WWE News and Notes from the 12/13 WO

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Paul Heyman's three months on the WWE main creative team ended on 12/3, which, depending on one's position regarding Heyman, became the biggest internal WWE news of the week for a number of reasons.

 

Heyman being dropped from the team wasn't expected by most wrestlers, a lot of whom were very negative about it. In hindsight, it was noted to me that Ranjan Chhibber, a writers' assistant who is close to Heyman (he was on a three month trial basis and has since given notice in the past week or so, claiming a family situation), had mentioned to several Smackdown stars two days earlier that he expected some fireworks imminently on the writing team, and strongly praised Heyman to those people ahead of the other writers. He didn’t hint Heyman would be gone, but in hindsight, those who talked with him said it was now what they thought he meant and knew based on what he was saying.

 

He told one wrestler, who Heyman was wanting to push but was met with resistance, that their spot had turned into a political game and intimated the other writers had no plans for the person, largely because Heyman did. Others said he had mentioned to at least one other wrestler the frustrations of the writing team, which largely recognized their job at this point was to appease HHH, and write things that entertained Vince McMahon. People were throwing out as many ideas as they could come up with, with no commitment or conviction to the ideas, hoping Vince would agree to them or gave them a direction to take the product. The term "glorified stenographers" was used as well for the writing team.

 

What makes the demotion of Heyman more interesting is it came just days after Vince McMahon approved the concept of a revival of the ECW brand name for a one-shot PPV in early 2005. With Heyman off the team, there is no word if that is still the case. Heyman is believed to be back in the role he was in after his last demotion, basically a consultant to the writing team who will be occasionally asked for ideas, and a television talent in the role of a manager of John Heidenreich on Smackdown. It is not clear if he'll be sent back on the road. He did work the 12/5 Madison Square Garden house show, but that was advertised before his demotion.

 

The word internally was given that Heyman was caught not telling the truth and dismissed from the team, and whatever the infraction, he was caught red handed, which may have been a claim said by one source that he was listening in on a Raw writers call.

 

Heyman was added to the writing team on 9/6, against the wishes of Stephanie McMahon, when a spot opened up due to Bruce Prichard taking a leave. Prichard has since returned, although he was not put back on the writing team, but that being the next step wouldn't surprise anyone. According to one source, Heyman, who was asked by Vince personally to come back, was reluctant to do so because he saw it ending up the same way it did the previous time, with his butting heads with both Stephanie and Brian Gewirtz. There is no secret Heyman and Gewirtz are as opposite philosophically as things could be, as Gewirtz is into wrestling as comic book comedy, and Heyman is into it as primarily drama and fake sport, and with comedy there only when it doesn't detract from hammering home the main points. Both were even reprimanded more than a year ago when arguments got so heated that both were said to behaving like children. In addition, there was the resentment among many wrestlers that Gewirtz seemed to have more power with management, despite him having virtually no respect among most of the wrestlers (there are a few wrestlers very close to him, like Edge and Kurt Angle), and with little product knowledge or time as a wrestling fan, while Heyman had run a company for years and followed wrestling closely since childhood and was considered one of the smartest people when it comes to the modern business among many close to the situation (even some who would tab themselves as his personal enemies).

 

Vince convinced Heyman to come back by saying he'd have his back, so to speak, but those close to the situation said that really didn’t happen. It was said Stephanie was mad from the start Heyman was brought back against her will, and was reflexively knocking every idea he'd come up with. One person close to the situation said Heyman was the only person fearless about suggesting things and even tabbed him as a threat to her dominance of the writing team. There was also the description of the "New York swagger" or confidence, and Heyman bringing up that Vince had personally asked him back. Michael Hayes was also part of this, but in a different way. While Stephanie and Gewirtz knocked almost all of Heyman's ideas, Hayes was far more political, only speaking up when he felt he found a hole in the ideas and then speaking out against them. Hayes came across to the other writers as the one who genuinely disagreed with the ideas as opposed to hating the ideas because of the source.

 

The tide has worked against Heyman for some time now, said to be half because of Stephanie's relentless burial of him and his ideas to Vince, and half due to Paul's own tendency to push against authority, such as leaving meetings early, hanging up on conference calls and arguing with Vince. Vince started taking roll on conference calls and on more than one occasion, Heyman wasn’t there, according to one source, although that has also been disputed by others. This softened Heyman up for Stephanie and Gewirtz' most recent push to get him out. It turned into an internal catch phrase Gewirtz constant complaints that Heyman was a "cancer."

