WON News and Notes 5/22

[Mole 0]

- There isn't a ECW TV deal in place yet as the Sci Fi deal still isn't offical. WWE is still pushing ECW to be on USA, but USA might be called the "wrestling network" and they don't want that.

 

- Kevin Dunn will be in charge of the production of the ECW shows, so it isn't too far below WWE standards. They will try to change the look of the arenas with different lighting, most likely are more dimly lite boxing feel and a different set for the ECW tapings and do a quick change for the SD tapings.

 

- Shane wanted ECW to be an interent base show, but Vince doesn't like that and won't be 100% behind it if it is.

 

- The first ECW taping will be at the 6/20 SD tapings in Albany, NY, maybe.

 

- The ECW talent so far: Sandman, Sabu, Axl Rotten, Ball Mahoney, Tony Mamaluke, Dreamer, Francine, CW Anderson, Jazz as well as some development talent. Paul wants Kennedy still, but it looks like he will stay on SD. The feeling is they need to have one to three wrestlers wh oare capable of, once the first show novelty wears off, of being able to draw decent crowds of 2,500 while programmed on top against RVD or in tags with RVD teaming with Sabu, Dreamer or Sandman.

 

- There is a feeling that the stronger the TV clearence, the higher leverl of stars they will put on the ECW roster.

 

- Tanaka and Ikuto Jidaka have both been offerent full-time contracts, but we haven't heard any word of either accepting. Heyman wants Minoru Fujita to come in to team with Hidaka, but this hasn't been apporved yet.

 

- There was also talk, using baseball terminology, of an unoffical system similar to baseball, where OVW is A, ECW is AA, SD is AAA and Raw is MLB.

 

- The big pish this week, far more than the PPV, is "See No Evil." There have been a variety of predictions we've seen on it, from $3 million weekend gross (which would be very bad) up to those who think because of the great job of marketing it has done, that it will surprise people (My note, it made $4.54 million or something of the sorts)

 

-There is talk of having Rey get a "surprise" win for a variety of reasons (he's been beaten to death on TV so everyone thinks he will lose, plus word got out and the date itself isn't that important as to when the belt changes hands because JBL doesn't have to be champion until July) at Judgment Day on 5/21. If he does win, then JBL would win the title a few weeks of that match on SD. The decision on what date the title would change hands was scheduled for this pas week and last we hard they were leaning toward a date a few weeks after the PPV, but no fainal decision was made. Apparently they have a new idea pitched which I was told was neither that good nor that bad regarding the sight change in plans. I don't know that the idea is Chavo's heel turn on Rey, but do know that Chavo doing a heel turn on Rey has been an idea proposed at one point.

 

- The company announced on 5/11 that Comcast Cable will be picking up 24/7, starting this summer.This would tbe the most significant US clearance for the service to date, as it would clear 10 million digitla homes in 22 of the top 25 markets. Comcast comes after clearances by Rogers Communications in Canada as well as Cox Communications in the US.

 

-WWE annoucned it would be airing a more risque version of AM Raw in the 2 AM time slot late Sat. nights on USA. With the late night ratings high, usually doubling the morning ratings, the decision was made to drop the morning show.

 

- There had been talk of DX having HBK and HHH and adding ove or two younger wrestlers to the group to give them a rub ala Evolution, but at this point the "DX Reunion" set for June is just reuniting HBK and HHH as a tag team. There was informal contact made, believe it or not, given all the stuff that both guys had said publicly, toward bringing in Road Dogg & Billy Gunn (My note, WHAT???) Road Dogg was directly approached but both are under contract with TNA. They may also be smart enough to know if they come back, they'l have to pay a penance.

 

- Randy Orton to return on 6/13 in Trenton.

 

- Dave talks about JD, but since it happened already, I'm not typing all of that.

