WON News and Notes 5/29

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

WWE JUDGMENT DAY POLL RESULTS

 

Thumbs up: 139 (82.7%)

Thumbs down: 2 (01.2%)

In the middle: 27 (16.1 %)

 

BEST MATCH POLL

Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finlay: 121

MNM vs. London & Kendrick: 30

Rey Mysterio vs. JBL: 9

 

WORST MATCH POLL

Undertaker vs. Great Khali: 118

Jillian Hall vs. Melina: 21

 

Things are going crazy in the WWE.

 

With injuries and burnout affecting much of the roster, fights breaking out, Smackdown ratings plunging badly, yet house show business seemingly strong and ECW about to be launched with almost nothing finalized in plans, it can only be described as nobody knows what is going to happen next. Major booking plans change by the minute, and nobody knows what is going to happen in two PPV events that are just a few weeks away.

 

It was expected all week that an announcement would be made on 5/23 that the new ECW show would be signed for the Sci-Fi channel and debut on 6/13. With so much going on, things got crazy on the deal. As best we can tell, the announcement will likely be made before any of you read this. Some of the terms were not yet finalized. The show will air on Tuesday night, either at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., for one hour. Sci-Fi, after first agreeing to a 52 week commitment, started getting some cold feet on the project, and at last word had only committed to 12 episodes. Because of the WWE's exclusive TV deal with NBC Universal, and USA Network not interested in giving the show a good time slot, and Bravo expressing only mild interest, WWE has very little leverage in this deal. With so much in motion, the McMahon’s agreed to the trial run. Bonnie Hammer, who was a strong force in bringing WWE back to the USA Network is in charge of the Sci-Fi Channel and wants more WWE branded pro wrestling because she just wants ratings for the channel. Those underneath here were in an uproar over the decision, because they don't think pro wrestling fits within the theme of the station. Worse, when word got out from our web site report, the message board at the channel saw the hardcore Sci-Fi fans livid that they were going to add pro wrestling to the station. There is a feeling that the network needs to increase its ratings, and the final call, by Jeff Zucker, would be ratings vs. station theme. The belief is ECW would be, from the start, one of the highest rated shows on the network. It is also a genuine concern that the network would pressure ECW to run at least one Sci-Fi friendly storyline.

 

As of now, there is now Canadian TV deal, but this is expected to be worked on this week and there are said to be one or two potential players. The Fight Network, the 24-hour Canadian premium channel, has expressed interest. For many reasons, one of them being WWE likely doesn't want the network to succeed, I’d call it a long shot. ECW would immediately become the flagship for the network and be a huge subscription driver for the station. But its penetration at this point is not strong among mainstream fans as only a tiny percentage of Canadians subscribe at this point. TSN, which carries Raw, is said to have no interest in adding a new wrestling show. Still, TNA was very close to getting on TSN, with a deal in place, until it fell apart at the last minute.

 

As things stand, the first show will be from the Smackdown tapings on 6/13 in Trenton. The show will either air on a one or two hour tape delay, or go live. Live would be a significantly greater expense due to needing to purchase satellite time weekly, which isn't cheap. If the decision is made to go live, then ECW would be done in the arena after Smackdown, instead of before, as had been the plan. This would give them more leeway to do extreme things without having to worry about burning out the crowd for the Smackdown show that would follow.

 

If the show isn't done live, it would have to be taped most nights from 7-8 p.m., at least when shows are done on the East Coast. Being taped after Smackdown would be a different type of handicap, as fans would be tired from the two-hour" Smackdown taping, and at this point it would be a show with considerably less star power that follows.

 

At press time, there is still no confirmation of the roster other than the names that have already been talked about. We've heard Test being batted around as a potential top heel to face Rob Van Dam C.M. Punk and Mike Knox are the only developmental guys we've even heard whispers about as far as being, prominent, and neither of them are definite. Most of the developmental talent Paul Heyman would have likely built around, Armando Alejandro Estrada, Gunner Scott and Beth Phoenix, were just brought to Raw or Smackdown. WWE sources indicate the roster will be stronger than it sounds, and some people from Raw and ¬Smackdown will be added to the brand.

 

There has been talk that if the show goes live, then, because of the way McMahon thinks, the show will become more important because of the live pressure, than Smackdown. Even so, it is not expected on Sci-Fi to have anywhere near the audience Smackdown will have on a network. More McMahon involvement has both its pluses and minuses. The pluses are money becomes less of an object. Also, the politics of holding it back because of the potential ego issues if it is viewed as better than one or both of the existing shows isn't going to be an issue. The negative is, McMahon will be more hands on, and it will be the Vince McMahon vision of what ECW was.

 

Either way, any predictions right now are foolish. This isn't going to be a recreation of ECW. It can't be. Times are different. What was fresh then is passé now. The talent that was cool then is nostalgia now, and can help it get started, but can't be the stars six months from now. They may get off to a strong nostalgia sendoff, and that means nothing. And if they don't, it still means nothing. The only early key is they have to deliver strong enough first numbers to get a renewal and earn their way on to being a permanent part of the network. But the success or failure will be whether the new talent can carry the ball six months from now.

 

House shows will officially start II days after the first television, with shows on 6/24 at the old ECW Arena in Philadelphia and 6/25 in Elizabeth, PA. This becomes another issue. The old ECW generally ran two shows per week, and physically, even with copious painkiller usage, the type WWE would not allow today, that was all people working the style could handle. The guys are much older, much more broken down, and are going to have to do four nights per week. That is a bad decision on many levels, because that limits the one unique thing about the product, that guys would be willing and able to take more punishment than the stars of the other-brands. Instead, you've either got green guys who are young, or beaten up older guys, who, as a general rule, are far less talented and charismatic than those on Raw or Smackdown. But they will also be playing mostly smaller cities and in buildings that seat 1,000 to 2,000 people. In a sense, this, particularly in the Northeast where most of the shows are expected to be held, puts WWE in more direct competition with indies. But the reality is whatever little money is going to be made running house shows that draw 1,000 people isn't worth it to water down the style, or physically destroy the talent that much faster.

 

It is official that after One Night Stand, there will be a second PPV show added on 12/3. This means WWE will be promoting a Survivor Series show in Philadelphia, and come back seven days later with an ECW show, and two weeks after that run Armageddon with the Smackdown brand in Richmond, VA. With domestic PPV numbers down so significantly over the past two years, partially due to adding the extra shows, as well as UFC taking off this year and lighter weight boxing drawing more consistent numbers, both beating WWE so badly except for Mania, this is going to put the company in more competition with itself kind of way. ECW is also going to be viewed in its own way as direct competition with TNA, which, if ECW does succeed, can be a victim of its success. Even though there are different fan bases for everything, there is enough of an overlap that there is bound to be a market correction by the end of the year.

 

Although, as the late 90s showed, if wrestling becomes "in," a hot product can survive overexposure, at least for a little while.

 

According to a few source, Tommy Dreamer has already lost considerable power. Aside from being talent, his role is as the talent relations point person for the brand, reporting to John Laurinaitis. Independent wrestlers who have expressed interest have been repeatedly told that they are looking for guys at least 6-2, and preferably more than 250 pounds. Terry Funk and others have made a strong recommendation for Homicide, who may be the exception to that rule. But no offer has been made to him and he's believed to be under some sort of a TNA deal, although he was likely signed for a short-time frame deal that is soon to expire and he isn't happy there. With the exception of Rhino, all of the other main TNA wrestlers are signed for the long haul, so don't expect much movement from there.

 

Paul Heyman is the main creative force. But history tells us a major story. Heyman ultimately never gets along with management. He didn't get along with Verne Gagne. He didn't get along with anyone in WCW other than Kip Frye.

 

He was put on ice on several occasions in WWE when he was a member of the creative team, and never for poor job performance, but because of problems with management. It almost seems from the outside that it's more a when than and if a blow-up occurs and he's removed from power, which would then kill the only real link to ECW. But that ECW is dead and was buried five years ago. Anyone who expects it again will be disappointed in the end. But whatever the new product is, however the entertainment is reinvented, may still wind up as a viable ancillary business, adding to licensing opportunities and the like while costs for talent and touring will likely be kept down so whatever losses from touring, if people don't buy tickets six months from now, won't necessarily put it on death row.

 

As far as changes go, the only definite news is that the Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko match, planned as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero, will not be taking place. While Benoit is banged up and won't be on the show that is not the reason for the match being canceled. Heyman's idea, and it was approved, was to instead do a Benoit vs. Kurt Angle submission match. Angle was mad on 5/23 in Bakersfield when he got the word, but others felt Benoit was just as unhappy about his match with his mend being nixed. Benoit had several things promised to him that haven't been delivered and Malenko had gone into training for his return that was taken off the books. (Last night on The Law, Meltzer confirmed that that this match is also out as well)

 

Benoit will be out for an indefinite period for a combination of reasons.

 

WWE officials cite that his body is banged up, most notably a shoulder injury, but also say that professional burnout is a factor, and perhaps most important is that his wife Nancy is recovering from major neck surgery from Dr Lloyd Youngblood and needs to rest and is not allowed to lift a thing, and needs help at home. It's not expected to be a long-term absence.

 

No other matches are finalized on the PPV, which is now less than three weeks away. As mentioned here, there has been considerable talk of Tazz going to ECW as a co-host with Joey Styles as well as a coach to endorse the next generation UFC style gimmick fighter in the company. That is far from a definite and it's still considered better than 50% that he stays on Smackdown. If the move is made, Simon Dean (Mike Bucci) and Jonathan Coachman have been talked about as Michael Cole’s sidekick

 

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Wrestlemania 22 on 4/2 from the All-State Arena in Chicago, based on preliminary estimates, should end up as the third biggest pro wrestling PPV event of all-time.

 

The first estimates of 925,000 buys, for a show headlined by John Cena vs. HHH, Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton and Vince McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels, released on 5/17, puts it slightly behind first estimates of Wrestlemania X-7 (950,000) and last year's Wrestlemania (940,000). With a $49.95 price tag (Austin vs. Rock was a $39.95 show),it will likely fall only behind last year's event as the biggest grossing pro Wrestling event in history.

 

Between the PPV revenue, live gate and merchandise, the total gross revenue for the event would be between $44 million and $49 million at this point. It's hard to make a more accurate early estimate, because such a high percentage of orders came from outside North America, and the PPV is priced fur lower in overseas markets.

 

On a worldwide basis, this would be the biggest PPV event so far this year, and would remain that way unless Oscar de la Hoya faces Floyd Mayweather Jr. or someone near that caliber in September, as has been talked about. In North America, it would be the second biggest of the year, behind de la Hoya vs. Ricardo Mayorga.