 

It was noted that Vince tended to support most of Heyman's ideas, including, most recently, approving a 2/20 Smackdown PPV main event of JBL v Big Show in a barbed wire match. According to one source, Heyman was able to convince McMahon to dial back the JBL push, at least slightly, as Vince's plan was to build Smackdown and the WWE title picture around him for all of 2005, apparently crediting him for the recent ratings increase on the show. One person noted that while Vince liked Heyman's ideas most of the time, and used many of them, he felt it wasn’t worth the pain in his ass from the complaints by Stephanie and Gewirtz as well as the problems in putting up with Heyman.

 

The idea of doing an ECW PPV show dated back a few months. It was first suggested by Rob Van Dam, and when taken under consideration, coincides with Van Dam's publicly doing minor knocks against the company, in as far as saying ECW used him better and that ECW was the best period of his career. It also makes sense of the recent Byte This show where Heyman, Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and Rey Mysterio were less than complimentary to aspects of WWE booking and pushing that ECW made better use of their talents, make a lot more sense. Dreamer even knocked David Lagana, the head writer of Smackdown, noting that he was a big ECW fan, yet couldn’t find anything to keep him (Dreamer), one of ECW’s biggest stars, on the active roster. Since Dreamer's role is in John Laurinaitis' new talent relations departments, if s almost impossible to believe he'd speak out against the company, considering his role, if it wasn’t for pushing of an angle. In fact, if not for the leaving of Chhibber, one could be easily think it possible Heyman's demotion could be an angle to set up him rebelliously starting ECW. That is almost assuredly not true, being that WWE, with hours of television, is not about to shoot a major angle like this, particularly working their own front office to the point where Stephanie was very upset the word about Heyman being off became internet knowledge. Wrestlers normally are strongly discouraged from saying anything against the company mindset in public, let alone comparing the company unfavorably to a different modern company. The writing team has been vindictive enough that when Steve Austin publicly complained about them in the summer of 2002, he was immediately booked to job on television to Brock Lesnar in a match that made no sense to happen at that time. They also made Mick Foley so miserable that Foley broke ties with the company temporarily when they had a match idea for a PPV and there was a spot open in a six-man tag, wanted Foley to do it, and Foley turned it down, not wanting to trivialize his comeback by being simply thrown into a match because there was an open spot, and without a strong storyline build.

 

Van Dam reportedly told McMahon about all the talent under contract that had worked for ECW, with the idea of reviving it for one night. McMahon, and everyone, thought feat it was Heyman's idea, but Heyman was using Van Dam as the messenger. In meetings, Heyman always denied it being his idea, even though others on the inside termed it "Heyman's crusade." Vince was positive about the idea, as was, reportedly, Jim Ross, and particularly, the Dudley’s. Stephanie kept avoiding putting the idea on her to be discussed docket, so nothing had been done on it. Then, when the DVD did so well (it is currently No. 3 on the sports chart and No. 183 overall), Heyman brought it up again, in front of Vince, forcing Stephanie to deal with it. Stephanie was said to be against it, and nobody knows if it will be done at this point or not. Another source said Stephanie had never publicly said anything against it, but when she privately asked the writing staff their opinions, their belief in how it was brought up was feat she was against it, and thus they should be. When word of that got to the wrestlers, there were ex-ECW wrestlers who were led to believe she was the hold-up.

 

One of the big questions originally was whether the show would be handled like a normal WWE show with the agent involvement, the same type of production, as opposed to a different feel, and really be Heyman's own man creative show. But if it is done, at this point, Heyman will have very little if anything to do with the creative end, as it would be put together by the WWE creative team and the WWE agents, just using former ECW talent currently on the active roster and probably Tommy Dreamer, since he works for the company, and possibly one or two outsiders. It will be like the gimmick a few years back of Extreme Smackdown during a ratings sweep, where people expected an ECW-like show, but it was nothing like it, and in reality, the Extreme moniker only seemed to mean something on the internet as ratings were the same as they had been even wife it being hyped as something special. The idea was just to do one show, but as is natural once the door is opened, several former ECW types, many of whom were frustrated with their lack of push, were hoping it could become an annual thing where they could play a major role on a big show.

