WWE News and Notes

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Dave called Monday’s Raw “funny as hell” and that the return was just as over, with HHH and Shawn, as DX, refreshed, but Dave also questions how long it can last.

 

Dave brings up a point he’s mentioned a number of times before, that when he first saw the DX entrance on Raw he knew WCW were in trouble.

 

The internal reaction to the show was that it was a success, but there is a lot of skepticism as to how far it can go, with the general feeling that revivals like this work for the first few weeks but then it fades fast. Dave mentioned it brings a reminder of redoing the Freebirds in 1990 which was a big introduction and some funny interviews, but after that was just a midcard act.

 

One reaction, though, was consistent; with HHH turning 38 next month and Shawn turning 41 (he’ll have turned 41 by the time you read this), by all logic they are too old for the roles they are playing. Dave says they need a hot program, which would likely build to a match with the McMahon’s at Summerslam and then move on after that.

 

One insider said that Shawn isn’t comfortable with his new role, as he feels people will see it as a contradiction of what he’s been preaching the past few years. That was played into when HHH brought out cheerleaders to take their tops off, but first put a blindfold on Shawn.

 

The show was written specifically for HHH to get all the funny lines and Shawn just to react to them.

 

Dave said that the Raw was close to the type of Raw that put it on the map as something other than Monday Night Wrestling.

 

Dave felt it was great TV for numbers, which he wrote before getting the rating.

 

Dave said what killed this type of television was advertisers pulling out, which isn’t going to happen today, as WWE doesn’t have the enemies it used to.

 

Dave also thinks they went through so much material in one night that they may burn out.

 

Talking about the return to MSG, Dave says WWE can’t make the profit they can running at MSG than they can at either Nassau Coliseum or the Continental Airlines Arena, and he thinks it was the fact they have a live Raw on that date as the reason they wanted to run Manhattan.

 

Vince was furious about the negative reaction to the debut ECW show. During the agents meeting, Vince’s reaction over the first TV show was that he didn’t realize that the ECW brand was ‘tainted’, and that the Hammerstein crowds weren’t an indication of where the overall popularity of ECW really stood. Vince now feels that they can’t build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.

 

Paul Heyman pushed for more creative control on the second show, and because of the reaction to the first show, they mostly went with his script. He booked the long tag main event of RVD/Angle vs. Edge/Orton to carry the show, and he put Mike Hettinga (Mike Knox) on the show to get him a role quickly, as Heyman is a big a fan of his. The idea is for Knox to get a big rub right away from having the super hot girlfriend.

 

From the meeting, its felt Vince as already written off the original audience coming back to be built on.

 

Sabu’s attitude, which caused some initial worry, has been considered excellent since coming in. It is possible he realizes that this is his last chance to make good money so he’s changes his attitude. The original idea was for him to get an early push because he was an ECW name with nothing planned long-term. His work with Cena has been much better than anticipated, and Sabu has also clicked with the main talent that is willing to work with him and treat him as main event wrestler. Sabu is also considered the top new player.

 

Dave says it’s amazing that, when looking back, the two guys who caused Jim Cornette to go ballistic and then get fired, Kevin Fertig and John Carelli, both get their careers saved by Heyman.

 

Shelly Martinez was originally going to be Paul Burchill’s valet but that idea got scrapped. Her tarot card reader gimmick is a concession to Sci-Fi.

 

At one point, Tim Arson (The Zombie) was also going to be The Cook, as spoof on The Food Network, as a character for Sandman to come out and cane.

 

The 7/4 taping at the old ECW Arena was moved to the Wachovia Center, which hosts a four-hour plus Raw/Smackdown taping the night before. The ECW show will have one hour of dark matches and then a live one-hour show. The only vague reason given was that it would cost too much to upgrade the ECW Arena to do a good quality taping, and it would save money to move to the Wachovia Center. Dave thinks they will load up the Raw show and shoot a big angle as well, but questions how much walk-up business they’ll do the next night when they come back to the same building. Dave thinks they could do enough to turn people away at the ECW Arena, which they could trumpet on TV, but that same crowd at the Wachovia Center won’t look good on TV. Dave speculates it could be that with the Raw guys working ECW, they don’t want to make them look ‘cheap’ by working in an “Indy looking building”.

