WWE News & Notes from the 9/6 Observer

[Enigma 0]

"It's easy to go lowbrow. That's not where we're going with our product in general or this search. We'll be fighting our image for 50 years, because there's 50 years (of tradition) before us, and we understand that." - Kevin Dunn 7/8/04, in what was called, at the time, the most unintentionally hilarious line of the year.

 

"Whore, you don't have any respect for the WWE. You don't know shit about wrestling. Having a cock in your mouth has nothing to do with wrestling, bitch" - Amy Weber, former bit actress on the aptly named TV show, "Son of the Beach."

 

"We want someone we can put on a pedestal here, and who can represent the WWE in a classy, I wouldn't say sophisticated, but a classy, nice manner." - Kevin Dunn, 7/8/04, in what will probably win the most unintentionally hilarious line of the year.

 

"Carmella, you talk a lot of shit but you've got a gap so wide you could drive a truck right through there, baby." - Joy Giovanni, setting a great example for mothers in the U.S., 8/30, in front of a Monday Night Raw crowd at the Cow Palace, which, if it had taken place between 1961 and 1975, would have been among the smallest wrestling crowd in the building over a 15 year period.

 

"You know there's only two good things that ever came out of England, and Elizabeth Taylor's got both of them" - Ray Stevens, the second biggest draw in the history of wrestling at the Cow Palace, to British native Lord James Blears, prior to a 1972 tag team match against with British native Billy Robinson in Hawaii.

 

"Carmella, you're a cum-guzzling gutter slut" - Christy Hemme, whose most notable credential is she played in the Lingerie Football League. Fortunately, cum guzzling didn’t make the team.

 

I'm just waiting for this to get as stupid as the end of the XFL, when they took out TV commercials bragging about how bad their ratings were and making fun of their terrible attempts at angles. That was some of the most creatively stupid commercials ever, as ratings then plummeted to all-time network level lows after that promotion.

 

The WWE Diva Search, an attempt to build up the Raw ratings through jumping onto the tail end of the reality TV craze, actually got heated up on 8/30 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

 

Putting the hottest women they could find in bikinis for minutes on end during the wrestling show exploded in the company's face, as the segments were roundly booed by fans that paid good money, presumably to see wrestling. Even worse, to show how much people cared, and how well planned out this was, when it was first announced, the finals were supposed to be on 9/13 in Seattle. As it turned out, they will be on 9/20 in Tucson. The reason? Nobody did the math and realized when you eliminate one woman per week, how many weeks it takes. Worse, it wasn't until this past week when anyone noticed, and with the millions of fans the company has, it is mind-boggling that nobody cared enough. By the third week, a Diva Search segment lost 814,000 viewers, making it the single worst reacted to segment on WWE television all year. While The Rock saved the 8/23 version from being a ratings disaster, he couldn’t save the segment from being among the worst he'd ever participated in.

 

It was already clear from 8/16 that Carmella DeCesare was the big heel of the group. WWE took advantage of this, knowing the hatred backstage for her, and knowing it would play out on the air by asking the contestants who they would want to eliminate, and all said her. Most had tabbed her as the winner before the contest even started, when she was presented the week before in a manner to where you could tell they considered her the star, since she was this year's Playboy Playmate of the Year. Clearly, the other women must have thought she was performing favors to get her preferential treatment, and worse, when she was clearly made the heel, she still wasn’t voted off.

 

So it came down to having the women cut promos on each other on live television. The women were told the show was on a seven second delay in case they accidentally said bad words, which was basically telling them it was okay to swear. While many fans watching and many even in the company were unhappy with how low-rent the contest and the company came off, Vince McMahon was said to have loved it. Eric Bischoff would have as well. "Controversy equals Cash" has been disproved so many times in the past five years that it's not even funny, but I'm sure he still believes it. But with no new characters, and few good storylines, the business has to rely on something to get people talking.

 

Whether the company has managed to manipulate the women into having the most realistic feud since Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were played off of each other in 1996 and 1997, resulting in a legendary feud and few matches, or lucked into it, it's now there. Weber, DeCesare, Hemme, and Giovanni are the final four. People know who they are now. Unfortunately, they have no respect for any of them. They are women with hot bodies, all of whom have shown to be totally devoid of personality. Three of the four have shown little to offer except doing stripper gyrations, and the fourth comes off as being embarrassed to have lowered herself to being there. But to show how bad the written part of the show was, the unscripted part turned into the most heated segment of the show.

