WWE News and Notes: WON 7/24/06

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

WWE television in Canada:

 

When talking with TSN, WWE were unhappy with the prospect of never airing live and tried to force TSM to choose between Raw or Monday Night Football. It was an easy choice, as getting MNF was considered a big deal for TSN and Canadian ratings for Raw have been declining.

 

Officially, TSN cancelled Raw due to sliding ratings and issues over content, with Live Audio Wrestling reporting that two specific angles TSN took issue with were the Edge and Lita live sex show and the skit where HHH and Candice Michelle were supposed to be getting blowjobs while they were talking.

 

Some shows had been in the 4.4 range, but the 6/26 show got a 7.5 rating, which is considered very impressive for a cable show, and so the claim over ratings being the issue appears to be a cover for WWE having problems with not airing on Monday’s during Fall.

 

TSN reaches 8 million homes while The Score reaches 5 million.

 

WWE were happy to get the new deal, because after cancellation there was real fear of not being to get a new deal on such short notice.

 

Both TSN and The Score do a Sports Center-like show, and the ratings for the TSN version are 323% higher, which is pretty much how it is for all programming.

 

Most systems have TSN on a primary tier with The Score being secondary, though most dish packages have them together. Dave says that means being live on The Score is probably more negative than being on tape on TSN, but it was an example of WWE ego because Raw was moved around on TSN while it will be catered to on The Score, despite reaching far less homes.

 

Saturday Night’s Main Event:

 

Said if the first SNME was a ratings disaster, this one could be called a ratings nuclear holocaust.

 

The show did a final rating of 2.56, which is 4.13 million viewers. That is down 18% in homes and 19% in viewers from the first SNME. While summer can somewhat be attributed as cause of the ratings slide, that is still misleading because a lot of the viewers back then were people watching the NCAA tournament and fresher programming. The lack of competition should have, if anything, seen ratings stay near to the level of the first one.

 

SNME did a 1.8 in Males ages 18-34, which is what a strong Impact can get. The highest rated demo was male teens, with a 2.4. The show finished last for the night, and the 2.5 rating was almost exactly the same rating that NBC got for reruns in the same timeslot the week before.

 

Just about the lone bragging right is that the second hour was the highest rated hour in prime time on all four networks in the 18-49 age group, but that’s not really something to brag about as most viewers on Saturday night are older and none of the competition was first run.

 

WWE are privately putting the blame on NBC for not promoting the show enough, because they barely promoted the show after the first one performed so terribly, but a lot of prime time shows on NBC don’t get promoted well and they never do a 2.5.

 

The contract between WWE and NBC calls for at least four more specials by October 2008, but with how the first show did, NBC are considered to be chalking things up to simply fulfilling the contract and no more.

 

Dave says the real reason for the failure of the show is simply overexposure of the product; with there already being five hours of first run programming in the week, two more hours doesn’t seem special at all, even with the return of Hulk Hogan in what was clearly going to be an angle to get up his latest coming out of retirement.

 

It’s clear the general public has no interest in wrestling and that the business is surviving on its core fans, who it is risking burning out.

 

Hogan’s coming back meant less than Austin’s coming back four months ago, which could be down to him having just appeared at the HOF ceremony and his ‘reality’ show, because there is no curiosity to what he looks like or what he is up to. It could also be because people are resenting how blatantly obvious it is that Hogan is out there just to promote his daughter.

 

The show did draw a legit sellout, with about 14,500 paid.

 

The commercials were noticeably low-rent, with most of them being for NBC programs or Raw or ECW next week.

 

Said there was nothing that bad about the show, other than “the watered down DX interview and a Spirit Squad burial beyond belief”.

 

Said it more like a Smackdown than a Raw, but it had less time devoted to wrestling than Smackdown does. There were no matches that were good, mostly due to the ones that looked good on paper getting rushed. Said the show was overbooked to give as many people as possible exposure on NBC, when they probably get more exposure on Raw. All three announce teams got to announce at least one match, which was good to get them over as personalities, but was probably a major distraction for the average viewer.

 

Rough estimates as far as each segment goes:

 

The Smackdown match lost about 322,000 viewers from the Hogan segment.

Vince and DX skit + Carlito/Trish vs. Nitro/Melina gained about 322,000 viewers.

The beginning of DX vs. The Spirit Squad lost 161,000 viewers.

The end of DX vs. The Spirit Squad + the Undertaker/Khali/Show angle gained about 644,000 viewers.

The ending of the Undertaker angle, from the point he got physical to getting laid out, + Sabu vs. Richards + the Hogan/Orton parking lot angle gained about 161,000 viewers.