 

Ratings for Smackdown have gone from a 3.03 average in August and record low 2.83 in September, to a rapid rise to where the October average was 3.40. Some could say part of feat is seasonal, as more people watch television in October, but last year, the same three month were 3.27, 3.32 and 3.41 showing the seasonal evidence can only make up a very small degree of the increase. Various people have tried to credit the increase to either JBL catching on finally as champion, the introduction of a fresh new character getting a serious main event push (Carlito) which was desperately needed, or Tough Enough (Linda McMahon brought this up at the investors conference).

 

Based on gaining and losing viewers regarding the stars of the brand since the first week of October when the turnaround has come, as far as average viewership gain or loss when this person was in a match or focal point of a segment, the numbers are as follows: JBL (-100,700), Big Show (-249.400); Carlito (-39,400); Kurt Angle (-192,500); John Heidenreich (-68,000); Eddie Guerrero (+118,600); Tough Enough (+128,700); Booker T (-56,100); Rob Van Dam (+112,400); and Undertaker (-4,000). Since atop star should be +250,000 and a superstar should be +400,000, its pretty clear it is an overall flow of the show, and feat there isn't one character over in a big way. If anything, JBL is a negative, Carlito is a mid-carder as far as moving ratings, Undertaker is overrated right now, and Show, Angle, Guerrero and Van Dam are moving numbers but nobody is knocking the ball out of the park, nor is Tough Enough, although it is not the failure Diva Search was.

 

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World Wrestling Entertainment got some surprisingly good news when the first estimates for Survivor Series on 11/14 from Cleveland came in at315,000 buys (0.57 buy rate), which was only down 13% from last year's first estimate of 360,000 buys for a show headlined by Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff with Austin's career on the line and a Bill Goldberg vs. HHH singles match for the Raw world title. As expected, it will wind up being me fourth biggest show of the year, trailing Mania, Rumble and SummerSlam. We had figured it would not beat Backlash (290,000).

 

For a comparison, the Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera fight on 11/27 drew 325,000 buys at $44.95. For total buys, this would likely trail three WWE PPV shows this year: Mania, Rumble and SummerSlam. Its notable it was the third meeting between the two, and is notable because this was a heavily Hispanic ordered show and the two fighters 130-pounders. Their second match, in 2002, drew 300,000 buys.

 

The buy rate tied with the 1995 Survivor Series (where Bret Hart beat Diesel to win the title and immediately turned the company's box office around), for the lowest buy rate of any big four WWE PPV event in history. The 1996 event headlined by Sid Vicious beating Shawn Michaels for the title in Madison Square Garden did a 0.58 buy rate.

 

This year's show, headlined by an elimination match with Randy Orton & Maven & Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. HHH & Batista & Gene Snitsky & Edge for the control of Raw for one month and JBL vs. Booker T for the WWE title, did nearly double the numbers of Taboo Tuesday the prior month. It did better than nearly all expectations, particularly with tickets live moving so slowly and the bad PPV numbers in recent months.

 

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HHH, in promoting his book, "Making of the Game," and the movie "Blade: Trinity," which premiered on 12/1 in Toronto, has done recent interviews with TSN's "Off the Record" mat aired on 12/7, as well as Penthouse magazine, which came out this past week.

 

The story is a good one, because it brings up his not being popular among his colleagues and noted the resentment of his being married to Stephanie McMahon. In all interviews, HHH makes the point that while hell be do acting roles, the top line on his resume will be pro wrestling, and that he won't be like Rock and leave wrestling for the movies. In reality, if he got the offers Rock got, there is no way he wouldn't. He noted he turned down a lot of non-speaking roles or movies with one or two lines where he'd play a bouncer. He said Hollywood needs new action stars. He said one or two movies a year would be the most he would want to do. He said he avoids going to bars, mainly because of guys wanting to take him on. He said he'd rather play heel than face. He deflected criticism of his having input by saying Vince has the final say, although he didn’t deny he has significant input.

 

"A lot of people look at me and go,' You have an advantage, you're the son-in-law.' Vince is where he is today because he can separate business from everything else. If if s right for business, hell do it. If not, he wont, no matter whose idea it is. We all have input, within our characters. Vince really wants the wrestlers to be comfortable with what they're doing, because if you feel it, you'll give a better performance. And as Vince says, nobody knows the character better than the guy doing it. But Vince decides the ultimate direction."