 

For the live crowd, none of the words were bleeped. On television, some of the crassness was censored. At least enough that there was no noticeable heat on WWE the next day. And the irony of this segment coming minutes after showing Linda McMahon and company via satellite at the Republican Convention in Madison Square Garden makes one realize, for the second time, just how fortunate wrestling is that nobody cares about it. Imagine if someone saw reps of a company at the convention, or Republicans at the convention saw this, and stayed tuned, and saw Giovanni grab and squeeze Weber's new breasts, and said, "Hmm, a little too firm for my tastes (and yes, that really happened exactly as described)." Maybe the final will pop a rating, like the finals of “Tough Enough" did every year. Or maybe the final will be like the XFL championship game, an idea that went out with a whimper after its blustery beginnings, and set the wrestling company on a downward spiral it has yet to fully recover from.

 

In a few weeks, one of these women will be in the company, and likely appearing as a deer in the headlights when asked to do angles, and have to live through ribs from jealous men and women who have spent years trying to learn how to wrestle, and will never make $250,000 per year at this job. Perhaps she'll survive. More likely, she’ll become the answer to the trivia question, like what team won the Big Game at the End (yes, that was really what the XFL called their championship game), or who placed in the World Bodybuilding Federation PPV that nobody bought.

 

But one thing is for sure. WWE will be fighting its image for the next 50 years. And probably still blame the promoters of the 1970s for it.

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The preliminary indications for SummerSlam on 8/15 are 375,000 buys (0.69 buy rate). The general rule of thumb of late is that the first announced figure usually grows by about 10%, so it'll probably wind up in the 415,000 buy range. The show was headlined by Randy Orton's title win over Chris Benoit and a JBL vs. Undertaker match. Given the current climate, I can't say that's good or bad, because it's exactly where I figured it would be.

 

For comparison, last year's show did 458,000 buys (0.88 buy rate) headlined by the elimination chamber match with HHH, Bill Goldberg, Orton, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Jericho, as well as a Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar Smackdown title match. The difference in the two buy rates looks to be more the stronger main events on the 2003 version than a sign interest in buying PPVs is down by a substantial degree, although it is down slightly from last year since Mania. It will likely be the third biggest show of the year, as has been the recent tradition, trailing Royal Rumble (570,000 buys) and WrestleMania (885,000).

 

From a buy rate standpoint, it would be the second lowest SummerSlam in history, beating only the 1996 version, headlined by Shawn Michaels vs. Vader, at 0.58. Depending on late recorded buys, it may also beat out the 1997 version, which was a famous show where Bret Hart beat Undertaker when Shawn Michaels accidentally hit Undertaker in the head with a chair, and the Steve Austin vs. Owen Hart match where Austin got his neck destroyed by the botched tombstone, which did a 0.80. It should be noted that all PPV evens have seen buy rates fall as the number of homes increased, and with the exception of the first year or two, and the post-boom period, total buys of 375,000 for SummerSlam, particularly factoring in $34.95 as the price, would be well ahead of most of the shows.

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After the big success of the tour over the weekend in Australia, there are plans to do both Raw and Smackdown in Australia in April 2005.

 