 

- The summer PPV plans are 6/25 Vengeance to headline with Cena vs. Edge of the title with HBK & HHH vs Spirit Squad, perhaps a short-term tag team title change. The HHH title win over Cena is tentativley scheduled for SummerSlam. Although Cena vs Edge has already been released in the Charlotte market in a mailer snet out at Bobcat Areana, those two main events can best be called odds on favorites. So much of the plans regarding ECW haven't been formulated and because of that, there is no such thing as anything clsose to ethced in stone when it coems to close to final booking decisions past probably two weeks from now. The only thing for sure for ONS are the two main events (Cena vs RVD and Foley/Edge vs Dreamer/Funk. Benoit vs Dean isn't offical yet).

 

-The Flair road rage case from late last year was settled this past week. The charges have been dismissed because all of the witnesses didn't show up due to lateness of the trial.

 

I think I got everything, but I might have missed a few things.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Here's a little more detailed recap:

 

Bear in mind that the ECW stuff was written just before news came out that the Sci-Fi Channel deal was revealed to be the choice, and that the Judgment Day talk was written before the PPV.

 

The ECW project is the major behind the scenes news in the company, to the point that all booking ideas for Raw or Smackdown past early June are all tentative

 

A lot of changes have taken place in regard to roster and scheduling, almost all of them considered positive.

 

ECW will still be taped before Smackdown for the time being.

 

One of the main reasons Shane McMahon pushed for this is because he was after an internet-exclusive brand, but Vince saw the potential for ECW and felt it wouldn’t reach it just on the internet.

 

Three networks are being talked to, with the favorites being USA and the Sci-Fi Channel. The third one is Bravo.

 

Sci-Fi made a 52-week commitment to ECW, with the upside being a more favorable timeslot and being one of the primary programs on the network, which it would not be on USA.

 

The benefits of USA would be a stronger network and better resources, but the ‘Wrestling Network’ label is something USA doesn’t want.

 

It’s believed that when ECW starts full-time it’ll be on television, but that’s not a certainty.

 

The first ECW taping is planned for the 6/20 Smackdown tapings, but the wrestlers involved were also told to have 13/6, the day after ONS II, clear, just in case.

 

Kevin Dunn will in charge of production, so it’ll be close to WWE-level values. They’ll be changes to the look of the arena, though, with different lighting, likely the look of dimly lit boxing, and a different set for the tapings, with a quick change done for Smackdown.

 

USA was the hoped for end result, but when that looked unlikely, Vince hinted that it still wouldn’t be internet-only.

 

As well as previously mentioned ECW alumni coming in, there will be some mid-level names from Raw and Smackdown coming in, including a few somewhat high level heels.

 

Kennedy will probably not be part of it now, as he is wanted for Smackdown, and in fact should be back on Smackdown very soon.

 

The feeling is the Raw/Smackdown wrestlers will be needed once the novelty wears off, to draw in the 2,500 arenas while programmed against Van Dam or in tags with Van Dam teaming up with Sabu, Dreamer or Sandman. Developmental guys will be built up to take those spots down the road.

 

No decisions made yet, but they’ll have to be made very soon, as time is running out and no concrete plans can be made for Raw or Smackdown until this is all sorted out.

 

The feeling is the better the TV clearance the bigger level of star that will be put here.

 

Masato Tanaka and Ikuto Hidaka have both been offered full-time deals.

 

The plan is for ECW to work road shows Saturday through Monday, with the taping on Tuesday. This might be hard, because the ECW style took it’s toll when more than two shows were done a week, with wrestlers noting that when they did do three shows a week the quality dropped because they were so banged up.

 

New agents will be brought in to run the cities, which will be ones Raw and Smackdown no longer run in.

 

Exceptions will happen, as the plan is for a lot of foreign touring for ECW, and will run more shows a month than Smackdown and possibly Raw too, as they tend not to run house shows the week of a PPV, and there are no plans for ECW PPV’s yet.

 

There was talk of an unofficial system similar to baseball, where OVW is Class A, ECW is AA, Smackdown is AAA and Raw is MLB.

 

Commercials in the Dayton market for the 7/6 special played up ECW a lot more, calling it an unprecedented night in wrestling history, with ECW vs. WWE, and names pushed were Cena, Angle, RVD, Sandman, JBL, Show, Dreamer, HHH, Funk and Sabu.

 

The big announcement of the angle has to be on the 5/22 or 5/29 Raw, most likely the former, as the latter is cutting things too close.