 

HHH said he hated the Katie Vick angle, claiming he said, "Vince, this is horrible. This is not gonna be good." He said Vince wanted it very dark and disturbing while he wanted to play it for comedy (I thought watching it that it was being played for comedy). "But Vince was adamant. We did it, and I tried to do it as good as I could. But when we were leaving, I was in the car going, man, that was brutal. I didn’t even want to watch it when it aired." He claims he hates it being brought up and that he's never talked to Vince about it (that1 s believable), "but knowing Vince, he'd think it was great. Because people still talk about it, don’t they? But you cant hit a home run every time."

 

While the article got HHH to talk about a lot of things, what hurt the article was nothing was brought up about the decline in popularity over the past few years. If business was booming with HHH as the top star, son-in-law or not, and he'd still get some criticism no matter what, there would at least be justification for not changing the status quo. The argument rarely brought up, is, business is in the toilet, and the company needs to prepare for the future, which means moving new guys into top positions. There is some of that being done, in particular with John Cena and Randy Orton, and the big Dave Batista tease (although Batista is actually turning 36 in a month, but he's a new character wrestling-wise), as well as Carlito and Shelton Benjamin, to a lesser extent.

 

When it was brought up that a lot of the wrestlers don’t like him, he said, "Here's my feeling on it. There's an old saying,' Its lonely at the top.' When you're one of the top guys, there are gonna be people that hate you. There's always gonna be people that don’t have the ability, but think they do, and think they should have your spot. The fact is, if they had the ability, they would be there. There will always be that kind of jealousy in any business... But I don’t read the dirt sheets and don’t go online. Anybody in our business that needs to go online for justification as to whether they had a good match or not, (for) a 12-year-old on the internet (to say)_they did-that’s the reason they're not a top guy. If you don’t know whether you had a good match or not, if you don’t know whether your interview was good or not, that's the reason you're not a top guy. Because you suck bad enough that you cant figure it out on your own."

 

In an interview on The Score (a Canadian all-sports station), he was asked if Pat Patterson left because of his political power, and he said, "You'd have to ask Pat that." He said he and Patterson get along great and that Patterson ate Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and that he thought Patterson may come out of retirement.

 

On "Off the Record," he noted that Ric Flair did a lot of things during his career that he shouldn’t have done and weren’t in his characters best interest. However, he then used that as an example because Flair is still a top star that if you have the ability, you will overcome bad creative and the cream always rises to the top. Of course, that isn't the case, as there were many times Flair's career appeared to be over. Flair, like Hulk Hogan, because he was such an institution in the minds of the fans, had the ability to overcome bad booking because the people considered him a super legend. Very few people historically could have done that, and it was because he was the consensus best wrestler in the world for so many years in the eyes of so many fans who grew up watching him that he was able to overcome it. Almost nobody else, regardless of talent, would have been able to. He also said if the time came and he had to fire Hair, who he said was also his childhood hero and noted how few people get to work so closely with their hero, he would be able to do so. He also said, when asked why Bob Holly wasn’t fired, that he was given one last chance, and 1hat what he did to Rene Dupree was inexcusable.

 

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Raw on 12/6 drew a 3.86 rating (3.83 first hour, 3.86 second hour, 4.38 million viewers).

The gutsy move of putting a women's title match in the main event slot, while it delivered as a great match, wasn’t a ratings success. It was actually the second lowest rated segment of the show and the first main event to lose viewers in months.

 

The show opened strong, with a 3.89 first quarter with the Highlight Reel, and Vince and HHH talking about the title situation. The first HHH-Batista backstage confrontation and Eugene vs. Maven lost 154,000 viewers, bad for so early. The Divas limbo contest gained 75,000 viewers, also somewhat weak for early in the show. Dean vs. Hurricane gained 61,000 viewers, also weak. The Edge-Orton in-ring confrontation gained 108,000 viewers. The ratings peak of the show was Benjamin vs. Christian, gaining 85,000 viewers in what is usually the death part of the show, doing a 3.93 rating and 4.56 million viewers. The HHH & Batista vs. Jericho & Benoit match lost 234,000 viewers. Ifs about what would be expected at that point of the show, but with the talent involved and a hot match, you'd hope it would do better. Lita's title win over Stratus lost 16,000 viewers to a 3.80 overrun.

 

Smackdown on 12/2 drew a 3.4 rating (3.8 realistic rating; est. 5.03 million viewers).