With Brock Lesnar having been cut and now no longer expected to make the practice squad, there has been talk of him returning. The big question is probably Lesnar's financial situation. Lesnar made a lot of money in pro wrestling, but also spent a lot. With Rena Mero no longer having a guaranteed income since WWE dropped her, there is some question whether he’ll financially be able to wait for the NFL Europe season to start and try and make the grade there. If Lesnar waits for NFL Europe, which is what his agent was telling people he would do after he was cut, the odds are he would once again attempt to make a team next season, and be a far more experienced player. If not, he would really have no option to make money athletically, other than WWE. It is believed the terms of his release are that he couldn’t sign with another pro wrestling or MMA organization until late March of 2005. Lesnar himself has talked about either going back to WWE, or signing an MMA contract, if football doesn't work out, but he knew going in this wasn’t going to be a few month process, having talked with Steven Neal, and at best it would be two or three years before he could play at NFL level, which is why his age was such a significant factor, as Neal was several years younger when he started down the same path. Lesnar had talked about K-l or Pride, but it's in his best interest not to go in that direction. There have been no talks with Lesnar and UFC, but UFC would be very interested if Lesnar was available next year, unlike with Sean O’Haire, who UFC turned down. Lesnar was thought of as a publicity stunt by the Vikings players when he was signed, but earned everyone's respect with how hard he trained, but he simply couldn’t overcome the learning curve. Lesnar was friends with many of the players beforehand, and didn't come in with a star attitude. In a Minneapolis Star-Tribune article by Mark Craig, it said after learning quickly at first, his progress leveled off, and he'd continue to make mistakes. He needs more training time, but with the season approaching, the team had to concentrate on getting the players who will be on the team this year ready. Lesnar knew several days ahead of time that he would be cut, and it's now considered doubtful he’ll make the practice squad. Vikings coach Mike Tice hasn’t closed the door on it, saying Lesnar has a chance to make the practice squad depending on how injuries play out the next few weeks. "We really like Brock Lesnar," he said. "He's done everything we've asked him to do. He's a great young man. Nobody on our staff thought he would come this far so quickly. It would be great to work with a young man like that for a year, and possibly send him to NFL Europe to see if he can play at this level with any consistency." Lesnar's agent, Ed Hitchcock, said Lesnar would continue to pursue football until all his opportunities were exhausted. That would probably mean an attempt to play NFL Europe. The wear and tear on his body from pro wrestling, as well as him never fully recovering from his April motorcycle accident worked against him. "My body's not real good right now," Lesnar said in the Star-Tribune. "But what the heck? For now, I'm living the NFL experience. Who else like me did what I did this summer?" Lesnar got in for one play, the final play of the game, in the 8/27 Vikings win over the San Francisco 49ers at the Metrodome, before 63,960 fans, and made the tackle on running back Jason Wright, which got a big reaction from the crowd. On the TV broadcast of the game, they talked about Lesnar and even aired clips of him wrestling from Smackdown.

 

Edge suffered a legit ruptured groin on the 8/28 show in Salt Lake City. He was wrestling Chris Jericho, and two minutes into the match, took a bump out of the ring, and he knew he had screwed up, but thought it was his hip. They gave the "X" sign (which 80% of the time is a work nowadays) and the refs and trainer came out. After several minutes, they ruled the match a count out win for Jericho. They called for a stretcher, but he refused it and limped out with help to the back. He was in tremendous pain that night. He did appear on television, on crutches, doing an angle that largely changed Jericho's program from him to Christian, and kind of explaining his absence. He's expected out four to six weeks. He'd had one hell of a lot of bad luck, as after missing more than a year with a broken neck, right after he'd had the best matches of his career (he himself would admit the two were related and has talked publicly about how the style needs to be toned town), he came back and suffered both a foot injury and a broken hand, before coming back, having great matches with Randy Orton and Jericho, and this injury popped up.

 

Unforgiven on 9/12 in Portland has announced Randy Orton vs. HHH for the world title, Kane vs. Shawn Michaels, and William Regal & Chris Benoit vs. Ric Flair & Batista as the top matches. Almost surely Jericho vs. Christian will be added. La Resistance vs. Rhyno & Tajiri was announced last week, but not this week. The last word I got is that even though Tajiri suffered a knee injury and wasn’t able to work all weekend (he was at all the shows, including TV, but they did a deal where he was jumped before the match so he didn't have to work), they were still going to do that match, but it could change.

 

The Undertaker was limping badly by the end of the Australian tour, and appeared he had a bad left ankle. Eddie Guerrero was also noticeably banged up, although really both have been working for a while with lots of nagging injuries.

 

