WWE News and Notes from the 1/31 Observer

[Tawren 0]

Yeah, so since I'm Canadian I don't get these until the marked date or a couple days after, unlike the Americans who get them a few days beforehand (I think?). Hopefully this is still relevant. I'll give it a shot anyways. Please note that I left out Raw and Smackdown TV and house show results, those are easily found elsewhere.

 

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In an article in the Oakland Tribune this past week, Viacom co-President and COO Leslie Moonves was quoted as saying UPN would be dumping Smackdown when the current contract expires in August 2006.

 

"It still makes us a decent amount of money," Moonves said during UPN's winter press tour presentation. "When you think about the powerhouses of CBS and NBC on Thursday night, it's great counter-programming. It doesn't fit into the overall (programming) strategy."

 

There has been no other corroboration of this story at press time by sources within the WWE, and one would think a story of that magnitude in television would have gotten signifigantly more coverage. The statement was made just as Smackdown was in the midst of its strongest ratings run in more than two years and is, along with "America's Next Top Model", the highest rated show on the network. Even though UPN can't charge ad rates commensurate with the audience levels Smackdown gets, as the ad rates are among the lowest for any network show on network television, because the costs of doing the show are cheaper than regular programming, it is one of the few profitable shows on the network.

 

We had rumors dating back a few months of changes with Smackdown, and a few things Vince McMahon had said to various people, in hindsight, seems to indicate he was either aware of this, or at least being prepared for the possibility of it happening. McMahon had told people the 24/7 channel was very important to get cleared because in the event his programming is taken off of regular television, he needs a forum in place for his shows. Without television, pro wrestling in the US as we know it would die very quickly.

 

The story seems strange because even if UPN had made the decision, a network usually doesn't make public the cancellation of a show more than 19 months beforehand. However, Moonves said that UPN was going for respectability in the future, has a programming strategy of trying to become a strong network for women's programming (based around "Veronica Mars", "Kevin Hill", and the "Bad Girls Guide") and wants to continue heavily pushing shows catering to African-Americans. Wrestling, no matter what its ratings, is never considered repsectable in the TV industry. The McMahon's lowest common denominator approach to programming only makes a bad perception even worse. It draws a heavily male audience, but traditionally draws well with African-Americans, even though Hispanics are the demographic group that propped up the ratings during recent down periods.

 

Ironically, if this is to be true, it's the same decision making process that killed WCW, and on a regional basis, hurt numerous regional promotions, which dumped highly rated wrestling programming due to the feeling it cheaped the image of the station. In many cases, including TBS, it was the same wrestling programming being dumped, while drawing good numbers, that was the original flagship programming that built the stations when they started as major money losers and were criticized as bad ideas, and at times, faced near death.

 

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WWE's New Year's Revolution from 1/9 in San Juan, largely due to the Elimination Chamber gimmick, looks to be the company's third successful PPV in a row. The first estimates are the show did over 270 000 buys (.49 buyrate) for the event, where Triple H won the world title over Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Edge, Batista, and Randy Orton.

 

It was the first year for such a show, but it was even more impressive because it came just three weeks before the far more publicized Royal Rumble event. The 270 000 figure is highest for any singular brand PPV since Backlash this past April, which featured HHH vs Shawn Micheals vs Chris Benoit in a WrestleMania rematch plus Mick Foley vs Randy Orton, which is estimated now at 290 000 buys. Its original estimate was also 270 000, so this show will probably wind up in the same range.

 

It was the third ever elimination chamber match, all on the Raw side. The most recent was at SummerSlam on 8/24/03 in Phoenix, and to show how little things evolved in nearly 17 months, the participants in that match where HHH (who won it as well), Bill Goldberg, Jericho, Kevin Nash, and Shawm Micheals (who was referee this time). That show wound up doing 465 000 buys, which was also a success. The original one was 11/17/02, in Madison Square Garden at the Survivor Series. Micheals won that one (and the Raw title) which also included HHH, Jericho, Kane, Booker T, and Rob Van Dam. That did 460 000 buys. Of course, matches on the "major" PPV shows will almost always outdraw the minor ones.

 

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Raw on 1/24 drew a 3.83 rating and about 4.8 million viewers. The Ultimate Fighter, which followed, did a 1.36 rating and about 1.7 million viewers.

 

The households for UFC were slightly down for the debut, but total viewers were just about identical (more viewers per home it appears). Spide was happy, because the second week was up 22% from the first weeks in the 18-34 demo (both male and females were up an identical 22%), which is the demo the UFC and Spide are aiming primarily at for the show.

 

We don't yet have full details on either last week or this weeks Spike TV programming when it comes to weekend ratings and quarter hour ratings.