The show did a 3.6 in New York (4.0 for Jackie vs. Dawn angle); 3.8 in Los Angeles (4.3 for Jackie vs. Dawn angle); 4.1 in Chicago (4.5 for Guerrero & Booker vs. Bashams); 4.9 in Philadelphia (5.8 for Tough Enough guys in drag); 2.9 in San Francisco (3.2 for Tough Enough guys in drag); 3.1 in Boston (3.4 for Undertaker vs. Jordan & JBL); 5.4 in Dallas (6.7 for Jackie vs. Dawn); 3.2 in DC (3.5 for Guerrero & Booker vs. Bashams); 4.4 in Detroit (5.0 for Tough Enough guys in drag); 3.7 in Atlanta (4.4 for Undertaker vs. Jordan & JBL); 6.0 in Houston (6.4 for Eddie & Booker arguing while stretching).

 

We don’t have foil details on the shows segments other than vague details that the first Tough Enough segment gained about 290,000 viewers, the Bashams vs. Guerrero & Booker gained about 145,000 viewers, the Angle challenge plus Big Show angle with Team Angle and Joy Giovanni gained about 290,000 viewers to a 3.6 rating, which was the peak of the show. Christmas in Iraq and the Tough Enough guys in drag lost 145,000 viewers, while the Undertaker vs. Jordan & JBL handicap match stayed even.

Raw on 11/29 drew a 3.94 rating (4.03 first hour; 3.86 second hour; 4.94 million viewers). The average viewership age has also dipped in recent weeks down to about 3 5, so the new viewers are skewing younger, but Raw is the only show where the average viewer is under the age of 41, including the Experience show on Saturday morning aimed for kids.

 

It was the third straight big week for the show, since they began doing the more detailed storylines with the babyface G.M. It was the highest rated episode of Raw since 6/21, barely beating out the previous two weeks.

 

The big gain was for the Battle Royal, which added 557,000 viewers between the midpoint of the match and the finish. The post-Battle Royal, with Orton talking to Vince, Edge and Benoit and the Eugene/Maven argument added 253,000 viewers to a 4.26 rating and 5.42 million viewers, and was the high point of the show. Lita & Victoria vs. Molly & Stratus lost 103,000 viewers. Flair vs. Lawler tanked in the No. 2 spot on the show, losing 228,000 viewers to a 3.99 rating. The faceless women's lingerie deal as well as Eugene & Regal vs. La Resistance lost 89,000 viewers. The big surprise was the Benoit vs. Edge vs. HHH lengthy title match only gained 5,000 viewers to a 4.09 overrun, which is terrible for a main event.

[strummer 0]

It was noted that Vince tended to support most of Heyman's ideas, including, most recently, approving a 2/20 Smackdown PPV main event of JBL v Big Show in a barbed wire match. According to one source, Heyman was able to convince McMahon to dial back the JBL push, at least slightly, as Vince's plan was to build Smackdown and the WWE title picture around him for all of 2005, apparently crediting him for the recent ratings increase on the show. One person noted that while Vince liked Heyman's ideas most of the time, and used many of them, he felt it wasn’t worth the pain in his ass from the complaints by Stephanie and Gewirtz as well as the problems in putting up with Heyman.

 

Well, we know JBL is going over Sunday for sure. I bet he holds on to the belt until Mania, Vince loves this guy, LOVES HIM

 

 

The ECW PPV deal will never be approved by Steph. I'm suprised Vince seemed for it airing.

 

Great stuff HTQ

[Repo Man jr 0]

It was noted that Vince tended to support most of Heyman's ideas, including, most recently, approving a 2/20 Smackdown PPV main event of JBL v Big Show in a barbed wire match. According to one source, Heyman was able to convince McMahon to dial back the JBL push, at least slightly, as Vince's plan was to build Smackdown and the WWE title picture around him for all of 2005, apparently crediting him for the recent ratings increase on the show. One person noted that while Vince liked Heyman's ideas most of the time, and used many of them, he felt it wasn’t worth the pain in his ass from the complaints by Stephanie and Gewirtz as well as the problems in putting up with Heyman.

 

Well, we know JBL is going over Sunday for sure. I bet he holds on to the belt until Mania, Vince loves this guy, LOVES HIM

JBL has grown on me as champ a bit. I don't love him but think hes the best of a bad lot. I'd like for him to keep it till Mania and build to something fresh like Cena JBL. Taker as Champ would be well boring and he doesn't need a belt anymore anyway. Booker would just be a transitional champ (Because wwe hate him). Eddie's alright but what they gonna do, feud him with JBL, Angle, and Big Show over and over.