Some updated notes on The Rock: He's leaving for Prague in about a month for filming of his next movie, "Doom," which is in pre-production. "Spy Hunter" is scheduled for March filming, which may provide a conflict with Mania. His recent trip to Samoa, which had been a dream of his mother's for him to return to the birthplace of his grandparents, saw him and his mother (Ata Johnson, the daughter of Peter Maivia) cry every day (with joy) they were there because of how he was treated. He was made an official High Chief by Samoa's Head of State, Malietoa Tanumaflli II. His Chief title is Seiuli, which means "Son of Malietoa," and his Samoan name is Seiuli Kuegi. It was a huge ceremony with everyone really emotional. It had been talked about for several years of making him a chief, both because of the bloodlines on his grandmother’s side and because of his grandfather. On his grandmother's side, Rock is a descendent of The Malietoa, an ancient King of Samoa. His grandfather's Chief title was given to him by other family chiefs, because of his wrestling stardom, as in the early 70s, when Roy Shire's Big-Time Wrestling aired on television in Samoa, where Peter Maivia was one of the biggest stars. This was at a time when there were no major Samoan celebrities outside the island, and before so many Samoan athletes came to the U.S. and excelled in football, as everyone in those days watched wrestling. Dwayne, on the other hand, has the lineage from his grandmother's side of the family. It was said that on his last full day in Samoa, Johnson's public appearance in front of he government building in Apia was the largest crowd ever to be assembled in Apia (estimated at 50,000 people) chanting his name as he attempted to do his wrestling catch phrases in Samoan. The newspaper in Apia called him "the most popular person ever to set foot in Samoa" and "undoubtedly the most famous Samoan of all-time."

 

The Ric Flair book will be No. 18 on the New York Times bestseller list for 9/5.

 

WEEI Sports Radio in Boston reported that Steven Neal, the 1999 NCAA heavyweight champion, was considering WWE. Neal, who beat Brock Lesnar in the finals that year, and was Lesnar's role model and friend, since he also didn't play college football, but after working for several years, ended up as a starter (for only a few games) with the Patriots before a shoulder injury kept him out of action last season. The major difference is Neal, 28, was a few years younger than Lesnar when he went out for the NFL. WWE has had no talks with Neal, at least of when the story broke, but would be interested in him if he showed interest.

 

Matt Hardy's knee surgery on 8/26 was said to have gone great, and he was out of the hospital the next day. They had to repair both his ACL and MCL. He started physical therapy in Pinehurst, NC, on 8/30. Preliminary guesses are about four to six months out of action.

 

The Kane horror movie they are producing is currently titled, "Eye Scream Man."

 

The dress code fine system, which is a big item among a lot of wrestlers, is a $500 fine for the first offense, a $1,000 fine for a second offense and a suspension for a third offense. There have been several first-timers already, including some top stars.

 

The reason the Mid-South Wrestling collection hasn’t been purchased by WWE is because Ene Watts asked $1 million, and WWE wasn't going to go anywhere close to that league for the rights. I think the feeling now is with the AWA, SMW, WCW, and ECW libraries, plus a relationship to get New Japan footage if needed, they have more footage than they'll ever need and aren't going to spend a ton for anything else.

 

In the U.K. on 10/19 they are going to air a special Sky Sports 1 Raw special on Tuesday that week instead of the usual Thursday, and then air the PPV live, immediately following Raw, so everything is in storyline order.

 

This week's Carmella DeCesare story is she got into an altercation on 8/20 at Tramp's Night Club in Cleveland. According to a police report filed by 32-year-old Christin Hine, late that night, the two started arguing about Jeff Garcia (the Cleveland Brown's QB that DeCesare is dating). Hine told police DeCesare slapped her, verbally abused her, screamed, "I'm going to kill you," and kicked her in the head, before bouncers and others pulled them apart. Hine wasn’t injured and no charges were filed. However, this made news because Jennifer Dobson, a local TV news producer, was in the club when this went on. She said DeCesare was the aggressor, started running up to Hine and shoved her, before they were pulled apart. The police report said DeCesare had found out about the woman, allegedly started calling her and leaving threatening messages on her answering machine. DeCesare's attorney told the local Ch. 19 that the story was a non-event, totally bogus, and denied the threats. Hine had not pressed charges.

 

The 320-page book "Adam Copeland on Edge" is scheduled for an 11/2 release. Edge, like Mick Foley, wrote the book completely by himself without a ghostwriter.

 

Some notes regarding the 1/9 Raw PPV show at the new 18,500-seat stadium in San Juan: It would be the first WWE show in Puerto Rico in about 20 years. WWE big talent has worked IWA shows and helped draw some big houses in the past when The Rock and Undertaker came, but WWE hasn’t sent talent to Puerto Rico ever since Tiger Ali Singh filed a lawsuit. They are going with tickets ranging from $200 down to $40 in a market where usual prices are $6 and $12 and big show prices are $15 ringside. However, as we've seen from the show in Monterrey, Mexico, WWE can charge high ticket prices and still draw in markets where the traditional wrestling price is low. It's a Raw show, so Carly Colon won't be on it, not that he'd really make any difference. Only about 20% of the island gets cable and Raw, since WWE has no broadcast TV. A far smaller percentage (only people with satellite dishes) gets Smackdown. IWA will be running a big show three days earlier in San Juan at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. Puerto Rico is also similar to Mexico because it's all traditionally walk-up business, although a first-ever WWE PPV show may change that. If it doesn’t, they could be nervous going in with not so many tickets sold the day before, but still come out okay in the end.