 

Smackdown on 1/20 drew a 3.6 fast national rating (which is usually within .1 of the final rating), putting Smackdown in 4th place among the six networks. We will hopefully get complete details next week.

 

The show did a 4.0 in New York (4.4 peak for Guerrero & Booker vs Bashams), 4.0 in Los Angeles (4.7 peak for Guerrero and Booker vs Bashams), 5.3 in Chicago (5.8 for ending angle with Show, Angle, and JBL), 4.4 in Philadelphia (5.4 peak for Guerrero and Booker vs Bashams), 2.8 in San Fransisco (3.0 peak for Guerrero and Booker vs Bashams), 3.8 in Boston (4.2 peak for Guerrero and Booker vs Bashams), 4.7 in Dallas (5.2 peak for Cena vs Suzuki), 2.7 in DC (3.8 peak for Cena vs Suzuki), 3.3 in Detroit (4.3 peak for Guerrero and Booker vs Bashams), 5.0 in Atlanta (5.9 peak for ending angle), and a horrible 3.8 in Houston (4.8 peak for ending angle).

 

Even though Guerrero and Booker vs Bashams, the opener, drew the high rating in most of the major markets, due largely to it doing terrible in DC (1.9 compared to 3.8 for Cena Suzuki), on a top 11 metered markets basis, Cena vs Suzuki was actually the peak with the tag match second and the ending angle third. Taking DC out of the mix, and the most popular segment of the show would have been the first segment, which is virtually unheard of.

 

Based on metered markets, because we don't have full national numbers, the big disaster would have been Akio vs Scotty, which lost an estimated 620 000 viewers. Segments featuring promos with Cena, Carlito, and Heidenreich gained an estimated 358 000 viewers. Cena vs Dupree gained an estimated 529 000 viewers. Misterio vs Chavo lost an estimated 560 000 viewers for the best match on the show. The ending angle where JBL's team and Angle's team beaut up Show after Angle's apology gained 374 000 viewers.

 

Raw on 1/17 drew a 3.8 rating.

 

The final number on the 1/6 Smackdown where a 3.49 rating, a 3.92 realistic rating, and 5.46 million viewers. For the 1/13 Smackdown, it was a 3.78 rating, a 4.25 realistic rating, and 5.95 million viewers. Viewership numbers are way up from recent montyhs. The 1/13 show was the episode with the Joy Giovanni kidnapping angle, although based on the ratings pattern with the early huge number, the ratings can't be attributed to that. It's hard to really know what it can be attributed to, but both weeks saw early Guerrero and Cena segments carry the show, so the most logical answer as to who is drawing the ratings movement right now seems to indicate those two. It was the highest rated episode of Smackdown since 4/18/02, which was HHH and Hogan vs Angle and Jericho.

 

