Bullets: News and Opinion

[Guest Gomezticator]

Bullets: News and Opinion

By Steve Gomez

 

* RAW in My Hometown of Las Vegas pulled a 3.8 rating, up from the usual 3.6, which, while encouraging, doesn’t change the fact that the booking is still nonsensical and directionless. While the TLC match helped pop the rating, WWE still fails to take any direction in their writing and one has to wonder how many more ratings-spiking gimmicks they can pull out of their hat before the fans become desensitized and cease to bother.

My sister’s boyfriend says he’s been a wrestling fan a long time. He watches every week with her. Even HE can’t bear to watch the nonsense they’re peddling out every week. She wanted to go to RAW this week and I quickly balked, as I’ve had a hard time watching lately. He eventually convinced her not to bother, despite $45 ringside seats being available.

* The roster has been informed that the writers will look to create more soap-opera style storylines, as Vince McMahon, the Most Clueless Entrepreneur in North America, likes them. Say what you want about such direction, but it’s not going to work if they won’t pick a direction and STICK with it. How does putting Undertaker and Triple H over EVERY SINGLE WEEK build soap opera like tension and keep fans hooked? There is no suspense.

* Vince needs to get off the soap-opera bandwagon and do what Smackdown does: Shut Up and Wrestle. It worked for several decades, and it will probably work now.

Nicole Bass has officially jobbed to the WWE legal team. Dude, after the testimonial beat-down they gave her over the last few weeks, you were just praying for them to finish the job and put her out of her misery. The lawsuit was simply a stupid idea in the first place; she should’ve just moved on with her life and left it at that. It’s not as if WWE is a Temple of Virtue in the first damn place, and you’re accomplishing nothing by accusing them of wrongdoing except stating the obvious, that they’re corrupt.

* Jeff Hardy shows up late to shows, Film at 11.

* Bubba Ray Dudley appears to be okay after his concussion, says a CAT scan he had Monday. He has been pulled from all scheduled shows until doctors clear him. Perhaps he should play hurt until Triple H collapses and dies, AND THEN come back.

* The Kane murder angle is just silly. This is ANOTHER attempt to gimmick up a storyline and spike ratings by attracting the casual fan. If I’m a casual fan, and I want to see a murder storyline, I’ll watch an ACTUAL crime show or an ACTUAL murder mystery. I’m probably not going to bother with a rasslin’ show on some hillbilly cable network that can’t even follow a storyline for longer than an hour (and what’s with that big ugly guy with the big nose beating everyone up every single week? Is he supposed to be invincible?). I’m almost sure the storyline will either be quickly dissolved or will degenerate into some nonsense with some contradictory nonsensical conclusion that’s only going to cost WWE more of its hardcore fan base. (Triple H: IT WAS MEEEEEEEEE, KANE!!!! IT WAS ME THE ENTIRE TIME!!!)

* Is wrestling dying? Will the WWE die in the next few years and what will happen to pro wrestling when it does? Let’s be frank: WWE is a multimillion-dollar conglomerate that can survive a rut of up to several years, so they’re not on the deathbed just yet. It’s a lot like the guy with chest pains who’s discovered his cholesterol is somewhere around 300: he’s probably not going to die TOMORROW, but if he doesn’t curb his poor eating and living habits, that heart attack or stroke WILL come and it will kill him. WWE has some serious fundamental problems right now, from nepotism to the owner’s ego overriding common sense to top guys using me-first politics to hold people down to lack of coherent storylines to talented people getting brushed off in favor of less talented but company guys or guys with a ‘look’. Right now, they have the money to survive this. Keep this nonsense up, and it will lead to the death of the company down the road. And despite their assets, who’s not to say that WWE won’t hemorrhage money the same way WCW did in its final year and go splat?

* What happens if WWE dies or has to scale back? People think pro wrestling will die. Nonsense. Remember the game SimEarth? After human civilization either blows itself up or blasts off into space, the planet’s ecosystem starts from scratch. I’m sure pro wrestling would do the same. Remember, there are a lot of Independent companies out there running shows in certain regions, a la the territories of days past. If WWE died, we’d likely end up with a territory system much like what we had before. Perhaps from there a nationally recognizable company or two will arise, or perhaps not. But pro wrestling certainly will not die, no matter what happens.

And speaking of using gimmicks to bring in viewers, NWA:TNA announces that Scott Hall isn’t going to make it to this week’s PPV and that he will be replaced by a ‘friend’ of BG James and Syxx-Pac ‘who also happens to be a former world champion’. My curiosity is piqued and I would speculate about who it could be, if NWA:TNA was worth caring about at this point. This company, like WWE, is trying to desperately add to their audience with hotshot angles and gimmicks, and after a while you become desensitized and just don’t care. And I just don’t care, really, other than a vague curiosity as to who the Mystery Man (Hotshot Angle #646) is.

* I’m on the lookout for Smackdown. Hope it rocks the bells and I hope you’ll read me later.