 

A few things should be noted about the estimate when it comes to some minor tricks. The WWE didn't release an estimate until seven weeks after the show. In most years, the first estimate came at the two week mark Thus you have a slightly highly artificial first number. Last year's first estimate was about four weeks after the show. Still, when all is said and done, the show should top one million buys, although its final listing in WWE's records (show records close as of the end of the fiscal year) will not reach that level. Because of greater international exposure, and international buys are slower in being tallied, it does have a shot at breaking the 1,040,000 record set by the Austin vs. Rock match on April 1, 2001, at the Astrodome in Houston, but most likely will wind up in third place. As constantly noted because this is such an important point that is usually ignored when comparing buy numbers, over the past three years, international buys for WWE PPV shows have exploded. For just the North American market, the show would still likely end up cracking the top 15 of all time, but would not hit the top ten.

 

Last year's show, headlined by HHH vs. Batista, is listed at doing 985,000 buys, which is actually the number that would have been recorded at a similar time after the show (May of that year) as this year's, so it looks to be down 6% worldwide.

 

Domestically, this year's show is estimated at between 582,000 and 600,000 at this stage of the game, down from 650,000 domestic and 335,000 overseas last year. The company had spent millions advertising the show in the UK and was hoping for 200,000 buys from that country alone. With the foreign advertising, one would suspect the company spent more money on advertising this event than any event in its history.

 

The 2001 number would be almost exclusively a domestic number, as it wasn't until 2004 when overseas started becoming a large percentage of PPV buys. In 2004, headlined by HHH vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels (although at the time of the show, the two biggest drawing matches on the show were Rock & Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair & Orton & Batista and Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg), the show did 885,000 buys at a similar period, which was approximately 681,000 in North America and 204,000 overseas.

 

In 2003, with a significantly lower percentage of overseas buys, the show headlined by Vince McMahon vs. Hulk Hogan and Angle vs. Brock Lesnar drew 560,000 buys, which would be the last time a Wrestlemania show drew a disappointing number of buys. It was also held in Seattle, because Safeco Field could put 54,000 fans in attendance. But that has been blamed for the low performance of that show (obviously it couldn't have been that Vince vs. Hogan wasn't a strong main event), and since then, you've seen Mania in smaller arena settings in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which don't have domed baseball/football stadiums. But this led to the show getting more mainstream publicity, plus with the local publicity, the higher than usual buy rate in a big market city. Also, the ability to charge a premium amount for tickets in a big market wound up even with far less fans attending, the actual ticket revenue wasn't all that much lower the past three years than in' Seattle. Next year they are attempting a combination. Detroit is a top ten market, but it also has a domed stadium, and works as a theme because it is the 20th anniversary of Wrestlemania III, held nearby at the Pontiac Silverdome. That theme is another reason why a Hulk Hogan vs. Steve Austin match would fit better next year than any future year as far as a symbiotic marketing strategy.

 

In 2002, headlined by HHH vs. Chris Jericho, but with the real top drawing match being Hogan vs. Rock, the show did 840,000, but that's with almost all the buys coming from North America. Five of the six Wrestlemania’s since 2001 would rank as the five biggest PPV events, in terms of buys, in wrestling history. Part of the reason is so many more homes had PPV capability. Wrestlemania was a huge deal on PPV once it hit the five million homes in the U.S. mark in 1987 for the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match (which did about 400,000 buys, but by far the largest actual percentage of homes with PPV capability in history bought that show), through 1989, when the Hogan vs. Randy Savage match hit 650,000 buys, an all-time record that stood until the second boom period nine years later. Mania fell off greatly from 1991 to 1996, usually hovering between 300,000 and 400,000. The 1997 Mania, headlined by Undertaker vs. Sid, bottomed out at 237,000 buys, the level of a low rated "B" show by today's standards. That year there were at least five WCW events and one WWE event that outsold Mania in 1997. It appeared Wrestlemania as a name was dead as far as being far and away the show of the year.

 

But things turned around in 1998, largely due to the involvement of Mike Tyson as referee in the Michaels vs. Steve Austin match, with buys more than tripling from the prior year, at 730,000. Things never looked back and it has been the show of the year, by far, every year since that point. Numbers grew every year through 2001, when the popularity of WWE hit its peak with the Astrodome show.

 

While Mania has declined on PPV domestically, but in recent years, the decline in domestic buys has been more than made up for with record setting DVD sales. Last year's Mania show has been among the top 20 best selling DVDs every week since it's release more than one year ago, and this year's show is expected to be the biggest selling pro wrestling DVD in history.

 

Based on the latest company released estimates for the newer years and the original released estimates in most cases for the older years, here are the biggest PPV events in history:

 

1,040,000 - 4/1/01 Wrestlemania 17 (Rock vs. Austin) 985,000 - 3/31/05 Wrestlemania 21 (HHH vs. Batista)

925,000 - 4/2/06 Wrestlemania 22 (Cena vs. HHH)

885,000 - 3/14/04 Wrestlemania 20 (HHH vs. Benoit vs. Michaels)***

840,000 - 3/17/02 Wrestlemania 18 (Rock vs. Hogan)****

824,000 - 4/2/00 Wrestlemania 16 (HHH vs. Rock vs. Foley vs. Show) 800,000 - 3/28/99 Wrestlemania 15 (Austin vs. Rock)

770,000 - 7/22/0 Invasion (Booker T & Dudley’s & DDP & Rhyno vs. Austin & Angle & Undertaker & Kane & Jericho)

730,000 - 3/29/98 Wrestlemania 14 (Austin vs. Michaels/Tyson ref)

700,000 - 8/30/98 SummerSlam (Austin vs. Undertaker)

675,000 - 4/30/00 Backlash (Rock vs. HHH)*

665,000 - 1/20/02 Royal Rumble (Rumble/Jericho vs. Rock)**

650,000 - 12/28/97 Starrcade '97 (Hogan vs. Sting)

650,000 - 4/2/89 Wrestlemania 5 (Hogan vs. Savage)

650,000 - 1/24/99 Royal Rumble (Rumble, Rock vs. Foley)

636,000 - 8/21/05 Summerslam (Hogan vs. Michaels)

605,000 - 9/24/00 Unforgiven (Rock vs. Benoit vs. Undertaker vs. Kane)*

600,000 - 7/12/98 Bash at the Beach (Hogan & Rodman vs. DDP & Malone)

600,000 - 8/22/99 Summerslam (Austin vs. HHH vs. Foley, Ventura referee)

 

*Both of these buy rates were drawn by Austin returning after a long absence and not them main event of the show. The April 30, 2000, buy rate in many ways showed the peak of the Austin drawing power, as he pulled nearly a Wrestlemania level number for a "B" PPV and he didn't even wrestle on the show. It was Austin's first televised appearance, since neck surgery which at the time threatened his career

**The reason this was the most successful Rumble event ever, even more notable because WWE and DirecTV were at odds and DirecTV didn't air the event, was due to the incredible job of hyping the return of HHH after a long absence due to a tom quadriceps muscle

***Although this was the main event and stole the show from a match quality standpoint, polls before the show took place listed Rock & Foley vs. Flair & Orton & Batista as the biggest drawing match on the show, followed by Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar. Even though the main event stole the show and is the most remembered thing on the card, at the time, it was probably only the third biggest drawing match on the show.

****HHH vs. Chris Jericho was put in the main event position on this show, but Hogan vs. Rock was clearly the most heavily advertised match and most responsible for the buys

 

Most times top draw on the list: Steve Austin (7), Batista (2), Mick Foley (4), HHH (4), Hulk Hogan (5), Shawn Michaels (2), Rock (6)

 

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The first of many releases from WWE Films, "See No Evil," opened to largely bad to awful reviews and overall decent business over its first weekend. The movie, put out by famed porn director Gregory Dark, with Kane playing Jacob Goodnight, a horror character based somewhat on his wrestling persona, closed at $4,581,233, good for sixth place, in its first weekend. At press time, the movie was at $4,958,575. Because it was released in only 1,273 theaters, its per screen average was third for the weekend behind the expected blockbusters "The Da Vinci Code" and "Over the Hedge," which got most of the weekend publicity. WWE pushed the third place figure hard on its television, and did qualify it by saying per screen average.

 

Most industry predictions were between $3 million and $4 million for the opening weekend, so it was slightly ahead, probably because of the uniqueness of its direct marketing to several million wrestling fans. The expectation is a major drop-off in week two. Although it appeared that there was a heavy ad budget, including heavy advertising on rival properties like Spike's Impact and UFC shows, largely purchased by New Line Cinema, the movie is expected to make back its original investment of $8 million by WWE when you figure in international distribution and the DVD market, but doesn't look to be hugely profitable. It was interesting to note that in all advertising purchased on non¬-WWE programming, the fact it was a WWE film and the name Kane as the star were not pushed.

 

Luckily movie economics have changed, because with tremendous inflation, the movie grossed less in the first weekend than "No Holds Barred," a Hulk Hogan vehicle that Vince McMahon produced in 1989, which McMahon has noted on many occasions was a huge money loser.

 

New Line didn't screen the movie in advance for critics, which was a sign right off the bat they didn't have confidence in the reviews. Horror movies are usually aimed at teenagers, usually don't do well in reviews, and the movie didn't do badly when it came to actual audience response in some places. Response from Observer readers who attended indicated the audiences they saw it with were generally not happy about it, with many making note of people walking out, even though it was only 80 minutes long. WWE should be commended for strong marketing on its television, which fueled whatever level of success this had, particularly the "May 19th" advertising campaign.

 

Rotten Tomatoes, the web site that tabulates movie reviews, had this at 0% positive reviews, which is not unprecedented; but even the worst movies usually get 20% good reviews, as many major newspapers even gave it an "F" rating. It appeared the big game was how cleverly reviewers could destroy it, such as, "Assuming there are no other credit cookies the final image in See No Evil is a dog urinating in an eye socket. There couldn't be a better way to describe the experience of watching this film," wrote Mark Pfeiffer in Reel Times. Or, "As shallow as a toilet bowl and twice as rank as its usual contents," wrote Nick Schager in Slant Magazine. Virtually everyone in what was essentially a cast of good looking unknowns, were panned, as were Dark and writer Dan Madigan (a long-time member of the WWE writing team).