 

Respect HTQ!

[MARTYEWR 0]

It was noted that Vince tended to support most of Heyman's ideas, including, most recently, approving a 2/20 Smackdown PPV main event of JBL v Big Show in a barbed wire match. According to one source, Heyman was able to convince McMahon to dial back the JBL push, at least slightly, as Vince's plan was to build Smackdown and the WWE title picture around him for all of 2005, apparently crediting him for the recent ratings increase on the show. One person noted that while Vince liked Heyman's ideas most of the time, and used many of them, he felt it wasn’t worth the pain in his ass from the complaints by Stephanie and Gewirtz as well as the problems in putting up with Heyman.

 

Well, we know JBL is going over Sunday for sure. I bet he holds on to the belt until Mania, Vince loves this guy, LOVES HIM

 

 

The ECW PPV deal will never be approved by Steph. I'm suprised Vince seemed for it airing.

 

Great stuff HTQ

Why wouldn't Steph approve it? Wouldn't she want HER company back?

 

Thanks for posting these, HTQ. Great job, considering there's two parts this week.

[cabbageboy 0]

It's funny how everyone seized on the "Vince wants Bradshaw in the title scene for all of 2005" part of this, because that's exactly what I nearly choked on while reading.

 

Just wondering but WHY do the TE guys draw more ratings than anyone else? Is it people just curious to see who is eliminated next? Fascinating to see that Angle loses so many viewers, and that guys like Eddie and RVD draw viewers. The curious aspect of this is that RVD never used to have that kind +100,000 effect on Raw.

[Downhome 0]

That's the first I've heard of that ECW news.

[humongous2002 0]

Rob Van Dam (+112,400);JBL (-100,700) and Undertaker (-4,000)

RVD is barely getting a push but he still brings decent ratings while the so-called "main eventers" like JBL and Taker are scaring away viewers.

[Guest theanswer1824]

When it was brought up that a lot of the wrestlers don’t like him, he said, "Here's my feeling on it. There's an old saying,' Its lonely at the top.' When you're one of the top guys, there are gonna be people that hate you. There's always gonna be people that don’t have the ability, but think they do, and think they should have your spot. The fact is, if they had the ability, they would be there. There will always be that kind of jealousy in any business... But I don’t read the dirt sheets and don’t go online. Anybody in our business that needs to go online for justification as to whether they had a good match or not, (for) a 12-year-old on the internet (to say)_they did-that’s the reason they're not a top guy. If you don’t know whether you had a good match or not, if you don’t know whether your interview was good or not, that's the reason you're not a top guy. Because you suck bad enough that you cant figure it out on your own."

i like him even more now. business is business and he's all about it.

 

what wrestlers go on messageboards for match approvals? if that is true, wouldn't that be pretty pathetic?

[Guest Loss]

I think there's a difference between going online to find out what people thought of your match and going online to see if it's a great match or not.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

6.0 in Houston (6.4 for Eddie & Booker arguing while stretching).

 

Thats it! More arguing and stretching! WSAE! World Streching and Arguing Entertainment!

[Eclipse 0]

At first, keeping the WWE Title on JBL seemed like a bad idea. But, now that I notice, with the subtle creation of his stable, The Cabinet, and the fact that his heelish character has been getting better, and the fact that he is being booked as a heel champ OVERCOMING HUGE obstacles, I am enjoying this portion of his title run. It gives the title matches more meaning, and hell, the moment he finally loses the title, it will be big, similar to how HHH FINALLY lost the belt in 2000 against The Rock, with help from Austin.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

2.9 in San Francisco (3.2 for Tough Enough guys in drag)

Hmm, you'd think that'd be higher...

[pgi86 0]

At first, keeping the WWE Title on JBL seemed like a bad idea. But, now that I notice, with the subtle creation of his stable, The Cabinet, and the fact that his heelish character has been getting better, and the fact that he is being booked as a heel champ OVERCOMING HUGE obstacles, I am enjoying this portion of his title run. It gives the title matches more meaning, and hell, the moment he finally loses the title, it will be big, similar to how HHH FINALLY lost the belt in 2000 against The Rock, with help from Austin.