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Austin and Vince did the media rounds on 1/19 after the press conference announcing the movie deal. Nothing really major was said. When the natural question about Austin wrestling was brought up, Austin said he felt he had maybe one or two good matches in him, so he's thinking along the lines of at some point wrestling. He's in the best shape he's been in for years. Vince on Best Damn Sports Show was asked about Hogan and the Hall of Fame and said they were trying to put it together but "no promises". The actual question was how could Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame but not Hogan. Vince said Rose was in the celebrity wing. When they were joking about celebrities that had done Mania like Rose, Tyson, and Taylor, Arnold joked that it was a prerequisite that you had to be arrested. He then asked who was go to do this yea'rs show, Vince talked about using Mr. T early on, but now the wrestlers were the biggest action-adventure celebrities in the country, and gave the impression they weren't even thinking in that direction. It was weird because Tom Arnold knew enough for inside humor (he and Vince were cracking on Austin's lack of judgment with blondes) and Arnold even brought up getting attacked by a blond in restaurants. I'm guessing 95% of the audience had no clue what they were talking about a lot of the time. Arnold wasn't wrestling savvy, as she showed a tape himself wrestling Puppet the Psycho Dwarf in a TNA match to Vince and Austin. He also asked about Rock, but who would know not to, because when it comes to wrestlers and movies, it is the natural question. Vince didn't seem to want to discuss Rock, and just half heartedly put over the work he's done, but then said he doesn't agree with the choices of the roles he's taken lately, specifically mentioning how Rock is playing someone who is gay in a movie, but said he played it very well. He gave the "we wish him very well in the future" line, which really should have been the tip off to anyone watching that things weren't cool, because that is company carny for "have a nice life". ... Regarding Vince and Rock, this may or may not mean Vince would no longer get Executive Producer credits in Rock's movies. Vince still owns the rights to the name "The Rock". He has leased the rights out to Rock, which was the deal Austin was wanting in April when he and Vince had their business impasse. Johnson is still allowed to use the name for any project he wishes without clearing it with the WWE. He still wants to transition himself to Dwayne Johnson, so I expect he'll use Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in publicity on this go-around. ... Eugene's injury was ruptured patella tendon. He had major surgey this past week and is expected out for about six months. ... Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry declared 1/24 as Jim Ross Day. "For any pro wrestling fan, Jim Ross is a household name," wrote Henry when the deal was actually sealed last month. "Much more than an acoomplished broadcaster, Jim has become such a fixture of proffessional wrestling that it's hard to image it without him. Oklahoma is proud to claim Jim as one of its own and honor him for all his accomplishments." Ross' family came to Oklahoma in the 1880s, well before it was even a state, coming from North Carolina with the Cherokee Indian tribe through land given by the Bureau of Indian affairs. Ross currently has homes in both Connecticut and Oklahoma. ... While apparently nobody is allowed to say at this point, there have been hints of Austin wrestling at Mania. Based on how the video package on Raw was put together, you'd have to expect him to be wrestling. Looking at the Raw roster, I'm going to make a guess if he does wrestle, the guy they feed him is Hassan. ... Hassan had his photo in the 1/31 issue of Newsweek with a story of how TV unfairly portrays Muslims in a negative light. The story itself didn't go after the Hassan character as much as the Arab terrorist family on the TV show 24, although the article did criticize WWE for presenting the character who verbally plays off of 9/11 and gets the crowd chanting "USA." ... The 4/24 and 4/25 Raw and Smackdown TV shoots in Birmingham, England, at the NEC Arena both sold out on 1/22, the day tickets were put on sale. ... Funny story of the week. After complaining for years that the Canadian fans need to move on and get over the 1997 Survivor Series, when Micheals was on Byte This this past week, he complained that the people who say the WWE should move on and get over constantly playing off the 1997 Survivor Series should quit taking wrestling so seriously. ... Yoshihiro Asai (formerly Ultimo Dragon) will be meeting with John Laurinitis when they come to Japan in early February. He was originally slated to return to WWE in September, and then December, with a new gimmick. But he hasn't been given a new start date. ... The neck surgery on Jesus (Aaron Aguilera) went well. He had a metal plate put in his neck to give it stability. There is no timetable for his return.

 

The first week of the new TV schedule in the UK ratings came out this past week. New Year's Revolution live had 250 000 viewers as a free TV special at 1 AM. However, the heavily publicized first ever live airing of Raw which now airs at 2-4 AM was a huge failure, getting less than 40 000 viewers. Sky did a ton of advertising for the new live feed. Taped airings of Raw on Wednesday in prime time did 80 000 viewers and Thursday had 60 000 viewers. In the heyday of Raw, they would routinely top 300 000, but lately it had been around 150 000. Smackdown did 150 000 on its first shows and 90 000 on the first replay and 70 000 on the second replay. WWE also had a five hour stretch with Experience, Afterburn, Bottom Line, Velocity, and Heat airing on Sunday afternoons, and none drew well. ... WWE has officially added a second Taboo Tuesday on 11/1, being that this past year's version was an overwhelming success. Yes, it will air on a Tuesday. I guess they've deluded themselves into thinking the bad buyrate was due to baseball competition and not that they ran a PPV on a Tuesday. Well, I guess they'll have to face facts this year. ... No Way Out will air as a free special in the UK on 2/20 on Sky Sports I at 2 AM. ... Foley, when asked about doing Mania on "Between the Ropes", said he is willing to listen to ideas but with rumors of Rock, Austin, and Hogan coming back (Rock isn't, and Austin and Hogan may have involvement but no guarentee either will wrestle), he'd rather be on a show where his appearance may make the difference between an average and strong buyrate. He said he'd like to do a long program, but doesn't know if he'd be able to get all the time like he got last year for the deal with Orton, but won't mind refereeing or being involved in some form. He kind of questioned how Orton was turned too quickly and talked about possibly teaming up with Orton this year. When asked about the deal with Flair, he said that if cameras had been there, they'd have gotten three WrestleMania main events out of it because Flair's promos on him were so good. Foley said he wouldn't get into a fight with someone Flair's age or someone he grew up idolized. He said he was open to the idea of doing a match, but again said he wanted to do something that would help the buyrate, not just do something that will interest people already buying. He said that after his angle with Samoa Joe in ROH with one minute of wrestling, he could barely walk the next day, and he's not in good shape right now and hasn't trained much since Backlash. When asked about wrestling Flair, he said he doesn't think it will happen but it's not an impossibility. ... For WrestleMania, we're told the decisions have been changed, and it will be Micheals vs Angle. I think much of the card will become clear at the Royal Rumble. ... Dawn Marie is pitching an idea to manage someone to get her back in the mix, which is pretty smart, because with all the emphasis on similar looking brunettes, Weber and Giovanni, on the show, she probably realizes she needs a TV role. .. There is a Raw and Smackdown tour of Australia in April. Raw has shows on 4/7 in Brisbane, 4/8 in Newcastle, and the big show on 4/9 at the Sydney Superdome. Smackdown runs 4/9 in Perth and 4/10 in Adelaide at the Entertainment Centre. Both groups will fly home from Australia and to television in the US both before and after. ... A correction from last week, the repeats of Raw and Smackdown in Australia are being repeated at noon, not midnight, Saturday for Raw and Sunday for Smackdown. First runs for the shows are Wednesday and Friday respectively at 3:30 PM. ... Billboard Magazine on 1/15 listed Jericho's Fozzy "All That Remains" CD as one of the picks of the weeks. Jericho's name is mentioned in the review, but it wrote of the band evolved from its original role as a goof on 80s hair metal music, and it now "exceeds that of some other rock acts currently cluttering the airwaves." ... The company is aware of the talents of Chad Wicks (Chad Toland in OVW) and he is under consideration of a call-up. ... Watching the 1/24 Raw show, it was one of the most amazing shows of the year, just because of the initial reaction of it not being about business but a battle between fans and the promotion over who would manipulate who becoming obvious. In fact, knowing where they were going, you can see the underlying theme of the show for almost the entire two hours was the company giving the live fans the finger. Batista vs Viscera was a risk on so many fronts. They kept it short so it didn't expose Batista, but it was on the verge of doing so. Worse, the last thing you need when you've got exactly one program on two shows that is really over, is to needlessly risk the key guy, who is older, very susceptible to injuries like muscle tears, and put him in the ring with a guy with a rep for hurting people, and who is gigantic and immobile but has to sell to make him look good. Well, they dodged a bullet there. ... The WWE broadcasts in Sweden have been drawing 35 000 to 55 000 viewers for Raw and Smackdown. Smackdown's numbers at this point are slightly higher than Raws. ... WWE did issue an apology to Victor Quinones over the incident at the PPV with Ric Flair where Flair got upset with Quinones over his feeling that the IWA owed his son $530 over not paying his son's medical bill when he needed to go to the hospital for stitches after a chairshot. ... We didn't get an attendance report on the 1/21 Raw show in Abilene, the 1/22 Raw show in Tyler or the 1/23 Raw show in Tulsa. 1/22 Smackdown in Amarillo drew 4000. 1/23 Smackdown in Tupelo drew 1500.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