 

The company has one more movie to be released this year, the John Cena movie, "The Marine." Even though that movie was the first one shot, it was the second in release because it was said to be the weaker of the two, which certainly doesn't bode well for it. However, with Cena as the star, it has the stronger marquee attraction. It also loses the novelty and curiosity aspect with each successive release, unless the studio actually turns out quality films, although like everything WWE-related, Vince McMahon's personal vision of quality isn't usually in line with most, and is more aiming for a low level niche to begin with. The WWE's success in books, through the roof early on and then dwindling down, is likely to happen to this genre as well. The difference is many of the early books were quite good, although a few were awful. I don't know that they are going to luck into a "Have a Nice Day" surprise when it comes to movies. But the company looks to be steering more in the direction of made-for- TV movies for the USA Network for next season using its talent, which at least guarantees, since the network is buying the movie, profitability. We've also seen how that is likely to turn out. When WCW Nitro was at its hottest, the company produced a few TV movies for TNT. The first one drew incredible ratings, the highest movie the network had ever produced, but after that, things dwindled down quickly. Of course, WCW itself dwindled down greatly in popularity in record time.

 

Glen Jacobs did a ton of media to promote the movie, attempting to stay as much in character as possible, although some stories noted his college background, interest in international politics and that he was a small college basketball star in his other lifetime. Several outlets were also critical of New Line for hiding the porn past of Dark. Lion's Gate publicity talked about Dark's degrees ¬from Stanford and NYU and video work with Britney Spears and Snoop Dog, but never mentioned his 13 years as one of the best known porn producers in the country.

 

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Here is a more detailed eye-witness account of what happened on 5/15 during the filming of the SummerSlam commercial between Booker T and Batista.

 

There was apparently an underlying issue between the two, which neither would talk about. There has been speculation this stems from the problems Melina had with Sharmell on the Australian tour, which led to the guys giving up their final night in Australia for wrestlers' court to sentence Melina for her behavior, although Booker has told friends it was Batista's attitude that caused it, as he perceived, and still does, that Batista feels like he's superior to the rest of the guys and perceives the only people he respects are the top guys like HHH and Ric Flair.

 

As said by Booker on the WWE web site, it did have to do with his belief that Batista didn't respect the history of the business, but the belief is there was something personal that had gone down, including Booker's claim that Batista said things directly to him that he took as being told he was nothing but a jobber, and in the course of the argument, Batista told Booker that if he didn't like it, they could settle it, and he could take him out at any time.

 

Batista hadn't been around much in months since he had been rehabbing his surgically repaired triceps and his tom lat. Booker felt that Batista had been bragging about what a big draw he was, while the rest of the guys didn't like it because the Smackdown guys felt they weren't earning any more money last year than they did the year before. Overall, Smackdown business was up from a year ago, but there are a lot of factors involved with that, including merchandise for the top guys, international touring, and the more direct appeal to the Hispanic market.

 

When Batista came to the commercial shoot, it was said he only went up to certain guys to shake their hand, which were top guys and Fit Finlay. For better or for worse, given locker room etiquette, the guys he didn't come to, who went to him, some of them felt that was a slight, which probably would have meant nothing in the long run except things quickly compounded. Anyway, major rule of thumb if you are in a WWE locker room-walk up to every person there and introduce yourself the first time, and every other time, shake everyone's hand. Apparently, Booker was one of those and felt Batista was being a big shot and had no respect for business and cut a promo on him. He may have brought up the article from the U.K. where Batista, when he was still on Raw, cut down Smack down and saying the wrestlers didn't work as hard and the performance of some of them sickened him. The only thing we were told directly is the two argued, when Batista told Booker he could take him out at any time, Booker responded by saying why not try right now and step into an empty room, close the door behind us and go for it.

 

There were a lot of underlying negative feelings when he came over. Things went back and forth because Batista's first program was with JBL, and Batista confided in Eddie Guerrero that he felt JBL was sandbagging him in their program that didn't click. During the argument back-and-forth, which Booker was getting the better of, Batista apparently insinuated he was a draw and pointed to Smackdown ratings going in the toilet since he left. The worst part of that is Batista is 100% correct as far as the timing went. You can argue the reasons, but they are much lower now than when he went down for the injury as champion. It wasn't the full reason and was probably only a minor factor at best as compared with the pre-emptions and lame duck status on so many of the stations. Even when Batista was there, Rey Mysterio has been the big draw on Smackdown for the past several months. But he was pushed as the top babyface and his being out was a factor and didn't help any. But you can imagine how that plays in front of the rest of the guys, worse, because deep down the ones who pay attention to ratings know there is something factual to the statement.

 

There were people who tried to talk Batista out of it, not just because either or both could get hurt needlessly and both are old enough to where they should know better and not be fighting. Plus with Batista, given his triceps injury, after three operations, he was risking his career over something stupid.

 

By that point he appeared to have felt he had to save face because everyone was watching. At the same time, before they ended up fighting, when they were just arguing, it was said Batista should have let it go, but wouldn't, which is one of the reasons he was the one viewed negatively. Mysterio was said to be the last person Batista talked with before the guys left the two of them alone in the room, and he tried to talk Batista out of it.

 

The first fight saw the two actually in a room. Everyone left and they shut the door. Booker's version was that he put his hand on the doorknob to close it, and got sucker punched. Booker came back and was doing some real damage. People heard the sound of fists meeting flesh, and after a very short period of time, maybe 30 seconds, the door was opened and people saw Booker on top pounding on Batista, and the wrestlers broke it up.

 

Batista was screaming to let it continue, so they did, and Booker was again getting the better of it. Batista in the second round grabbed Booker's braids and tried to throw knees from the clinch like you'd see in a Muay Thai style fight, well, aside from the fact you can't pull someone's hair but you can drive their head down and throw knees up, but the best they could do was hit Booker's elbow. Booker was taunting him, saying, "Is that all you've got" and "Your hitting my elbows." One version is Sharmell kicked Batista low and he went down, which may have been a factor in the later Melina-Sharmell incident. When it was pulled apart by Angle, JBL, Finlay and others, it was said that was when Batista got a good punch in, described as a sucker punch, which was the punch that swelled Booker's eye.

 

After that, it was said Booker was really furious and vowing that some time and some place he'd get him back, saying, "I'm an OG," (slang for Original Gangsta), while Batista claimed Booker was a cancer to the locker room. Booker said, in front of everyone, that if anyone thinks he's a bad influence in the locker room to say it, and nobody would. Batista was apparently surprised that none of the wrestlers agreed with him. The general feeling is Booker is a laid back guy who doesn't bother anyone, and has no reputation for starting trouble. Booker looked at Lashley in particular and asked him, and Lashley said to Booker that he'd always helped him out and given him good advice. Sharmell also cut a promo on Batista somewhere in there.

 

There was a general feeling coming from several different sources that Batista deserved what he got. Even people you would expect to back Batista were taking Booker's side in this. I don't want to say that everyone now believes it was real, because there are still skeptics, but there are very few of them at this point. We're told there were no plans to book these two against each other in a program before hand (of course, if it was an angle, McMahon wouldn't let anyone know ahead of time so that would have to be the case). We're also told there are no plans to do so now, either. I guess time will tell on that one, but for whatever reason, there really hasn't been all that much interest in this past the minor curiosity stuff for a day. While the two did do a personal appearance together and even posed for photos on the company's web site and have agreed to put it past them, the bitterness definitely still remains.

 

Booker is more liked generally as "one of the guys" and Batista is more seen as a guy who was handpicked for stardom as opposed to having earned it, and is more mends with the top guys. Still, with the exception of people in OVW, and they more didn't like Batista for what he said about OVW after leaving than anything he did when he was there, I’ve heard few people negative about Batista as a person. Those in OVW only recall Batista once getting into it with another wrestler, and that was an incident with the late Robbie Dicks (Robbie D), where the story is Dicks, who was really a junior heavyweight, got the better of the situation, but Dicks had a rep for being a tough guy and was a star college wrestler.

 

He was sort of handed it, but the truth is, it was more handed by the fans. The fans chose him over Randy Orton, who was really the hand picked guy.

 

They paid big on PPV from Survivor Series through Backlash last year to see his chase of HHH. But with limited ability in the ring, not that many years experience, and less than superlative promos (although his promos by no means are bad and in my opinion, get the job done), you can see where some jealousy would be possible, particularly since Batista has been outspoken on his own opinions. There is a weird caste system about who is "allowed" to speak candidly without reprisals, and who isn't, and Batista is at the pecking order level where he should be, but because of his relative lack of inexperience, there were underlying problems in people's minds because of it.

 

Judgement Day News

 

There was a lot of news behind-the-scenes relating to WWE Judgement Day, which as a show itself, was one of those shows that looked like one to skip, on paper, but delivered far more than expected.

 

The 5/21 show at the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix was boosted by a sellout crowd announced at 15,421 fans, and featured several major plot twists, both in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes.

 

The original plan for the main event was for JBL to win the World title in the main event from Rey Mysterio. An angle suggestion was made, apparently involving Chavo Guerrero interfering, for the title change to be moved to a Smackdown episode, most likely on 5/30 in Portland. Mysterio retaining the title on this show was finalized at a meeting toward the end of last week, but at that point the plan was still for Guerrero to interfere and cause the title change on Smackdown. One of the reasons Mark Henry and Great Khali were put over Mysterio so strong, and JBL was going to, was that since Mysterio was going to leave and have knee surgery done, the feeling was to treat it like a guy "leaving a territory" and to put over a few heels on the way out. When he returned, his character would be freshened up and he'd rebound from those losses. Of course, doing the Guerrero angle would seem to postpone the surgery, although it also could be that Guerrero could "injure" him as the reason. Right now, that appears off. For reasons that haven't been said, the decision was made this past week to keep the title on Mysterio for the time being. The speculation as to why the decision was made looks to have been two things. The first is JBL has a serious back injury and needs time off, and his injury is now more pressing than Mysterio’s. JBL is expected to be out for three months due to chronic knee and back problems, so his title run was canceled for now. The idea going around is that Bobby Lashley would get the U.S. title and then JBL would be "injured" in that match and leave.

.