 

More on the firings of Dustin Runnels and Mikey Batts; Dustin missed the 6/12 Raw due to a court appearance to do with his ex. At that show, it was decided to fire him, as it was assumed he missed the date for the same reason almost everyone else misses shows. Runnels said he attempted to call the office ahead of time, and when they found out why he really missed the show the heat was then for not telling them ahead of time. Runnels was desperate to keep his job, to the point where he even said he would work for free for a month, but Vince made the call to fire him. With Batts, it’s stranger. The official reason was that he wasn’t improving enough, wasn’t dedicated and his size. However, the whispers are that it has do to with other things. When then newest Venus Swimwear models (one of whom debuted on ECW) were brought into OVW, talent relations gave word that nobody was to mess with them. Nobody could figure that one out, given that every woman who shows up in wrestling hooks up with someone, and nothing was said about the other women who have come to OVW. The problem came when at least two guys hooked up with the new women, and on 6/10 word came down that somebody was going to be made an example of. Then Batts was let go. That isn’t the official reason, but people are putting the timing down to it being the real reason.

 

Why that sort of thing gets heat for one person but not for another is the idea that if you are a star then it’s expected for you to get a hot girlfriend, but if you’re not a star then it’s frowned upon, more so if it’s felt you’re flaunting it.

 

Instead of WWE getting preempted for the US open this year, Raw will air from 2300 to 0100 on 8/28 and probably the next week as well.

 

The Miz will host the Diva Search this year,

 

Dave liked JBL commentating on Smackdown, but thinks he talks too much and can get repetitive. Dave also thinks his ant-foreigner and anti-gay tirades will get old fast, and brings up that JBL was anti-foreigner with Sylvan, who is Canadian but JBL called him French, but wasn’t anti-foreigner with Regal or Finlay. Dave said he hopes JBL is not a one-trick pony, but for the first time out JBL was great.

 

Dave thinks Regal and Finlay should be the tag champions, and that they could be the best tag team in the company in a long time.

 

Said you could tell that JBL’s commentary on Matt Hardy was managements opinion of Hardy, and that it was 14:00 of non-stop “he cried on the internet about losing his girl”. Dave also said that Hardy is not getting a push no matter how much the crowd pops for him and that management just won’t push him.

 

Vito is now wearing his dress at the airport and on planes.

 

There was talk of Justin Credible forming a new Impact Players tag team with a new partner, but it was first mentioned a few weeks ago and hasn’t been mentioned again since.

[Sly 0]

Why have Matt and then blatantly not push him?

 

Maybe he should've just stayed in RoH...

[Hawk 34 0]

Why have Matt and then blatantly not push him?

 

Maybe he should've just stayed in RoH...

 

I'm sure Matt regrets that nice paycheck he gets for being buried. WWE resents him for airing out public business and after WWE tried to exploit that to their advantage and make sure TNA didn't benefit from Matt's hype, they signed him and gave him a weak push that essentially buried him.

 

Now they keep him at a higher price and can "punish" him by jobbing.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Dave called Monday’s Raw “funny as hell” and that the return was just as over, with HHH and Shawn, as DX, refreshed, but Dave also questions how long it can last.

 

Dave brings up a point he’s mentioned a number of times before, that when he first saw the DX entrance on Raw he knew WCW were in trouble.

 

Well, I never accused Dave of having taste, especially when he calls Flair the best ever and Triple H a very good worker.

 

And wasn't D-X just a midcard comedy act? I highly doubt they had a whole lot to do with WWE winning the ratings war.

 

That stuff about jobbers not being allowed hot girlfriends is the most ridiculous shit I've ever heard. What, do the main event stars want all the hot women to themselves? Aren't most of them already married anyway?

 

Hardy deserves everything he gets for thinking WWE would be more interested in making money than stroking their own egos by burying anyone who talks out against them.

[EricMM 0]

WTF is the problem w/ jobbers having hot girlfriends?

 

Flaunting it?

 

This is why this company is ridiculous, (if true)

[Hawk 34 0]

WTF is the problem w/ jobbers having hot girlfriends?

 

Flaunting it?

 

This is why this company is ridiculous, (if true)

 

Since WWE likes to revert to the concept of Kayfabe frequently, they don't like the idea of a nobody(in the context of the wrestling world) being with attractive girls.

 

Look at how much heat Punk got for his relationship with Maria. WWE is a HS minded promotion.

[KingPK 0]

Vince was furious about the negative reaction to the debut ECW show. During the agents meeting, Vince’s reaction over the first TV show was that he didn’t realize that the ECW brand was ‘tainted’, and that the Hammerstein crowds weren’t an indication of where the overall popularity of ECW really stood. Vince now feels that they can’t build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.