 

The plan from a few months ago of Mark Magnus & Jimmy Snuka Jr. as a heel Arab tag team is out the window. The debut was delayed because Snuka had a bad knee. Then, when Vince McMahon came to Louisville a few weeks ago, he decided he wanted Snuka as a single, so the idea looks to be Magnum & Shawn Daivari (which explains Daivari's signing and he's already in OVW) in the spot.

 

Big Show appears on the fourth episode of the season on UPN's "Star Trek: Enterprise." I’ll bet he plays the role of a really huge dude that intimidates people before getting beaten up at the end.

 

"Walking Tall" fell to No. 6 in Australia over the weekend with a total gross of $2,020,806.

 

Raw TV tapings on 8/16 in London, ONT drew 6,800 and Smackdown tapings on 8/17 in Hamilton, ONT drew 3,500.

 

We didn’t get business notes on the Smackdown Australia tour, other than all three shows were sold out at huge ticket prices and merchandise business was tremendous. The crowds were about 10,500 on 8/27 in Sydney, 7,000 on 8/28 in Brisbane and 6,500 on 8/29 in Melbourne. The tour was called "Return of the Deadman," but nobody seems to remember Undertaker ever working in Australia previously. We didn’t get numbers for the weekend on the domestic Raw shows but estimates we got were 3,500 on 8/27 in Colorado Springs, 2,500 on 8/28 in Salt Lake City, and 2,500 for 8/29 in Stockton.

[Slickster 0]

Why is WWE doing a PPV in PR when so few people there can see Raw?

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I must have missed all those "great" matches Edge has been having since his return. Though him doing the book by himself is definetly a good thing as we all know what it's like when WWE ghostwrites stuff.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Someone comment on the Kane movie.

 

Please.

[Guest GreatOne]

'Eye Scream Man', what is this Paul Heyman giving Al Snow the name 'Psycho Sam Attic' for a few weeks back in late '97?

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

EYE SCREAM MAN.

 

Kane can't touch Clint Howard's portrayal of the killer Ice Cream Man.

 

This has got to be a joke, right? "Eye Scream Man"...from WWE Films. Beautiful.

[JoeDirt 0]

Good stuff about the Diva Search.

 

I can't wait for that Kane movie. I'm sure it's going to be really top notch, A-level material.

 

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

How do we know that Carmella is such a big slut? And please don't say because of her piss flaps, those are pretty tame in comparison to real sluts.

[Guest Trivia247]

personally with all the crap Lesnar had decided to speak about the WWE's treatment of him, that guy should feel such irony in crawling back to the business that was overly better for him any alot of the wrestlers around him, that he should smell the irony taste the irony and have it Shoved Up in here. AHHHHH the Irony!

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Considering the current state of SD, Vince would take Brock back in a heartbeat, no ifs ands or buts.

[razazteca 0]

a Diva Search segment lost 814,000 viewers, making it the single worst reacted to segment on WWE television all year.

They should of just kept them off tv and made a soft porn PPV instead.........Diva Search Girls Gone Wild.

[SuperJerk 0]

Three of the four have shown little to offer except doing stripper gyrations, and the fourth comes off as being embarrassed to have lowered herself to being there.

I like the way the Observer completely no-sells Christy's attempts to get over and keeps the focus on Carmella.

[AndrewTS 0]

EYE SCREAM MAN.

 

Kane can't touch Clint Howard's portrayal of the killer Ice Cream Man.

 

This has got to be a joke, right? "Eye Scream Man"...from WWE Films. Beautiful.

A sneak peek at Kane's costume

 

Hopefully they'll have Trish in it dressed as the ice cream woman.

 

As it turned out, they will be on 9/20 in Tucson. The reason? Nobody did the math and realized when you eliminate one woman per week, how many weeks it takes.

 

Even funnier than the Dunn quotes.