Changing the finish on this show, which as noted last week, was planned for more than a week ahead of time, had nothing to do with the JBL injury. Changing the plans to not include JBL winning, as well as his dropping the U.S. title, at least partially had to do with his injury, but there were other factors involved in the decision to keep the title on Mysterio. Nobody really expected Mysterio to draw as champion since there is still the mentality about small guys and all that, but he got the title because the storyline they were working meant he would have to get it at some point this year. A funny thing happened. While ratings are down, badly now to the point we are now at Thunder levels, it is still the Mysterio segments that carry whatever somewhat anemic ratings there are most weeks. While Smackdown sold out in San Diego that was his hometown. This show in Phoenix doing a sellout and a crowd pretty much unprecedented for a Smackdown only PPV, as well as gates post-Mania being generally above expectations led to the realization that Mysterio was drawing. Of course, the way he's been booked on TV has likely done more harm than good to that, but that was done because they expected him to take time off. With all the other injuries, it appears he is not going to take time off for at least the next two months. Smackdown hasn't had a champion who has drawn at the house shows in some time. They are clearly starting the Guerrero angle, and I just can't see Mysterio vs. Guerrero being a title program. But with JBL at least off house shows, if not completely out, for a while, there is a terrible death of top heels. I just can't see them giving the title to Booker, although he'd probably be no worse at being champ than anyone else, and. don't even want to think about Mark Henry in that spot. Randy Orton is coming back in a few weeks, but I just don't see them putting the title on him right away, even if the cold business move would be to do so, just because I think he's going to have to show he's learned and earn it. We're told there are no plans to take the title off Mysterio, and the plans are to book him as champion at least through the Great American Bash (7/23 in Indianapolis). Of course, plans change on a weekly basis with so much going on behind-the-scenes.

 

The show ended with Mysterio having pinned JBL, and Guerrero in the ring congratulating him. Perhaps they were afraid in the market that Guerrero would be cheered if he turned on Mysterio, because Phoenix fans think of Eddie Guerrero as a home town wrestler, even though he only lived there about two weeks before his death. Vickie Guerrero was also at the show, going over a script with Chavo for whatever direction this is going, as I guess she'll be involved. She has still not sold her home in Phoenix, but it is for sale and she is planning now on moving back to El Paso, where she grew up.

 

The other big story on the show came out of the opener, where WWE's best hope for a traditional tag team in years, MNM, consisting of Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury, managed by Melina, split up and went at it after losing the tag titles to Paul London & Brian Kendrick Later in the show, after Melina was embarrassed two more times, she went crazy and slapped Teddy Long. This led Long to "fire" both Melina and Nitro.

 

While the angles were all well done, on the surface it appears to make no sense. Mercury is the guy who does most of the match layout, and is really the brains and glue holding the tag team together, even though he's the least charismatic of the three. Due to his size and style, he will likely flounder as a single. Melina has star potential, even though she's clearly hit a major divot in the road as she's rubbed a lot of the locker room the wrong way. For whatever this is worth, the talk is that she has developed an ego and doesn't work well with the other women. Nitro has heat, apparently for being tight with her. While this team had more potential, in many ways this is reminiscent of the Bodydonnas with Sunny. Sunny got heat with everyone and the team got dropped. But away from the unit, both former Bodydonnas went nowhere because they had so much more star potential as a tag than as singles.

 

The reasoning behind it is Mercury is being sent to rehab and will be off TV and the road indefinitely. With Melina and Nitro having so much heat in the Smackdown locker room, they are going to be taken off the road for the time temporarily. When they return, they will be on Raw as a singles act. There had been a long-term vague plan to do this maybe two years down the road, thinking eventually Nitro managed by Melina could be a top heel pairing, this was terribly premature, but under the circumstances, the decision was made to do it now.

 

To me, unless the decision is made not to use Mercury any longer, or just as a jobber, because inevitably, that's what he'll be on his own (originally, even though they were a unit in OVW, when WWE planned to bring them up, they were going with Chris Cage as Nitro's partner and the main reason it didn't happen was Cage suffered a tom pec at the time they were bringing them up), there are other ways to work around it. MNM, like the Spirit Squad on Raw, have the ability to be in major programs high on the card as tag champions, but somewhere along the way they were phased down. Anyway, the feeling is because the hand dealt the company, there was no other way it could be handled.

 

The break-up of the team leaves London & Kendrick with only Kid Kash & Jamie Noble as the makeshift Pitbulls copy tag team, as challengers. Gymini, who could have been set for the role, although would not have been effective in it, has one member injured.

 

The other ballsy booking move was putting Great Khali over stronger than anyone in probably 15 or so years, maybe dating back to Undertaker's arrival, where he destroyed Dusty Rhodes. Khali took no bumps (for the better), sold very little, and pinned Undertaker after a chop to the head and a kick to the face. Khali stood up and put his foot on Undertaker's chest. Nobody in the building, or watching on TV, thought it was the finish. Undertaker did no post-match sit-up. The explanation was that Vince McMahon recognized he screwed up with Big Show, when it came to booking him like Andre the Giant, a level many predicted for show that he never achieved, and was determined to do it right with Khali. Of course, the negative so many have is that once people see how bad Khali is, they'll have wasted the push on someone who won't have legs at the top. It was pretty well conceded that having Undertaker beat him would have killed him right away, and Undertaker's character can survive a loss. But the ending was flat live. People have seen Undertaker survive so much, and for him to lay down after such a weak finishing sequence and without even being covered (Khali doesn't get up and down well, which is another reason he didn't even take one bump), was a shock, but not an "Oh My God" shock but a "this is bs." shock, particularly because to the live audience, he laid in the ring without moving for several minutes. Through camera angles, lifts in boots, destroying top faces and not having him sell, thus far the Khali experiment, at least for this night, seemed to work, in that the crowd was intrigued by the match, and didn't die even during the many moments where Khali tried to do something and it was cringe-worthy bad. By no means did they tear down the house, but it took a tremendous performance by Undertaker just to take it out of negative stars. Undertaker and Khali were rehearsing the match, move-¬by-move, in the afternoon. They brought a very thick air mattress into the ring for Undertaker to bump on, as they were that concerned about Khali not dropping him safely. In the end, Khali didn't even do his neck hanging tree slam, and they wouldn't risk anything more than a chop to the top of the head and a kick as the finishing sequence.

 

Overall, the strength of the show, aside from the Benoit-Finlay match which was just a classic old-school hardass match, was the writing. Everything flowed together and everything seemed to have a purpose by the end of the night. It wasn't overbooked for overbooking sake, and even the bad finishes were saved by good post-matches. You don't find a lot of WWE shows where you can say that.

 

A. Matt Hardy pinned Simon Dean in the dark match. Neither TNA nor WWE are airing a live pre-game show with matches, and instead both are doing pre-taped studio shows on the PPV channel in the final 30 minutes.

 

1. Paul London & Brian Kendrick beat Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury to win the WWE tag titles in 13:43. They tried to pace this like a Rock & Roll Express vs. Midnight Express match. No doubt Nitro & Mercury were taught tag team wrestling in OVW by studying those exact matches. London threw Kendrick over the top rope and he flip dived on both MNM members. London missed a high' crossbody and they got heat on him. Kendrick made the hot tag. London tagged in after heat on Kendrick, getting a great near fall with an Oklahoma side roll on Mercury. London did a cool spot where he did his dropsault, dropkicking Nitro off the apron and landing with a splash on Mercury in the same move. Finish saw Nitro holding London and Mercury ran toward him. London escaped and Mercury collided with Nitro, who fell on Melina. In the ring, London did a sunset flip on Mercury and then rolled one more time, into a folding press. Melina started browbeating Mercury for losing, then shoved him and finally slapped him. Nitro blindsided Mercury and pounded on him, but Mercury made a good comeback Melina went to kick Mercury in the head, but kind of missed. Melina ended up kicking a reflow. Teddy Long came out and I think he was bumped at one point. I think it was way premature, like a year minimum, to break up the team, but it was done great. ***1/2

 

2. Chris Benoit beat Fit Finlay in 21:10. Loud "Benoit" chants at the start, due to the Eddie Guerrero connection. This was a classic style match, worked like an old-school 70s style match'. They did a 90 second collar-and-elbow tie-up both inside and outside the ring. Finlay told the ref he was poked in the eyes (was he facing Chuck Liddell or something?) and as Benoit was distracted by the ref, Finlay took over. Finlay did a move where he sat on the mat, pulled on both of Benoit's arms while using his feet to push down on Benoit's head. Benoit came back with three German suplexes but missed a diving head-BUTT. Benoit did a baseball slide, kicking a chair into Finlay's ribs. He followed with a diving head¬BUTT to the ribs for a near fall. Benoit was bleeding from the mouth. Finlay used a chicken wing/dragon sleeper combination. He also did a few kneedrops that looked far too believable. After a German suplex on the floor by Benoit, and the three amigos inside the ring, Benoit got the submission with the cross face. ****

 

3. Jillian Hall pinned Melina in 4:18. The ref gave Nitro the boot before the match started. Instead of doing the usual women's stuff, both tried to do a men's style match. They weren't given time and were in a tough position at their level trying to wrestle and follow the previous match. Better than expected. Hall won with a sunset flip, but Melina's hand was on the ropes for the pin. After the match; Kristal Marshall was interviewing Melina. Melina blew her cool and attacked Marshall, but Marshall beat Melina up as well. You know things are bad when you lose three times in the same night. *1/4 .

 

4. Gregory Helms pinned Super Crazy in 9:55 to retain the cruiserweight title. Crazy was one of the most popular wrestlers on the show. This match, in this position, would have died in a lot of cities, but was strong here. When Crazy did a la magistral, Tazz called it a Bandido. Maybe it is somewhere. Nick Patrick blocked Crazy doing a tope, so he sprung off Patrick's back with a flip dive to the floor. There was a loud "ECW" chant. Crazy then went in the comer with ten punches and people counted in Spanish, which they haven't done in five years. Well, except at the last ECW show. Crazy did a dropkick off the top for a near fall, but missed a moonsault Helms missed a shining wizard; Helms did all kinds of versions of neckbreakers, including a blockbuster off the ropes for a near fall. Man, of all people to steal Buffs finisher. Helms won with a power bomb with his feet on the ropes. **3/4

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Melina and Nitro were complaining to Teddy Long about pretty much everything. In the heat of passion, or something, Melina slapped Long in the face. He fired both of them.

 

They showed Anthony Robles in the crowd. Robles is the Phoenix high school wrestler with one leg that we've written about a few times. They made a big deal about his winning two state titles and a national title. He is the first person with a disability of his type ever to win a high school national championship. Robles, who is going to attend Arizona State University on a wrestling scholarship, will be featured this week on ABC World News Tonight as the show's Person of the Week He has started to get some national pub over the last week with mentions on ESPN, CNN and appearing on Fox & Friends.