 

Vince is going to abandon the Mutants? That might be a bad idea.

 

And DX certainly was one of the reasons for the WWF's comeback. It was their version of the NWO, basically.

[haVoc 0]

"Why were you let go from your last place of employment?"

 

"I hooked up with a hot chick."

[Enigma 0]

And wasn't D-X just a midcard comedy act? I highly doubt they had a whole lot to do with WWE winning the ratings war.

I'm assuming you weren't around in 1998, but DX was just as hot of a ratings commodity as Stone Cold Steve Austin was and 2nd to only Austin in merchandising.

[Hawk 34 0]

98% of the reasons people are fired in WWE wouldn't fly in the real world.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

And wasn't D-X just a midcard comedy act? I highly doubt they had a whole lot to do with WWE winning the ratings war.

 

Actually, I would say that D-X had nearly as much to do with the Attitude era boom as Austin v. McMahon did. They moved tons of merchandise and were a huge ratings draw.

[Just John 0]

Vince now feels that they can’t build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.

 

More good news for the new ECW. I guess we can look forward to more shows like Week 1.

[NoCalMike 0]

Edit: Wrong Thread!!

[Art Sandusky 0]

Why can't ECW just be built upon, uh, wrestling fans? I know WWE is different (for the worse) than other promotions, but not so much that you can make it sound like people will only follow one company. "WWE fans," ugh. I don't like being called that.

[justcoz 0]

Vince was furious about the negative reaction to the debut ECW show. During the agents meeting, Vince’s reaction over the first TV show was that he didn’t realize that the ECW brand was ‘tainted’, and that the Hammerstein crowds weren’t an indication of where the overall popularity of ECW really stood. Vince now feels that they can’t build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.

 

Vince sounds like he has completely lost his mind? The above statement makes absolutely no sense. The ECW brand wasn't tainted. Granted I would have thought that ECW would have drawn more of it's own audience at the Smackdown tapings in Trenton and Albany but what Vince doesn't realize is that a lot of people who watched pro wrestling back then and supported ECW no longer watch BECAUSE of the WWE product. And even upon hearing news that ECW was being brought back, seeing what Vince did with WCW and ECW during the Invasion angle, many people had absolutely no faith in getting the ECW product they originally loved.

 

So, on June 13, some of that audience likely tuned in to Sci-Fi. What they saw was something clearly not representative of the ECW they wanted. They saw a WWE product and that is where all of the negative reaction came from. No, the Hammerstein fans aren't indicative of ECW's popularity, but whatever happened to Vince listening and caring about reactions of New York fans? There is a base crowd to build from but to do that you have to present a product that resembles the product they cared about. There is nothing wrong with mixing in Raw and Smackdown talent to create that product and attempt to bring those audiences to ECW in addition to the base audience. I understand the need for Edge and Cena on the initial shows but at some point they have to let Heyman create characters and storylines to set the brand up.

 

Vince needs to cut Paul Heyman loose, accept that they need their own tapings in intimate venues, without intervening creatively and roster-wise. Allow him to pick and choose talent from Raw, Smackdown, indies, international and developmental to work with to create an interesting product in time for December's PPV.

[randomguy 0]

Hooking up with other employees when you've been told not to certainly WOULD fly in the real world. The NFL has a longstanding no players dating cheerleaders rule. I don't see the problem with it. Dating in the workplace always causes problems, probably moreso with a bunch of hot women and roided up macho men.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Hooking up with other employees when you've been told not to certainly WOULD fly in the real world. The NFL has a longstanding no players dating cheerleaders rule. I don't see the problem with it. Dating in the workplace always causes problems, probably moreso with a bunch of hot women and roided up macho men.

It's a bit hypocritical when the head writer and a main eventer are married, though.

[Hawk 34 0]

Hooking up with other employees when you've been told not to certainly WOULD fly in the real world. The NFL has a longstanding no players dating cheerleaders rule. I don't see the problem with it. Dating in the workplace always causes problems, probably moreso with a bunch of hot women and roided up macho men.

It's a bit hypocritical when the head writer and a main eventer are married, though.

 

No, what is bullshit is the REASONING Batts wasn't allowed to date her. He wasn't "over" enough.

 

If Orton wanted to date/bang the chick, it'd be fine. It's like the stock room supplier at work banging the CEO's hot assistant in WWE's world.

[NoCalMike 0]

The thing is, Vince wants ECW to be a third leg of WWE, with maybe twice as many chair shots, and table spots.