[Karc 0]

I must have missed all those "great" matches Edge has been having since his return. Though him doing the book by himself is definetly a good thing as we all know what it's like when WWE ghostwrites stuff.

I think he was making references to the matches he had before the neck injury, which I think are the best of his career (the whole Smackdown 6 thing).

[Guest ally mccoist]

Eye Scream Man redefines the word corny. It just sounds bad. In fact if this movie is even slightly good i'll feel ripped off. Tons of pointless gore, cheesy lines, wooden acting, dumb wrestling jokes, Steve Guttenburg and a storyline involving ice cream and i'll be happy.

[1234-5678 0]

The plan from a few months ago of Mark Magnus & Jimmy Snuka Jr. as a heel Arab tag team is out the window. The debut was delayed because Snuka had a bad knee. Then, when Vince McMahon came to Louisville a few weeks ago, he decided he wanted Snuka as a single, so the idea looks to be Magnum & Shawn Daivari (which explains Daivari's signing and he's already in OVW) in the spot.

Maybe someone finally realized how utterly fucking retarded it would be to not capitalize on Snuka Jr.'s name.

[Ted the Poster 0]

EYE SCREAM MAN.

 

Kane can't touch Clint Howard's portrayal of the killer Ice Cream Man.

 

This has got to be a joke, right?  "Eye Scream Man"...from WWE Films.  Beautiful.

A sneak peek at Kane's costume

Heh, I knew that'd be MST3K-related before I even clicked the link.

 

What's the name of the Clint Howard flick? I have to watch that.

[cabbageboy 0]

Eye Scream Man seriously will end up as a cult favorite, I'm telling you. Kane as what I'm assuming will be an evil ice cream man? I am SO there.

[The Tino Standard 0]

More likely, she’ll become the answer to the trivia question, like what team won the Big Game at the End (yes, that was really what the XFL called their championship game), or who placed in the World Bodybuilding Federation PPV that nobody bought.

For the record, the XFL championship game ended up being called "The Million Dollar Game" (a switch that was made about 2/3 of the way through the season, IIRC), and Gary Strydem won both WBF pay per view competitions.

[Enigma 0]

Heh, I remember wanting to order the WBF pay-per-view under the sole idea that, since they said he'd be there, the Ultimate Warrior would get harassed again by Papa Shango.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I must have missed all those "great" matches Edge has been having since his return. Though him doing the book by himself is definetly a good thing as we all know what it's like when WWE ghostwrites stuff.

I think he was making references to the matches he had before the neck injury, which I think are the best of his career (the whole Smackdown 6 thing).

"he came back and suffered both a foot injury and a broken hand, before coming back, having great matches with Randy Orton and Jericho, and this injury popped up."

 

Like I said, what great matches?

 

Dave's fallen back on the rock again, I'm guessing since Angle has come back.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Putting the hottest women they could find in bikinis for minutes on end during the wrestling show exploded in the company's face, as the segments were roundly booed by fans that paid good money, presumably to see wrestling. Even worse, to show how much people cared, and how well planned out this was, when it was first announced, the finals were supposed to be on 9/13 in Seattle. As it turned out, they will be on 9/20 in Tucson. The reason? Nobody did the math and realized when you eliminate one woman per week, how many weeks it takes. Worse, it wasn't until this past week when anyone noticed, and with the millions of fans the company has, it is mind-boggling that nobody cared enough. By the third week, a Diva Search segment lost 814,000 viewers, making it the single worst reacted to segment on WWE television all year. While The Rock saved the 8/23 version from being a ratings disaster, he couldn’t save the segment from being among the worst he'd ever participated in.

 

Anyone else find it hilarious that the WWF couldn't even take the time to properly count out how many weeks the contest would take?

 

The preliminary indications for SummerSlam on 8/15 are 375,000 buys (0.69 buy rate). The general rule of thumb of late is that the first announced figure usually grows by about 10%, so it'll probably wind up in the 415,000 buy range. The show was headlined by Randy Orton's title win over Chris Benoit and a JBL vs. Undertaker match. Given the current climate, I can't say that's good or bad, because it's exactly where I figured it would be.

 

And here's the end results of cramming a PPV in during June/July. I'm really glad to see their scheme blow up in their face like this. Putting on a bunch of shitty PPVs close together was bound to have this kind of result.