 

The only finalized matches for ONS II are RVD vs. John Cena and Mick Foley and Edge vs. Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk. Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko is not official, but is very likely. The PPV itself is behind in terms of organization due to all the work done on setting up the ECW brand.

 

Beulah has not signed and almost certainly won’t be, as she has said she is committed to being a mom.

 

Backlash fallout from the commission

 

WWE were charged with nine violations of Kentucky law, stemming from the use of blood at Backlash.

 

Tim Gonterman is the head wrestling inspector, and was the guy that the WWE’s promoter was writing back-and-forth with over the issues, wrote the company up for nine violations. The hearing will be on 6/20, and will be before the full Boxing and Wrestling Authority on will decide what violations took place and what, if any, punishments will be given out. Punishment could range from a $5,000 fine per violation, and some involved are asking for the WWE’s license to promote in Kentucky to be revoked, given the paper trail involved and that the violations were so flagrant. However, that is unlikely to happen given that WWE events bring in a lot of revenue for the state.

 

The nine violations are:

 

1: Shawn Michaels blading in the handicap match.

2: Vince McMahon not ending the match right away.

3: Shane McMahon not ending the match right away.

4: Triple H blading in the main event.

5: Edge not ending the match right away

6: John Cena not ending the match right away.

7: Edge fought outside of the barricaded area.

8: The promoter of record, Rich Hering, allowed wrestlers in two matches to violate state laws and failed to immediately end the matches.

9: WWE held one match, the main event, despite blood on the canvas, without washing it.

 

WWE has on previous occasions been able to violate regulations and laws in different states with only minor repercussions. One example being at the No Mercy PPV in 2003 where Vince wrestled Stephanie, in violation of state law, and WWE just paid a small fine.

 

Other WWE news

 

There is talk of Rey getting a ‘surprise’ win at the PPV against JBL. JBL is getting the belt very soon, and the decision for the actual date is to be made imminently, with the favored date seeming to be a few weeks after the PPV.

 

A new idea, neither that good nor that bad, was apparently pitched in regard to the slight change in plan. It might be a Chavo heel turn on Rey, which has been proposed before and has been talked about.

 

At this point the DX reunion is just going to involve HHH and Shawn becoming a team. Informal contact had been made with Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, with DOgg being directly approached. They are under contract to TNA, though, but also should be smart enough to know that they’ll get punished for things they’ve publicly said.

 

Randy Orton is scheduled to return on 6/13 in Trenton.

 

The summer plans are Cena vs. Edge and Hunter and Shawn vs. The Spirit Squad (possible short-term tag title change) at Vengeance.

 

Hunter’s title win over Cena is currently set for Summerslam. While no plans are set in stone due to the ECW project, Dave can’t see this one changing unless of an injury, and neither man will be part of the ECW brand, but Dave has been told nothing beyond the next couple of weeks is set in stone.

 

The Ric Flair road rage case was settled this past week.

 

The explanation for Rey getting squashed by Khali is that Rey is taking time off soon and that because he’s so talented that people won’t remember him getting squashed on the way out, and they also want to build up Khali for Undertaker. (Dave points out that the problem with that is it was the second week in a row and he was counted on to draw in the main event of PPV this month, and while it’s a nice idea in theory, you can’t do it twice and have it be effective. Dave says doing it to build up Henry for Angle is questionable at best, but doing it for Khali, who has zero long-term upside, makes no sense, especially when they could have done the same squash with any one of their other babyfaces, with almost the same impact and without undercutting the PPV main event)

 

Frankie Kazarian got his haircut last weekend at a PWG show in an attempt to get back in to WWE (He walked out before because he didn’t want to cut his hair)

 

Joey Styles went over his promo on Raw, word for word, earlier in the day, in the arena, so they could make sure nothing they didn’t want to get said made it on air.

 

Burchill may take time off to get his knee scoped.

 

No decision yet on if there will be a draft.

 

Test was going to be on Raw managed by Coach, but that idea seems to have been dropped.