 

If Vince was smart he would cater the ECW brand to the fans of TNA/ROH/Indy to try and siphon fans away from those companies or at least get them watching ECW as well which would mean fans would have to actually consider not buying a TNA PPV in favor of an ECW PPV. If Vince merely wants a 3rd WWE show, then he sure as hell won't convince fans of other styles of wrestling to watch.

 

Vince comes off looking stupid if all of this is true. He basically has the power to drive TNA out of business within a few months if he wanted to, but instead is too stubborn in favor of his own goddamn vision of Sports Entertainment, that he won't even allow a creative genius like Paul Heyman to go out and grab the attention of an entire seperate audience of prowrestling.

[2GOLD 0]

Hooking up with other employees when you've been told not to certainly WOULD fly in the real world. The NFL has a longstanding no players dating cheerleaders rule. I don't see the problem with it. Dating in the workplace always causes problems, probably moreso with a bunch of hot women and roided up macho men.

 

Cept it sounds really stupid when the upper employees are allowed to but the lower guys aren't. You couldn't tell the mail room clerk he can't date and then allow the accountant to date her.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

It does seem pretty dumb. What about less hot divas like Jazz (if she wasn't married) and Jillain? Can they date who they want?

 

Although, didn't Melina get together with Nitro when they were in OVW? And what about Mickie and Kenny? They got engaged after he debuted I think so they must have been going out a while.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

At one point, Tim Arson (The Zombie) was also going to be The Cook, as spoof on The Food Network, as a character for Sandman to come out and cane.

 

But the cook could wack sandman with a frying pan!

[Sideburnious 0]

Vito is now wearing his dress at the airport and on planes.

 

 

 

BURRRNNNN!

[Ravenbomb 0]

At one point, Tim Arson (The Zombie) was also going to be The Cook, as spoof on The Food Network, as a character for Sandman to come out and cane.

 

But the cook could wack sandman with a frying pan!

 

BAM!

[Hawk 34 0]

It does seem pretty dumb. What about less hot divas like Jazz (if she wasn't married) and Jillain? Can they date who they want?

 

Although, didn't Melina get together with Nitro when they were in OVW? And what about Mickie and Kenny? They got engaged after he debuted I think so they must have been going out a while.

 

Jazz is married to Rodney Mack. It's one thing for two unknowns to get together in OVW but another for a OVWer to date a TV diva. Hence the Punk backlash with Maria.

 

These girls(the one in question) was brought in for the ECW show(I'm assuming one of those girls is Kelly) and WWE management doesn't want development guys with those girls.

[geniusMoment 0]

At one point, Tim Arson (The Zombie) was also going to be The Cook, as spoof on The Food Network, as a character for Sandman to come out and cane.

 

But the cook could wack sandman with a frying pan!

 

BAM!

Classic

[Dobbs 3K 0]

It's stuff like the above that would justify some wrestling fan coming out of the audience and beating Vince into unconsciousness.

[CanadianChris 0]

Vince was furious about the negative reaction to the debut ECW show. During the agents meeting, Vince’s reaction over the first TV show was that he didn’t realize that the ECW brand was ‘tainted’, and that the Hammerstein crowds weren’t an indication of where the overall popularity of ECW really stood. Vince now feels that they can’t build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.

THAT'S what Vince took from the first show? That the brand was 'tainted'?? Not that he threw a whole bunch of crap out there that the no one in their right mind would enjoy, especially when presented as 'ECW'?? Vince tainted the brand almost from Day 1.

 

I wonder what colour the sky is in Vince's world.

[2GOLD 0]

Vince was furious about the negative reaction to the debut ECW show. During the agents meeting, Vince’s reaction over the first TV show was that he didn’t realize that the ECW brand was ‘tainted’, and that the Hammerstein crowds weren’t an indication of where the overall popularity of ECW really stood. Vince now feels that they can’t build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.

THAT'S what Vince took from the first show? That the brand was 'tainted'?? Not that he threw a whole bunch of crap out there that the no one in their right mind would enjoy, especially when presented as 'ECW'?? Vince tainted the brand almost from Day 1.

 

I wonder what colour the sky is in Vince's world.

 

Green, because people keep going and buying his crap.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

And wasn't D-X just a midcard comedy act? I highly doubt they had a whole lot to do with WWE winning the ratings war.

I'm assuming you weren't around in 1998, but DX was just as hot of a ratings commodity as Stone Cold Steve Austin was and 2nd to only Austin in merchandising.

 

Merchandise I can believe, but I doubt they drew as high ratings as Austin-McMahon.