 

5. Mark Henry beat Kurt Angle via count out in 9: 10. Angle did a somersault bodyblock off the middle rope and looked to just about land on his head. This wouldn't be good for anyone, but he's the last guy who needs that. This match was better than their Rumble match. Match was fair, but post-match was pretty good and saved it. Angle reversed a powerslam attempt into a DDT for a near fall. Henry kicked out of the Angle slam. Angle kicked out of a powerslam. They tried to tell the story that Angle, with his ribs all taped up, came back too early. Henry squashed him into the post on the floor, and Angle was counted out. Count out finishes don't go over too well these days. Angle came alive in the post-match, with a low blow and five chair shots, and an ankle lock on the floor. Angle gave Henry an Angle slam on the English announcers table. The table didn't break, and Henry just slid off, but the table wound up destroyed anyway. Angle finished things up with a wicked chair shot to the top of the head. **1/4

 

6. Booker T pined Bobby Lashley in 9:15 to win the King of the Ring. Crowd was also more into Lashley than most crowds have been lately. At one point Sharmell grabbed Lashley's leg so he couldn't run and spear Booker. Lashley got a near fall using the Oklahoma Stampede. Booker messed up an ax kick for a near fall. After a spear by Lashley, Sharmell distracted the ref. Finlay came out and hit Booker with a shillelagh. What, you were expecting him to hit Booker with a mini? This led to an ax kick and the pin. Post-match saw Booker put the crown on and go to sit in the big throne, but Lashley speared him out of and over the chair. **1/2

 

7. Great Khali pinned Undertaker in 8:31. Mostly Undertaker selling. He'd come back with punches 10 the body which Khali would register, but never go off his feet. Khali's missed punches are the stuff of legend. Some of the worst stuff you'll see. Some of his offense looked decent, and some looked terrible. Khali was horrible, but the crowd was into the spectacle and accepted it. Khali sold a flying shoulderblock by falling into the ropes and being tied up, so they taught him Andre's famous sell spot when Andre could no longer get up and down. Undertaker threw a few punches before Daivari released Khali. Khali used a chop and a kick and it was over. ½*

 

8. Rey Mysterio pinned JBL to keep the WWE title in 15:56. Not the caliber of what you expect from a WWE title match, but still good. I’m presuming JBL's physique changing for the worst is due to his back problem making him unable to train. Crowd was super hot for Mysterio and JBL seemed like he was loving the easy heeling. Mysterio's wife Angie Gutierrez was at ringside and was made into a pretty prominent part of the match. Too prominent, unless they are going somewhere. JBL kept playing to her for easy heat, and all I could think of was they must be booking her to have an affair with Chavo. Hopefully, their marriage is in better shape than Kevin Sullivan's was if they're going in that direction. JBL threw Mysterio into the ring steps and Mysterio was bleeding. I was really surprised JBL didn't rip up the top of Mysterio's mask because it was kind of useless to bleed heavy when you couldn't see it. JBL mocked Eddie's dance and three amigos. He dropped Mysterio with a fallaway slam on the floor. Mysterio came back and went for a bronco buster, but JBL kicked him low. Nick Patrick took a bump and JBL used a power bomb. Charles Robinson ran in, but Mysterio kicked out. JBL punched Robinson. That's a sequence I haven't seen 100 times yet this year. JBL grabbed a chair, but Mysterio kicked the chair into JBL's face, hit the 619 and then the frog splash, and got the fall. Chavo came in to congratulate Mysterio with huge chants for "Eddie." Good match and they sent everyone home on a big high. ***

 

==========

 

There was bad news for WWE with a far lower than expected first estimate on Backlash. The 4/30 show from Lexington, headlined by John Cena vs. HHH vs. Edge and Vince & Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels & God, drew a current estimate of 212,000 buys, which would probably translate to between 130,000 and 135,000 buys in North America for a show that had high TV viewership of Raw promoting it and for a product that was drawing at the house shows during the month. Not only that, but because of Vince wrestling, it had a far stronger promotional push than for a usual "B" show.

 

This result is a lesson being told by the public that will no doubt soon be forgotten, like most lessons the public tells promoters. We did a poll before the show and it showed a large percentage of regular viewers were skipping' specifically because of the angle being pushed with the God deal, and if there is a definition of an angle turning off more than it turned on, and this is probably the best modern example of it. Other shows have done weak PPV numbers, but they were shows with weak attractions and expected to do weak numbers. For a show as heavily pushed as it was, that number is terrible, so I guess God did have the last laugh in the end.

 

It's down 24% from where last year's Backlash was at the same time, and that's with less international homes cleared and a slightly lower percentage of international buys. That show featured Batista vs. HHH and Hulk Hogan & Shawn Michaels vs. Mohammed Hassan & Daivari match.

 

Some other updated PPV numbers. Vengeance from last year is at 245,000 buys, No Mercy is at 230,000, Taboo Tuesday is at 245,000, Survivor Series is at 400,000 and both Armageddon and New Year's Revolution are at 335,000. Armageddon, with the Undertaker vs. Orton Hell in a Cell was way above expectations and was well ahead of the prior year.

 

All of the shows in 2006 are down from the levels they were at during the same period in 2005. Last year's Elimination Chamber did 365,000 buys for Revolution. No Way Out is down a little from last year, and last year's number wasn't good. Mania is also down slightly.

 

==========

 

Raw on 5/22 did either a 3.6 or a 3.7 rating, a little down from usual levels. The number had‘to be disappointing because they did a show long build for the HHH turn. We'll have complete details next week

 

A.M. Raw on 5/21 did a 1.1 rating.

 

The 5/20.replays, of UF and Impact both did 0.6 ratings.

 

Smackdown on 5/19 drew a 1.9 rating, one of the lowest in the history of the show. The decline is because about 25% of the country aired the show on Saturday, including many major markets, due to other sports programming. Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to these ratings, because Smackdown has been pre-empted numerous times in just as many big markets as it was this past week, and almost never drawn a number like this (it did in its early weeks on Friday, but that was because it hadn't built back its audience, but at no other time in its history were numbers even close to this level), is this. Who has been drawing the ratings and carrying Smackdown for the past few months? How was that person booked the past few weeks, particularly the week before this show? Of the major markets, look at the one he is strongest in, Los Angeles, and look at how the show did. Granted, it was in a different time slot, but it's that same slot it's been moved to many weeks of late while still delivering numbers. I don't know that it's permanent, but a ton of regular viewers across the board in the major urban centers as you'll see by the ratings market-by-market, did not watch this week.

 

The show did a 2.0 in New York (2.3 for Mysterio vs. Kane), 0.3 in Los Angeles (0.6 for Mysterio vs. Kane; also should be noted the Benoit & Scott vs. Finlay & Booker finish drew an 0.0, the first goose egg in a major market in history-this was out of the normal time slot and went against the first 15 minutes of the Impact replay, and I can guarantee the Impact replay did a lot better than 0.0), 3.9 in Chicago (4.9 for Mysterio vs. Kane), 1.4 in Philadelphia (2.2 for Mysterio vs. Kane (this aired 10:30-12:30 on Saturday night), 2.1 in SF (2.6 for Mysterio vs. Kane), 1.7 in Boston (2.3 for Mysterio vs. Kane), 1.8 in DC (2.0 for MNM & Melina vs. London & Kendrick & Hall-this aired Saturday 10-midnight), 2.4 in Dallas (Saturday 7-9 p.m., 2.8 for Mysterio vs. Kane), 2.3 in Detroit (2.7 for Mysterio vs. Kane), 2.7 in Atlanta (3.2 for the Tatanka promo) and 1.3 in Houston (Saturday afternoon 1-3 p.m., 1.9 for Tatanka promo). Boy have they killed Smackdown dead in Houston, which is the fault of the local lame duck station that is basically attempting to do so, not WWE.

 

In the segment-by-segment, based on the major markets and correlated nationally, the MNM & Melina vs. London & Kendrick & Hall match gained 400,000 viewers. Lashley vs. Jared Steel lost 235,000 viewers. Benoit & Scott vs. Finlay & Booker gained 345,000 viewers. Henry vs. Hardy gained 138,000 viewers. Mysterio vs. Kane gained 414,000 viewers.

 

Ultimate Fighter on 5/18 drew a 1.90 rating and 2.2 million viewers. It is the best rating in the history of the show without either a live fight special or a live Raw show lead-in. To show the power of the show, it is now doing double the rating that the last shows of season two did once Raw moved to USA.

 

Raw on 5/15 drew a 3.90 rating (3.77 first hour; 4.02 second hour; 4.86 million viewers and 917,000 (3.5 rating) in Males 18-34. Top demo was against male teenagers with a 4.9.

 

In the segment-by-segment, the Cena & RVD vs. HHH, Benjamin & Masters match gained 610,000 viewers from start to finish. The second segment is usually a gainer from people who show up late, but this was far better than usual build. Spirit Squad’s Johnny and Nicky vs. Goldust & Snitsky lost 97,000 viewers, and that is not usually a segment that loses. I’d bet money that it wasn’t that match that lost it but the preceding “See No Evil” video piece No. 1. The Foley, Funk and Edge segment with the promo and angle gained 720,000 viewers to the show’s peak rating of a 4.55. That’s obviously great growth. Striker vs. Eugene plus “See No Evil” piece No. 2 lost 842,000 viewers, which is probably close to record levels this year. Umaga’s squash and a few interviews gained 48,000 viewers. The “See No Evil” piece No. 3 and beginning of the Michaels vs. Kenny main event lost 286,000 viewers. Since obviously, as the next quarter shows, people did not click off during the main event, that speaks volumes for how many did, but all that stuff is a necessary evil. The overrun with Michaels vs. Kenny with the sledgehammer and Vince cradling Shane ended up gaining 926,000 viewers to a 4.41 rating.

 

==========

 

Beside JBL and Benoit, there is another headliner injury to headline talent that will affect current booking. Michaels had an MRI done on 5/23, which explains the injury angle done on Raw the night before, to check on his left knee, which had been giving him a lot of problems. As was expected, he does need surgery. At press time we don’t know the nature of knee surgery, but it was, before the MRI, expected to be arthroscopic surgery. They were hopeful the surgery wouldn’t keep him out of the Vengeance PPV on 6/25 since the show is being built around he and HHH reuniting against the Spirit Squad…Although not yet official, there is a good chance Masters will be taken off the road for an indefinite period of time. That may explain why he was beaten so convincingly to the STFU to Cena on Raw. No reason was given for this, other than we were told the first guess would be the correct guess…To the surprise of exactly nobody, the CW network officially announced Smackdown for Friday at 8pm on its fall schedule. That had been talked about by the execs in the network as a lock from the day the announcement was made about UPN and WB merging…There was yet another backstage skirmish last week, stemming from the one the week before. This time it was Melina and Sharmell, who got into an argument that turned into the beginnings of a fight in the dressing room on 5/14 in El Paso. They were arguing about the Batista/Booker T situation, since Melina is now very close to Batista. Vince McMahon had a personal talk with Melina about all the heat she had on her two days later in Albuquerque. But both women are considered in trouble for how it turned out. When they did the wrestlers' court deal in Australia on Melina a few months back in Australia, it was over her alleged attitude toward the other women, and considering it's Smackdown, there are only two other women who travel, one of whom is Sharmell, who fm told it was mainly because of. . . WWE's "Rise and Fall of ECW" book will be released on 6/6. They also have a DX DVD being released on 6/2 in conjunction with putting them back together.