I agree 100%

[AndrewTS 0]

At first, keeping the WWE Title on JBL seemed like a bad idea. But, now that I notice, with the subtle creation of his stable, The Cabinet, and the fact that his heelish character has been getting better, and the fact that he is being booked as a heel champ OVERCOMING HUGE obstacles, I am enjoying this portion of his title run. It gives the title matches more meaning, and hell, the moment he finally loses the title, it will be big, similar to how HHH FINALLY lost the belt in 2000 against The Rock, with help from Austin.

Pussy heels overcoming obstacles to hold onto the *top title* don't really sell, and this isn't the old NWA and JBL isn't Flair. I don't think marks view JBL as even 1/4 as credible as HHH during his reigns.

 

What was so "big" about Rock getting another championship at that point?

 

Although unlike WM2000, at least all these guys have some claim to getting another title shot, instead of "yeah, we did the RR94 finish, but more importantly, this guy is being backed by a McMahon, and--oh, let's give Foley a spot for the hell of it!"

[Guest Fook_Theta]

HHH said: There's always gonna be people that don’t have the ability, but think they do, and think they should have your spot. The fact is, if they had the ability, they would be there. There will always be that kind of jealousy in any business...

Rob Van Dam (+112,400);JBL (-100,700) and Undertaker (-4,000)

The numbers tell the real story. I swear it is almost like if you draw negative viewers you get a larger push. With that above info matched with HHH's consistant comments that Vince likes what Vince likes, especially if it is distasteful and controversy, then logically it seems that negative-drawers get the push.

 

Maybe that Frozen Nazi vs Undead Japanese Emperor Main Event wouldn't have been a terrible idea after all.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Not that it would happen, but if the WWE put on a reality show based solely on the backstage stuff, it'd easily be the more interesting than their wrestling shows. The power plays, political machinations, scheming, sucking up to those in power - it'd be a can't miss show.

[Guest Mike Haseloff]

It gives the title matches more meaning, and hell, the moment he finally loses the title, it will be big, similar to how HHH FINALLY lost the belt in 2000 against The Rock, with help from Austin.

There's your only redeeming factor, but let's be realistic. I don't care how over Rock was, he was well stale by '99!

 

If you want a big pop, it's gotta be something hot, and something so shocking (but viable), that the title jumps out of the television and slaps the viewer in the face.

 

Give the hippy the win over the stiff.

Let RVD finally get it.

 

Or have Macho do a run-in, and pick up the victory Mania IX style!

Oooooooh yeeeeeah!

[Precious Roy 0]

"Anybody in our business that needs to go online for justification as to whether they had a good match or not, (for) a 12-year-old on the internet (to say)_they did-that’s the reason they're not a top guy. If you don’t know whether you had a good match or not, if you don’t know whether your interview was good or not, that's the reason you're not a top guy. Because you suck bad enough that you cant figure it out on your own."

 

Obligatory "12 yr olds and losers in mom's basement" crack aside, HHH is right, except I seriously doubt that any wrestlers in the E actually need that sort of validation. There's a diference between gauging fan reaction to your performance and needing them to tell you whether you were good or not. If anyone is that clueless or insecure then yeah, they do suck, and they shouldn't be where they are.

 

I also got a chuckle out of the "glorified stenographers" line.........

 

Thanks HTQ!

[reign 0]

Seriously...WTF is wrong with all of these people...why don't they like Heyman...especially Steph? She has to know that he is in no way ever going to be a threat to her overall position in the company and he can do nothing but good for them....I just looks like these guys live in a bubble world where they only write this crap for themselves and just think will keep right on paying good money to see it. There's a reason why Flair and ECW DVDs are outselling everything you have Vince...it's because we f'n hate what you've had on tv for almost 4 years now! I can't imagine how bad Heyman must feel...his dead company's DVD is selling like crack on Whitney Houstons front lawn and they barely acknowledge it and then demote him for having the balls to say this current stuff isn't any good and the fans don't want this. He and Bret Hart and Tom Zenk should do a tv show that talks about wrestling and air all of this crap that goes on so that the fans who don't know can see how Steph and crew are killing what was once a fun thing to watch...

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Seriously...WTF is wrong with all of these people...why don't they like Heyman...especially Steph? She has to know that he is in no way ever going to be a threat to her overall position in the company and he can do nothing but good for them....I just looks like these guys live in a bubble world where they only write this crap for themselves and just think will keep right on paying good money to see it. There's a reason why Flair and ECW DVDs are outselling everything you have Vince...it's because we f'n hate what you've had on tv for almost 4 years now! I can't imagine how bad Heyman must feel...his dead company's DVD is selling like crack on Whitney Houstons front lawn and they barely acknowledge it and then demote him for having the balls to say this current stuff isn't any good and the fans don't want this. He and Bret Hart and Tom Zenk should do a tv show that talks about wrestling and air all of this crap that goes on so that the fans who don't know can see how Steph and crew are killing what was once a fun thing to watch...