 

There are two ‘versions’ on why Finlay is getting the leprechaun:

 

#1: Finlay getting the leprechaun may be down to John Laurinitis wanting to prove Finlay shouldn’t be wrestling. Finlay was wanting to wrestle again for a while, but people, such as Laurinitis, were against it, thinking that if Finlay doesn’t get over he’ll lose respect from those he’s teaching. Finlay went straight to Vince, pitched the idea as it being his last chance to give the kids the benefit of working with someone wit his experience, and Vince went for it. Laurinitis then came up with the leprechaun gimmick, knowing it was something Vince would go for, and it’ll show that he was right and Finlay shouldn’t be wrestling

 

#2: Laurinitis did it because Finlay isn’t getting over and is giving him the gimmick to help him get over.

[mfn 0]

Kevin Dunn will in charge of production, so it’ll be close to WWE-level values.

 

Does this mean that the style of the in ring work will be the same, or are we talking cameras, lighting, etc.?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Kevin Dunn will in charge of production, so it’ll be close to WWE-level values.

 

Does this mean that the style of the in ring work will be the same, or are we talking cameras, lighting, etc.?

Cameras, lighting, etc.

 

The explanation for Rey getting squashed by Khali is that Rey is taking time off soon and that because he’s so talented that people won’t remember him getting squashed on the way out, and they also want to build up Khali for Undertaker.

 

What makes this funnier is that Rey isn't getting the surgery for a while now.

[k thx 0]

If they're doing SS v DX, I wonder who'd gonna partner Doane.

 

Or are they gonna bury all five...

[Mole 0]

Thanks Quad...

[Guest Human Highlight Reel]

I think the plans for JBL getting the title may have been dropped, if Booker T is now the No. 1 contender.

[Guest Human Highlight Reel]

Double Post

[The Metal Maniac 0]

If they're doing SS v DX, I wonder who'd gonna partner Doane.

 

Or are they gonna bury all five...

 

Considering that HBK has beaten up all 5 members by HIMSELF, I think this is a really easy question to answer.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

If they're doing SS v DX, I wonder who'd gonna partner Doane.

 

Or are they gonna bury all five...

 

Considering that HBK has beaten up all 5 members by HIMSELF, I think this is a really easy question to answer.

[NoCalMike 0]

The Spirit Squad in the main event, eh?

[Guest Human Highlight Reel]

Triple Post

[Jericholic82 0]

wait a sec, I know I havent been online in a long time, but Finlay is getting a leprechaun? wtf (perhaps buddy lee parker can reprise his "Braun" gimmick for it.

 

JBL getting title soon? damn I should have stayed away from the net, cuz I would have been surprised when that happened.

[Guest Human Highlight Reel]

Quadruple post.

[Exslade ZX 0]

If they're doing SS v DX, I wonder who'd gonna partner Doane.

 

Or are they gonna bury all five...

More then likely, Mikey or Johnny.

 

And between the two choices I'm thinking they would pick Mikey. He seems to be second in line for a push. But I would guess they'd face all five.

[Gert T 0]

Might as well be all 5, who would believe 2 SS members could beat Shawn & HHH?

[CBright7831 0]

- Randy Orton to return on 6/13 in Trenton.

 

[Guest Princess Leena]

Turn that frown, upside down!

[claydude14 0]

I was one of the first to hop on the "omfg so happy Orton is suspended" bandwagon; but as a Smackdown! brand fan above all else I am happy because the show NEEDS something, anything, Orton, to help it out at this point.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I think the plans for JBL getting the title may have been dropped, if Booker T is now the No. 1 contender.

 

I hope your right.

[Scroby 0]

I was one of the first to hop on the "omfg so happy Orton is suspended" bandwagon; but as a Smackdown! brand fan above all else I am happy because the show NEEDS something, anything, Orton, to help it out at this point.

Yeah but anyone is a better choice than Randy Orton.

[benn 0]

I was one of the first to hop on the "omfg so happy Orton is suspended" bandwagon; but as a Smackdown! brand fan above all else I am happy because the show NEEDS something, anything, Orton, to help it out at this point.

Booker T is RIGHT there, perfect for a world title run until Batista returns at the very least.

 

Not to mention Kennedy coming back any week now.