The bronco bull showdown lost 161,000 viewers.

Cena vs. Edge gained about 322,000 viewers.

 

The show appeared to be written with the idea of appealing to a lot of people who never watch wrestling, with all the introductory like promos and announcing, which probably wasn’t necessary.

 

There were a lot of statements made that Dave likened to “we changed the rules and got it regulated when we bought it in 2001”, statements, (This is in reference to Dana White’s press interviews about the UFC where he claims credit for a bunch of changes to UFC that happened long before Zuffa took the company over) such as;

 

Raw being the highest rated show in cable, when it’s very rarely ever the case.

ECW bragging being the highest rated cable show on Tuesdays, which is also not true.

The claim that with 686 weekly episodes Raw had more episodes than any television show in history.

 

Kevin Dunn first contacted Kevin Von Erich to come in for an angle where he would get laid out by Edge. Von Erich said he had no interest in doing that and that he’d on vacation with his family in id-July and wouldn’t even be in Dallas. Vince then called Von Erich up, apologized for Dunn, and was eventually able to convince Von Erich to make the taped appearance we saw on the show.

 

Said Hogan didn’t get a bad reaction but that it was nothing like he usually gets, especially with him being the first one out on the show.

 

Smackdown six-man tag: **. Little Bastard was called Damn Troll because they couldn’t use the LB name on NBC.

 

Said the DX/Vince skit was doubly lame, because they not only had to say “spank their bottoms” and because these “40-year-old guys acting like high school cool guys making fun of teacher visually gets worse by the day. It really emphasizes more how uncool the product is.

 

Carlito/Trish vs. Nitro/Melina: n/a

 

DX vs. The Spirit Squad: *. Said SS came across like 80s jobbers, with almost no offense and the match was mostly comedy spots with them playing the fools. Said there was nothing to the match at all, and that SS were on the verge of being hot when the feud started and now nobody takes them seriously, and the match only got a reaction for comedy spots or finishing moves.

 

Undertaker/Khali/Show angle: Said it looked better on paper than it came out and that Khali didn’t look impressive when next to Show.

 

Sabu vs. Steven Richards: ¼*. Said them calling Sabu “ECW’s Evil Knievel” made him cringe and he called it lame.

 

Said the Orton-Hogan angle in the parking lot came off better than it read and was probably the best piece of business on the show.

 

John Cena vs. Edge: *1/4. Said live reports had Cena getting 70% cheers and Edge getting 50% cheers. Said apart from the good final scene, the match was bad.

 

Other news:

 

The Spirit Squad were told at Raw they were being broken up. They’ll probably drop the tag belts to the Highlanders on the 7/24 Raw. Ken Doane is the only one with a solid new direction, but that is in doubt. The original plan was for him to get a strong push as a heel in ECW, but he’s been pushing to stay on Raw due to his relationship with Mickie James (they are engaged) and right now it’s better than 50/50 that that will happen. Dave said it’s sad because, despite the gimmick, they managed to get over to a degree and were a solid heel act but after the one-sided feud with DX and the total squashing at SNME it was felt the group had no heat left and had to be broken up. Johnny Jeter might not be safe due to his size. Mondo seems set for a Crash Holly-like role.

 

Lashley was set for a much longer run as US Champion. The title change was punishment for something and it was described as precautionary measure. Lashley was said to be unhappy with the decision.

 

Summerslam looks like: Hogan vs. Orton, Edge vs. Cena for the WWE Title, possibly Booker vs. Batista for the World Title (more on this later), Foley vs. Flair under hardcore rules, possibly Nitro vs. Carlito for the IC Title, maybe Show vs. RVD for the ECW Title and DX vs. Vince and Shane. Undertaker and Khali may get one final blow off match.

 

Thinks Matt Striker should be retooled as a heel manager because he’s a main event talker, but he’s not physically imposing and he doesn’t have the talent to overcome it.

 

Dave was told there is no plan for a Batista vs. Booker vs. Rey three-way at Summerslam.

 

The plan was for Booker to get the World title at the Bash PPV, but the plan was changed last weekend to him winning the belt shortly after at a Smackdown. It could also change again before Sunday.

 

John Laurinaitis is on a two-week vacation in the Bahamas, which might not be the best of ideas given that Vince never takes time off.

 

Michael Cole’s mood and attitude is said to have improved lately, which is being attributed to not being around Tazz anymore.

 

Joey Styles is said to recognize that how he was taught to announce and what he did in the past is not what they are looking for and he now just does what he is told.