Here, lemme tell you why they don't like Heyman.

 

And this is the 100% truth.

 

I swear, it's going to be the best thing you've ever read on this board and it will totally mindfuck you. But it's the truth, and you can trust me. Just trust me on this, because I'm the guy who knows, okay? Alright, awesome. I am going to tell you why they don't like Heyman, just read and prepare to be rocked...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...lemme get back to you on this.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

He yells in meetings. He even yelled at my daughter. That may work for a bingo hall drawing 500 people per night but not here in WWE. We are a publicly owned company. Mr. Heyman's actions are inexcusable. We adhere to a higher level of moral fiber than the antics he pulled off in Philadelphia. Sure, the ECW dvd has sold some copies here and there but you and I both know it was due to WWE's superior prodiction value. That is what connects to the general public. Not guys plummeting from 1,000 feet in the air through a bunch of burning tables. This is WWE. We adhere to a higher level of moral fiber than that. Plus, the guy wears baseball caps all the time.

 

Regards,

Vincent K. McMahon --- A man of high level of moral fiber

[Guest jumpingbombangel]

He yells in meetings. He even yelled at my daughter. That may work for a bingo hall drawing 500 people per night but not here in WWE. We are a publicly owned company. Mr. Heyman's actions are inexcusable. We adhere to a higher level of moral fiber than the antics he pulled off in Philadelphia. Sure, the ECW dvd has sold some copies here and there but you and I both know it was due to WWE's superior prodiction value. That is what connects to the general public. Not guys plummeting from 1,000 feet in the air through a bunch of burning tables. This is WWE. We adhere to a higher level of moral fiber than that. Plus, the guy wears baseball caps all the time.

 

Regards,

Vincent K. McMahon --- A man of high level of moral fiber

Hi Vince,

 

Your daughter Stephanie is a terrible businesswoman and either very impressionable or very much in denial because she probably still thinks her husband married her out of love. Please take this irrational baby-woman far, far away from wrestling. Thank you.

 

A fan

[Precious Roy 0]

irrational baby-woman, lol

[justcoz 0]

but if the WWE put on a reality show based solely on the backstage stuff, it'd easily be the more interesting than their wrestling shows. The power plays, political machinations, scheming, sucking up to those in power - it'd be a can't miss show.

 

Vince Russo said something a few months back that I totally agreed with. He said that it was beyond logic that the company wasn't pushing in storylines the fact that HHH and Stephanie are married and pretty much trying to run the company. Granted we know that Russo has had a fetish for ill excused "shoots" but he has a point. The McMahon/Helmsley era was four or three years too early. This should be the top angle right now. The two of them trying to take the company from Vince. Perhaps throw Bischoff on their side as well. Vince could play a major face and get over some of the new younger talent like Shelton Benjamin for instance. Everyone on the roster could pretty much shoot in promos about the political power within the company and it wouldn't be insider info or outside of the storyline because it would be a storyline!

 

It plays off of the classic NWO, We're Taking Over bit. Us vs. them. It's proven to be successful in this business.

[reign 0]

He yells in meetings.  He even yelled at my daughter.  That may work for a bingo hall drawing 500 people per night but not here in WWE.  We are a publicly owned company.  Mr. Heyman's actions are inexcusable.  We adhere to a higher level of moral fiber than the antics he pulled off in Philadelphia.  Sure, the ECW dvd has sold some copies here and there but you and I both know it was due to WWE's superior prodiction value.  That is what connects to the general public.  Not guys plummeting from 1,000 feet in the air through a bunch of burning tables.  This is WWE.  We adhere to a higher level of moral fiber than that.  Plus, the guy wears baseball caps all the time.

 

Regards,

Vincent K. McMahon --- A man of high level of moral fiber

Dear Vince,

 

I find it difficult to buy into your daughter as a legitimate leader for this company when the ex-and future world champ is putting what's left of his steroid-impared "championship pole" up your daughters rear-end. Now if that's not creative control I don't know what is.

 

Sincerely,

 

"Everybody but Ric Flair"