THANK YOU!

 

I was going through WO withdrawl...

[JoeDirt 0]

YOU ARE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[strummer 0]

Great stuff Tawren

[JoeDirt 0]

The weird thing about them thinking about bringing up Chad Wicks is that his Obsessed With Wrestling profile says he's 5-9, 205...bringing up a cruiserweight? WHAAA?

[humongous2002 0]

Thank you Tawren, you are Da mAN.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Much appreciation!

[SuperJerk 0]

Praise Tawren.

[Guest HeadDropMark]

Thank you for posting that. This board just isn't the same without the Observer reports.

[cawthon777 0]

I forget if it was mentioned in that issue or not but there was also talk of Orton and Cena being traded after Mania, with Orton reverting back to a heel before then (maybe even tonight).

[SuperJerk 0]

It's hard to really know what it can be attributed to, but both weeks saw early Guerrero and Cena segments carry the show, so the most logical answer as to who is drawing the ratings movement right now seems to indicate those two.

 

Eddie = Ratings.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Argh! MillenniumMan831, your avatar is a really huge download (over 2MB.) Think you could scale it down to proper size or something to make a smaller file?

[therealworldschampion 0]

Wrong topic for this post

[Dandy 0]

WWE did issue an apology to Victor Quinones over the incident at the PPV with Ric Flair where Flair got upset with Quinones over his feeling that the IWA owed his son $530 over not paying his son's medical bill when he needed to go to the hospital for stitches after a chairshot. ...

 

 

This should only be taken as a rumor, but I heard that Flair went apeshit on Quinones because David Flair was staying at Quinones' house for awhile and woke up with Quinones standing over him masturbating.

 

This was in that thread on DVDVR talking about the sleaziest events in pro wrestling. Someone linked to it from here in the "Lita is a whore" thread.

 

If that rumor is true, I can see Flair going off on him.

[Guest cassie]

Thank you.

[Guest Loss]

And if it's not, David can fight his own battles. This would make one of many occasions lately where Flair has embarrassed the company. There's yelling at a promoter in a new market, embarrassing Vince in front of potential sponsors by talking about bleeding virgins and taking swings at Mick Foley backstage. He's getting senile in his old age.

[Dandy 0]

If someone tried to do something like that to my son, I'd probably kill him. No matter how old my son was at the time.