 

In a weird signing, WWE just inked Sylvester "Predator" Terkay, from K-1. Terkay was in the WWE system in OVW for a few years before being fired as he didn't pick up pro wrestling fast enough in their eyes. He then went to Japan as a Bruiser Brody clone (they have the same type of hair and similar size, although Terkay is bigger than Brody was) and got over as a strong heel with Zero¬ One. He moved to K-l for much more money. WWE had been interested in bringing him back for some time, because at 6-6½ and 320 pounds, he has the size that John Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon like and people in that company have been trying to find a big man who can play the Bruiser Brody role for years. He was contacted about six weeks ago and expressed interest. There was a realization that K-1 was only using him as an "opponent" in kickboxing, as opposed to giving him MMA fights, where at this stage he'd be tough to beat. Plus, as an MMA fighter, he was in a bad situation. He's 35, so his time is running out. He's not a huge MMA name, but he's big and with some striking and great wrestling, he's dangerous to almost anyone. He's become like Tom Erikson was when he was younger, basically a guy who it was impossible to get any opponents for because top guys didn't want to risk their reps with no upside, and bottom guys were just avoiding him. Several times he was close to fights on big shows under MMA rules and the guys studied his background and saw his size and didn't want to face him. So the only fights he's been able to get are kickboxing matches, and he's not a top of the line kick boxer, even though most do believe he beat Remy Bonjasky in their New Year's Eve fight. After losing in Las Vegas to Choi Hong-man in kickboxing, instead of booking him on Hero's shows, he was offered a fight with Peter Aerts with two weeks notice under kickboxing rules. Terkay is supposed to spend two weeks in Deep South for evaluation and then be brought to the main roster. Terkay was the 1993 NCAA heavyweight champion in wrestling, and took second in 1992, when he, at 275 pounds, lost in the finals to Kurt Angle, who weighed 199. When he was signed, even though this angle was played up several years ago in OVW when Jim Cornette promoted an Angle vs. Terkay match (which stunk, by the way) on a major show at the Louisville Gardens, has been written about here probably 15 times or more over the years, and Angle wrote about it extensively in his book, nobody in the current WWE talent relations had a clue about it until it was brought to their attention after he had been signed. The only negative for a guy like him is in any other promotion, he can play "big monster," but in WWE, with so many big monsters, he has to play up-and-down wrestler, and we'll see if he's improved to where he can get over in that role. This is just a guess, but with Angle on Smackdown, and Smackdown needing heels, he would seem likely to fill that hole. I don't know about his talking skills, but he's the type of heel that would headline in the 70s against Bruno, with a manager, and draw big, so having a manager for him wouldn't be the worst idea.

 

In the Diva Search, they are copying from "Dancing with the Stars" and spreading it over twice as much TV. The "Challenges" will be put on Smackdown, to allow for editing and sound sweetening since there was a lot of embarrassment in these type of things where they have amateurs trying to perform. They will then bring the women out on Raw only to announce who is eliminated every week. It will be an eight-week process over both shows. The women will be introduced on the 7/10 Raw, with the first challenge airing on 7/14 and first elimination on 7/17. There will be eight finalists this year. Like "Dancing with the Stars," they will cut down to three people with the final Raw being on 8/14. The winner will be announced on a USA Network special on 8/17, as opposed to on Smackdown. The special will air 9-10 p.m. so it will compete with Unleashed, but not with the debut of he new season of Ultimate Fighter, that starts on the same night. We do know of at least eight porn stars that are applying. Last year, several applied, but none made it .to the final eight. . . We don't have this confirmed at press time, but it is likely the complete Stampede Wrestling collection was purchased by WWE from Ross Hart. Sources at The Fight Network, which had been airing old Stampede footage, were also told on 5/23 that the sale was completed. We also know Hart had been talking to WWE about selling the collection. We should have confirmation if the deal is completed next week. Of late, WWE has bought tape collections when they need them, and with the Brian Pillman DVD coming out soon, there is now a time sensitive reason to buy the tapes. The World Class tapes and St. Louis tapes haven't even been made an offer for, even though WWE opened talks about buying both collections around a year ago.

 

==========

 

Notes from the 5/22 Raw in Las Vegas. The show had a good overall storyline, and some really bad wrestling. There were two major focuses. The first was starting the push for ECW One Night Stand, and that could have been a lot better. The second was completing the HHH turn. Quite frankly, they should have concentrated on one, because I felt trying to hit both hard diluted the impact of each. Since the DX reunion isn't for five weeks, I’d have saved that angle, although you were going to step on the ECW build-up no matter what, because 6/12 would be too late to pull it off. Show opened with Vince saying that Shane had a mild concussion, and if not for the fact he had such superior genetics, he'd have been hurt even worse. He recognized HHH had hit him with the sledge hammer by accident, but demanded an apology on the air, and if not, there would be swift, vengeful retaliation by Vince. He said if HHH didn't apologize, his life would be the same living hell Michaels is. Foley came out and tried to be a heel by playing a smarmy insincere babyface, telling fans that he's not a bad guy and they can tell their kids to still cheer him. He also did his cheap pop saying it's great to be in Las Vegas, and then ripped on people who try to make it rich by gambling instead of working hard. He brought out Edge, and gave him a present of his original hardcore title belt and made him the new hardcore legend. He called Edge a real hardcore wrestler as opposed to the third rate guys in ECW. Edge wanted to give the belt back to Foley. They pretended they would fight on the show for the belt before they agreed to be co-champions. Heyman came out and said there was a prostitute in the ring, but that it wasn't Lita, it was Foley. Heyman claimed he was prostituting the name of hard core and that when Foley looks in the mirror, he sees a shell of his former self. Foley said Heyman is the one who has nothing left, as he's been fired by WWE as G.M. and lost his company. Heyman said he was issuing a challenge to Edge & Foley to face two ECW hardcore wrestlers. Foley said no way, but Edge accepted while Foley was shaking his head not to. They got into it with Funk & Dreamer in a short brawl where Funk & Dreamer used garbage can lids and ran them off. The talking here was first rate, but it didn't get over as strong as I thought it would. While this won't be the case the night of the show in New York, thus Raw there has been a major amount of passion missing in the fans for this year's ECW return as compared to last year. The two bigger problems is that even though he's trying to play chicken, people don't want to boo Foley. Even after two weeks of being Edge's friend, he still got cheered when he came out, although not enthusiastically, and the crowd took to him as a face, and when he heeled on the crowd, it was more a Pavlovian heel response than any kind of passionate one. The other is the huge crowd turnover. WWE has lost tons of fans in the last two years, while Cena's popularity (as well as a few others) have brought in many new replacement fans. ECW is just a name like Bruno Sammartino or something before a lot of young fun's time. To a lot of older fans, it's a big deal, but a lot of them aren't attending WWE house shows these days. Benjamin beat Van Dam via DQ in 9:43 to keep the IC title. Another big problem is that Van Dam is being put in a position for the first time since coming to the company to be a top guy, even if it's on a lower level TV show. He needs to really be a superstar on these shows, and is positioned as such, but he's not delivering. He wasn't dynamic, and he was sloppier than usual here. Match wasn't good at all. After a ref bump, Benjamin grabbed the belt, but before he could deliver the belt shot, RVD kicked the belt in his face. The ref saw it and called for the DQ. RVD did a frog splash after the match.

 

Backstage, Vince was with Candice and introduced her to two members of the group ZZ Top. They've been going to matches dating back to Paul Boesch days in Houston, but this was the first skit ever. Candice was wearing a pearl necklace, which is the name of one of their more famous hits. Anyway, the pearl necklace reference is a slang term for sex on a woman's chest and cuming on her upper chest. I can't imagine when I started doing this that I’d ever be stuck writing like this. Vince came to the ring and told HHH to come out. He ordered him to apologize. HHH said he wanted to hear two words. HHH teased a face turn when he said, "You want two words; I'll give you two words." Crowd was ready to explode, but then he said, "I’m sorry." Vince accepted it, but ordered HHH to smash Michaels' skull in with a sledgehammer when he tells him to during the main event. They shook hands. Kane did a promo. He said May 19th was the night his mother died in a horrible fire. But he said he was happy now because his movie is out and the date has passed. Cena beat Masters clean in 6:12 with the STFU. The crowd didn't boo Cena much at first, but was booing him pretty big after he botched one move after another. I was really appreciating how good HHH and Edge are after seeing this match. RVD came out after and issued a title challenge for One Night Stand. They came to blows. Neither worked it as a heel, but the fans, who had been booing Cena, turned on Van Dam. This was just a mess. Then Cena got the best of the brawl until Masters jumped Cena. Cena cleaned house on Masters and was supposed to do a Van Daminator into the briefcase into Cena's face. But he barely grazed the kick and it looked bad, and Cena sold it big anyway. Carlito was hitting on Maria. They have apparently become a couple in storyline since last week. They bumped into Snitsky, all dressed up waiting for an escort. He saw what he thought was a hot woman all dressed like a showgirl, but was painfully, and I mean painfully obvious it was Goldust. After all you really don't find a lot of 6-6, 275 pound women running around. Snitsky was massaging his heat when Goldust turned around. Snitsky was grossed out he was massaging a guy's feet. Michaels bumped into HHH and said he lost all respect for him the way he bowed down to Vince out there. Yes, the guy who allowed Vince to prostitute his religious beliefs was mad at a guy for not standing up for himself. This writing team is having way too much fan at our expense. I guess this was our punishment for getting the", Smackdown PPV. Kane pinned Murdoch in :38 with a choke slam. They called Murdoch the Roger Ebert of the WWE. I guess Ebert must have said how bad a movie "See No Evil" was and they needed to get back at him. The lights went out w and all the voices came back. Kane is still being tortured even though May 19th is over. I guess he's a face again, as well. James pinned Wilson in 1:53 with a DDT.

