and breaks that little ankle of his!! I want Edge to be punished so badly it is not even funny. My husband told me I should calm down because it was part of the story line but I just couldn't it didn't seem fair. I just hope I haven't scared anybody...I am just really mad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edge - more heat than Jericho when he was heel champ

It's a complete steal at that price. Plus WWE has had a pretty good year on PPV IMO. The only one that really has nothing going for it is Great American Bash.