 

God punished J.R. for putting over "See No Evil." J.R. made a comment about how Wilson has improved as a wrestler, and these two promptly botched every spot like guys in amateur class. There was a hot shot spot that was stop, start, slow mo, and then missed all in one move. Thankfully they ended it quick because it could have only gotten worse. Stratus came out and said that Beth Phoenix was the new Raw diva. They didn't tell any story, but Phoenix and James had an ugly brawl. I promise you, Phoenix was so much prettier in OVW. Viscera came out to waste our time. He apologized to Lillian for dumping her. She wasn't down with him. He said he had a present for her, and looked like he was going to whip it out, but instead gave her a partially eaten McDonald's hamburger. I'm sure there is some phallic reference to that but I couldn't find it out. He said he'd like her to make him his meals, he was hungry, he was horny, and he made a mistake dumping her for ho's. He then asked Lillian to marry him. You know, weddings do equal ratings. Estrada came out. This segment was getting so bad that I was begging to hear the same interview I've heard 35 times in a row. So was the crowd, who started chanting some of it with him. Anyway, Umaga and Viscera had a brawl, and Umaga destroyed him with the Samoan spike. I just realized Flair was supposed to return on this show, was booked on all the house shows, and they didn't even bother to use him on the show. Michaels NC Spirit Squad in a l-on-5 main event. McMahon said no ref in the ring and it was a tornado match. They gave Michaels the highest high sprits to date. It was about 15 times higher than when they had to do it on Viscera. Mitch did more work than he's done in his entire WW tenure combined, so his back must have gotten a lot better. They destroyed Michaels for a few minutes. Michaels then made a comeback, and nailed two of them with a superkick, but Nicky nailed Michaels in the knee with a chair. They destroyed Michaels knee, ripped up his pants and took off his knee brace. They put the knee in a chair while Kenny came off the top rope with a legdrop. Vince ordered HHH to bash Michaels' skull in. When HHH got in there, Kenny took the sledge hammer away from HHH. When he went to use it, HHH turned face and cleaned house on all five, ending with a pedigree on Kenny.

 

Smackdown notes from 5/19 TV show. Show had some interesting points and a hot crowd. London & Kendrick & Hall beating MNM & Melina had a lot of heat. Good work from the guys, and they set up the women's spots well. *** match. During commentary, Tazz made some remarks regarding ECW, teasing his participation, saying Foley has forgotten where he came from and he was mad about it. Lashley speared Jared Steel in little time. The in-ring highlight of the show was Benoit & Scott over Finlay & Booker in 18:13. They are pushing Scott as Benoit's protégé. That means that as soon as Scott starts to get over, they'll turn him on Benoit. Scott now does the Benoit walk to the ring and the two have a similar physique. I actually never even realized there was such a thing as a “Benoit walk” to the ring until I saw Scott having to imitate it. Lashley came out and sat in the throne on the entrance ramp. Sharmell yelled at Booker, who at the time had Scott until control. Booker was distracted and Scott pinned him with a crucifix. ***1/4. They did more Tatanka silliness. Tatanka debuts again next week Henry pinned Hardy in a short match. One thing I can say is Hardy did about as good as he could under the circumstances. Remember when they would bury Hardy and he'd still be over? That's becoming less and less.

 

Burchill this week told Nunzio that he saw Vito in line at a grocery store dressed up like a woman. Nunzio didn't believe him, saying Vito is a skirt chaser not a skirt wearer. Burchill is doing a gimmick that he's an alcoholic. That will do wonders for his career. . Main event with Mysterio vs. Kane was just to set up the movie. JBL tricked Mysterio into saying it was May 19th. Kane came out and destroyed him. Match only went 4:00 but I do have to say it was well worked for that time before the silliness took place. As Kane had Mysterio beat, he started hearing the voices in his head and was being tortured by his brain. We were being tortured as well by their brains. At some point the light came on and Kane was okay and choke slammed Mysterio. Kane then wouldn't follow up and JBL got in the ring and started brow-beating Kane, who was selling being tortured, by this time with no house lights turned off and no sound effects. Is that fair? JBL said, "He was the one who said May 19th," and Kane choke slammed JBL for his troubles.

 

I'm told the person who came up with most of the finish on the 5/15 Raw match in Lubbock with HHH & Benjamin & Masters vs. Cena & RVD match was HHH. I really thought it was a clever finish, Yes, it was self serving in that HHH pedigreed and beat both Cena and RVD, both champs, but as ,ong as the working idea is to get HHH over as the top face in the company, well, he needs to be booked as the top face. As far as if he should be, that's a different issue. It is his time to turn and Cena is a bigger draw, but when he turns, he needs to be pushed as the equal to the champ or the turn will be wasted. I'm not for five more years of 20 minute HHH interviews, but you're a fool if you deny he has value and is considered one of the biggest, if not the biggest star in the company and should be booked as such. . . HHH will be Flair's best man at his wedding on 5/27 in the Grand Cayman Islands. Also attending are Batista and Michaels.

 

In a correction from two weeks ago. Flair didn't sign a new contract, but signed a one year extension of his existing deal. . . Other notes from the Raw taping in Vegas. Shawn Osborne, Melissa Anderson (Cheerleader Melissa) and Devin Nicholson (from Stampede Wrestling) worked in jobber roles. Anderson put over Victoria in a solid match. Victoria played face. Dark match was Cena over Edge in a street fight doing the roulette wheel gimmick. It must have been fixed because they had cage match as one of the choices, and there was no cage in sight. They also had a "capture the midget" match listed. Edge said that had something to do with putting Tazz in the comer. Cena won with the FU after Edge speared Lita. Security confiscated anti-Cena signs before Raw started, including one that read "I've Cena Nuff.". Regarding reports from Japan about WWE and Shinsuke Nakamura, who attended the Raw tapings in Anaheim, WWE has offered no deal to Nakamura. John Laurinaitis did talk with Simon Inoki about Nakamura but in WWE the belief is nothing is going to come out of that. . . Johnny & Jason Riggs were both cut from developmental this past week. The feeling was they were not improving. . . Woman wrestler Shantelle Taylor from Canada is being considered for a developmental contract. - They first have to get her a working visa for the U.S.

 

Pro wrestling and MMA titles in the top 20 sports DVD's for the 5/27 Billboard Magazine chart (base on retail outlet sales, not including Wal-Mart, between 5/8 and 5/14): 1. UFC 56 Franklin vs. Quarry; 4. TNA Final Resolution; 5. ECW's Most Violent Matches; 6. Hardcore Homecoming 2 November Reign; 7. Wrestlemania 21; 8; WWE Royal Rumble; 9. UFC Classics Volume 3; 10. UFC Classics Volume 4; 11. Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior; 12. WWE New Year's Revolution, Elimination Chamber match; 13. Tombstone: History of The Undertaker; 15. The Bret Hart Story; 17. TNA Best of the Bloodiest Brawls; 18. UFC Classics Volume 1; 19. WWE No Way Out Angle vs. Undertaker; 20. Pride Fighting Championships Legacy Volume 3. An interesting note on the Hardcore Homecoming hitting No.6 is that during that week, it was only available at Best Buy. It was released to all other retail stores on 5/16, two days after the chart period ended. I think this would be about the lowest ranking in probably a decade (No.7) for the top ranked WWE DVDIVHS tape, if not longer, not to mention four pro wrestling/MMA releases beating any WWE release. That won't be for long, as the upcoming Wrestlemania DVD will likely top the charts for a while after its release this week, and there is already strong advanced sales for the Backlash DVD and the Dusty Rhodes-DVD coming out next month. . . From Reba McIntyre, in an Entertainment Weekly interview which brought up her singing "America the Beautiful" at Wrestlemania VIII. The question was, Ray Charles did sing it at Wrestlemania n, but he was blind, what’s your excuse? "It was a gig on the way to a gig. They asked me to do it in the afternoon, and I did my show that night. I was never so ready to get out of a ring in all my life." . Ryan Reeves, who was just starting to get a push in OVW, suffered a broken thumb throwing a punch and is out of action. . . The magazine Real Fighter did an interview with Angle regarding MMA. He said that in hindsight, he would be a whole lot healthier if he had gone into MMA rather than pro wrestling, due to all the punishment he's taken. He talked about having wrestled Randy Couture and Mark Coleman in the past (as well as Dan Severn, Mark Kerr, Sumiyabazar Dolgolsuren, Sylvester Terkay and probably others). He claimed 'he was scheduled to do a boxer vs. wrestler match with Lennox Lewis in Japan, but said he would have rather fought an MMA fighter, because he knew he'd have an easy time taking down and beating Lewis. He said Vince had given him the green light to do it but his neck started getting bad and it fell through. He also said he has trained with Severn and Steve Courson in submissions. He said he's had very limited training in submissions but he whipped Courson all over the place, but once in a while Courson would watch him. I never heard of an Angle vs. Lewis match. A few years back, there were preliminary negotiations for Brock Lesnar vs. Lewis. While Lewis denied it when the story got out, the talks got serious enough that Vince called the Nevada State Athletic Commission and had a show booked for Las Vegas. The idea behind it was they had wanted Lesnar to be the next big star of the company, and thought by making a match with Lewis, which they felt confident he'd win easily, that would give him the mainstream name appeal to the casual fan to put him over the top. Lewis was insisting on a lot of rules that would have given him a better chance. Angle was actually supposed to face Michael Moorer, a former heavyweight boxing champ, not Lewis, on that same show. I believe the Lewis people actually came to WWE with the proposal wanting to co-promote it, but then Lewis signed to fight Klitschko and lost interest In the snuck through the censors award for the year, Khali used the term "Madar Choud" when talking about Undertaker, which is Hindu for "motherfucker." . . Harry Smith actually is set to debut on 5/26 in Boise when Raw does a Northwestern swing, working openers against Conway, before his TV debut on 6/5. He has said he'll have no problems doing a program with Michaels for the 2007 Survivor Series in Montreal, being that Michaels is one of the all-time great workers. He was offered a spot in TNA in January by Jarrett, but had mentally committed to WWE a long time back, just wanted to spend a few years working Japan and Europe until that time. Well, New Japan stopped using him and WWE at Mania told him he could come in and skip developmental and go right to the main roster. . . Todd is the Shane Twin with the minor pec tear who is out of action. . .In Deep South, Antonio Mestre is doing a gimmick where he's a gamer, where he plays classic videogames as he's coming to the ring. The Miz is returning to Deep South. Regal worked the Deep South tapings again on 5/18, putting over Roughhouse O'Reilly. . .Lawler pinning Burchill match on 5/19 in Southaven, MS, which was the big Memphis show that also included some WWE developmental wrestlers, drew about 600 fans. Memphis Wrestling is doing nostalgia shows on 6/16 in Jackson, TN, and 6/17 in Southaven. . . The Daily India newspaper had a story on Khali, who was a laborer in a tiny village in the Himalayan mountains for real. Khali was named over Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. He is one of eight children, born in the village of Sirmau Valley. He was working as a laborer in Shimla, and the police in Punjab found him and saw his size and recruited him for the police force. They taught him bodybuilding and he became Mr. India, and then he got sent to California to be a pro wrestler. . .At the 5/15 tapings in Lubbock, last week we have dark and Heat match results, which were Jim Duggan over Conway, Carlito over Russell Simpson, Cade & Murdoch over Viscera & Haas and The Highlanders won a match. . . WWE is planning on making a big push in Spain. Their TV deal for Smackdown debuts on Cuatro, one of the TV networks in that country, on 5/27. It would be the first WWE TV in Spain since 1994, and the first wrestling on TV in that country since a very brief Nitro run in 1999. The feeling is that long without wrestling makes the country virgin territory and capable of doing huge business. . . The real numbers for 5/12 in Hidalgo, TX, were 7,397 total in the building and 6,876 paid for $235,575, which was a first day sellout. 5/13 Raw in Wichita Falls drew 2,600 and $94,000. 5/13 Smackdown in El Paso drew 4,400 and $157,000. 5/14 Raw in Amarillo drew 3,300 and $97,000, even with Terry Funk added to the show. 5/14 Smackdown in Odessa drew 2,020 and $67,000. The Raw taping in Lubbock drew 6,500 and $200,000. The Smackdown taping in Albuquerque drew 5,757 and $190,000. Overall by recent standards, it was actually below par aside from Hidalgo. . . 5/20 in Denver was the usual Raw show. They did Cena over HHH and Edge in the three-way with the same Steamboat ref spot finish they've been doing the past two weeks. Flair and Michaels were on tour, so they teamed with Show over 3 members of the Spirit Squad and won. Most everything else is what they've been doing, other than Beth Phoenix got Torrie Wilson's spot in the women's tag match, teaming with Maria over James & Victoria. The gimmick is that James runs from Beth. I think that's the reason they wanted Beth to gain her weight back, because they are looking at her to play more of a physically intimidating and more threatening face powerlifter/wrestler role (which is what her background is) than a slim down for bikini/lingerie role (which she'd cut a lot of weight and gotten big implants for). rd suspect long-term would be for her in that role to turn on Stratus once this storyline plays out. . . Tucson was the same deal as Denver. Flair gets to cut promos at house shows and they always get over. They were encouraging ECW chants as during Benjamin vs. RVD, Benjamin told the crowd not to chant "ECW," which was far more effective than RVD asking the crowd to chant "ECW." Benjamin vs. RVD had what was reported as the best match. Cena over HHH and Edge on top with Steamboat as ref. They always have a good match. Pretty hard not to when the live crowds are filled with kids to see Cena, and HHH and Edge are such pros in carrying a match.

[Enigma 0]

Awesome. Did you find one of those OCR programs like I used when I did the WON posts or did you type all that out?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Awesome. Did you find one of those OCR programs like I used when I did the WON posts or did you type all that out?

A little from column A, a little from column B.

[Downhome 0]

The big news here?

 

Booker T is far more awesome than any of us has ever imagined.

[UZI Suicide 0]

Thanks a lot for posting this.

 

I'm surprised about the Booker-Batista story as all the reports prior to this fight always seemed to paint Batista as such a good guy.

 

And ECW being broadcasted live would be excellent.

 

When Batista came to the commercial shoot, it was said he only went up to certain guys to shake their hand, which were top guys and Fit Finlay.

 

THAT'S RIGHT BITCH.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

Actually, I think the big news is that it isn't ALWAYS creative fault when things do not work out right. Look how many injuries and other nonsense have got in the way of what they were planning. No way they would have put the US Title on Lashley if JBL wasn't hurt- which in turn kept the title in Rey. Of course they commit plenty of other crimes against good programming, but sometimes they just seem to go with whatever they can.

[buffybeast 0]

In regards to the Batista/Booker/Melina/Sharmell incidents, are they in fucking high school? Good Lord, I've never seen grown ass men act like kids before in my life. Isn't Batista in his 40s? Why is he acting like an aloof bitch? It sounds like Book whooped his ass and maybe fed him some humble pie. What's with Batista's relationship with Melina? Are they fucking or what?

[Mole 0]

How'd you get this? The mail doesn't come on Memorial Day.

 

I should wait till I get it in the mail because I am paying for it, but fuck it.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

The Booker T/Batista read was awesome.

 

Booker was always one of my favorite wrestlers since his Harlem Heat days, now I have much more respect for him as a person.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

How'd you get this? The mail doesn't come on Memorial Day.

Sometimes, the mail van comes on Saturday. I think somebody on here, maybe Dangerous A, sometimes gets theirs on Wednesday or Thursday somehow, possibly because they live right near to Dave.

[Guest wildpegasus]

As far as changes go, the only definite news is that the Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko match, planned as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero, will not be taking place. While Benoit is banged up and won't be on the show that is not the reason for the match being canceled. Heyman's idea, and it was approved, was to instead do a Benoit vs. Kurt Angle submission match. Angle was mad on 5/23 in Bakersfield when he got the word, but others felt Benoit was just as unhappy about his match with his mend being nixed. Benoit had several things promised to him that haven't been delivered and Malenko had gone into training for his return that was taken off the books. (Last night on The Law, Meltzer confirmed that that this match is also out as well)

 

Benoit will be out for an indefinite period for a combination of reasons.

 

WWE officials cite that his body is banged up, most notably a shoulder injury, but also say that professional burnout is a factor, and perhaps most important is that his wife Nancy is recovering from major neck surgery from Dr Lloyd Youngblood and needs to rest and is not allowed to lift a thing, and needs help at home. It's not expected to be a long-term absence.

 

Does anyone know what was promised to Benoit but not delivered? or why Angle was upset?

[Molotov The Bear 0]

Damn. Thanks for posting all that.

 

I dont see how HHH beating up the SS constitutes a Face turn. He didnt help Michaels at all and the only reason it seemed he attacked the SS was because Kenny took the Sledgehammer from him. In addition, he didnt really "attack" them. He hit Kenny with a spinebuster for taking the sledge, and the others attacked him. It didnt really seem like he was a fully turned face by the end, it was just more of the same.

[Mole 0]

How'd you get this? The mail doesn't come on Memorial Day.

Sometimes, the mail van comes on Saturday. I think somebody on here, maybe Dangerous A, sometimes gets theirs on Wednesday or Thursday somehow, possibly because they live right near to Dave.

I used to get mine on Friday back in the day, but now I get it on Mondays.

[geniusMoment 0]

From this I can gather that Melina is taking it from Batista and Nitro, and I thought she was in a relationship with Mercury. She must like the taste of wrestler cock.

[Kizzo 0]

Thanks..

 

Good read.

[RepoMan 0]

Thanks for typing that whole thing out.

 

The WWE lockeroom seems as petty and cliquey as high school, except 100x worse.

[SuperJerk 0]

The company has one more movie to be released this year, the John Cena movie, "The Marine." Even though that movie was the first one shot, it was the second in release because it was said to be the weaker of the two, which certainly doesn't bode well for it. However, with Cena as the star, it has the stronger marquee attraction. It also loses the novelty and curiosity aspect with each successive release, unless the studio actually turns out quality films, although like everything WWE-related, Vince McMahon's personal vision of quality isn't usually in line with most, and is more aiming for a low level niche to begin with.

 

BURN~!

 

Or something.

[Adam 0]

Great stuff HTQ, thanks for that.

[WrestlingFan4Ever 0]

I really appreciate you taking the time to type all of that. Thanks a lot. Booker T yelling that he's an OG is classic.

[CanadianChick 0]

In a correction from two weeks ago. Flair didn't sign a new contract, but signed a one year extension of his existing deal. . . Other notes from the Raw taping in Vegas. Shawn Osborne, Melissa Anderson (Cheerleader Melissa) and Devin Nicholson (from Stampede Wrestling) worked in jobber roles. Anderson put over Victoria in a solid match. Victoria played face.

 

Um, no she didn't.

 

Regarding that match, Cheerleader Melissa sells in a disturbing way. Her screams sounds like she's having an orgasm. Not cool.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

In a correction from two weeks ago. Flair didn't sign a new contract, but signed a one year extension of his existing deal. . . Other notes from the Raw taping in Vegas. Shawn Osborne, Melissa Anderson (Cheerleader Melissa) and Devin Nicholson (from Stampede Wrestling) worked in jobber roles. Anderson put over Victoria in a solid match. Victoria played face.

 

Um, no she didn't.

 

Regarding that match, Cheerleader Melissa sells in a disturbing way. Her screams sounds like she's having an orgasm. Not cool.

 

How else do you expect her to make it on the roster?

[Guest Princess Leena]

Yeah, Melissa's screaming got annoying during the match. A bit too much.

 

But, she's good looking, and seems like a good enough worker. I wouldn't be surprised if WWE gives her a chance soon.

 

And the poor usage of Victoria continues to baffle me.

[Scroby 0]

From what I hear from people who have worked with her, Melissa is a good worker but has a ego issue. Burned a few bridges here in the Bay Area from what I hear. I've never seen her work, but if she screams while selling a move, I don't think I want to see her work.

 

And the poor usage of Victoria continues to baffle me.

 

Really? Something from WWE baffles you? How in the hell could that happen?

[iliketurtles 0]

I'm an OG? What the fuck Booker.

[Guest Timmer]

Thank you

 

I appreciate it when people such as yourself post these...they are always a good read.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Really? Something from WWE baffles you? How in the hell could that happen?

 

 

But, I really don't understand why WWE basically uses Victoria as a jobber. She looks incredible. She's a solid worker. She has strong, unique moves that draw attention from the crowd, and easily the best finisher amongst the women. And she apparently does whatever she's asked of by WWE...

 

Yet, they keep bringing up random females, while Victoria is right there.

[Enigma 0]

I remember Meltzer saying back in fall 2004 when WWE unloaded a bunch of the female wrestlers so they could hire the DivaSearch losers that Victoria was next on the chopping block. I guess they changed their mind on that.

[Hawk 34 0]

Really? Something from WWE baffles you? How in the hell could that happen?

 

 

But, I really don't understand why WWE basically uses Victoria as a jobber. She looks incredible. She's a solid worker. She has strong, unique moves that draw attention from the crowd, and easily the best finisher amongst the women. And she apparently does whatever she's asked of by WWE...

 

Yet, they keep bringing up random females, while Victoria is right there.

 

She isn't blond, first of all. Second, she looks like an natural athlete, third...she's an good wrestler.

 

3 Strikes. She is the Val Venis of the woman's division. Dependable, good and deserving of a push but stuck in nowhere except occasion mini-pushes that last 2 weeks and are forgotten again.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

NOT VAL VENIS!!

 

 

j/k. That comparison is perfect.