 

The Miz got a lot of heat over his performance on the 7/10 Raw. The belief was that Miz was so intent on getting himself over that he forgot the stuff he was meant to push, such as the code number he had written down and even the website address (wwe.com). They had done a run-through earlier in the day and he had done fine there. The feeling was he a had a bad night.

 

Melina, who had a lot of heat with a lot of people, raised her rep after her performance on the 7/10 Raw.

 

The DX stuff has been toned down because Shawn has said that he doesn’t want to be a part of anything with sexual content. Many in creative want some sort of timeframe for the DX to end, with the belief that any more after Summerslam and it’ll get too old, but Stephanie is insisting on them being the focal point of things until at least Fall.

 

The 7/10 Raw went long, with the main victim being Orton; his match against Val Venis was meant to be a proper match but had to be cut to 13 seconds. His promo also had to be cut down.

 

Vince has ordered the merchandise department to stop selling the “EC F’n W” t-shirt. He said he found the shirt “low road” and “crass”, and that it would be a negative if advertisers found they were selling something like that. The reason for this is Dodge place an add on the 7/10 Raw, which is big deal as car companies had always avoided WWE programming because of the stigma. While WWE make no money from the ad and it was USA who sold the ad, it was considered a big deal perception-wise. Vince is now paranoid that someone will see the things they’ve been doing and they’ll lose a breakthrough like that and it’ll strengthen the negative perception the advertising community holds.

 

The DQ in the Sabu vs. Justin Credible match was done to show there are now rules in regular ECW matches, and was more of the mentality of rubbing things in the faces of fans who chant negative things during the show.

 

It was Flair’s idea to bump in the thumbtacks, as he thought it would help sell his Summerslam match with Foley because the two are meant to tear the house down in their hardcore match.

 

Flair taped a comeback promo on Foley on 7/10, for the one that aired that night, and Flair was said to be very excited about it because he had more feeling in it that anything he’d done in a long time. The line Foley used about imaginary tough guys was to set up Flair talking about Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen, which garnered a negative reaction from Brian Gewirtz because he had no idea who Flair was talking about. This frustrated Flair. And after all that, it never aired on 7/17 as planned.

 

The plan is to introduce Harry Smith into the Orton/Hogan program with the Hogan Knows Best episode where he dates Brooke. It may have been why they Haas/Viscera/Garcia angle was dropped, because it was too similar to this one.

 

Dreamer got a ton of real heat over his website comments concerning ECW, and how he was fed up about it and would get in trouble if he said what he was really thinking. He claimed it was pure storyline but nobody believed him on that. He’s now not allowed to write anything else on the site.

 

In Austin at the ECW show, Fertig had “Taker ripoff” chants directed at him.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

What did Melina do on the 7/10 raw that was so bad?

 

 

 

Thanks for posting, by the way.

[CanadianChick 0]

What did Melina do on the 7/10 raw that was so bad?

 

Had a decent match against Trish that Metlzer completely overrated. No, I don't get how her personality is negated by her ring performance either.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

She got heat for having a good match? Jeez.

[CanadianChick 0]

She got heat for having a good match? Jeez.

 

No, she raised her rep by having the good performance.

[Guest DRH 502]

Thanks for posting this...also I think he meant Melina "raised her rep" as in they don't dislike her as much as they did but I could be wrong...

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Sorry, read it wrong. Thought it meant she enhanced her bad rep by having a good match (which in WWE is crazy enough to be true)

[Guest DRH 502]

Super Mod beat me to it

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Thanks for posting, I always love reading these week in and week out.

[UZI Suicide 0]

The line Foley used about imaginary tough guys was to set up Flair talking about Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen, which garnered a negative reaction from Brian Gewirtz because he had no idea who Flair was talking about.

 

Not surprising at all.

[Hawk 34 0]

Here is what gets me, HHH and Vince KNOW what that is supposed to mean. Vince is a Bruiser Brody mark and I'm sure HHH doesn't care if his buddy Ric name drops people.

 

Why aren't they stepping aside from their shitty comedy to tell Gewirtz to shut up and let Flair do what he does best.

[The Thread Killer 0]

Flair taped a comeback promo on Foley on 7/10, for the one that aired that night, and Flair was said to be very excited about it because he had more feeling in it that anything he’d done in a long time. The line Foley used about imaginary tough guys was to set up Flair talking about Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen, which garnered a negative reaction from Brian Gewirtz because he had no idea who Flair was talking about. This frustrated Flair. And after all that, it never aired on 7/17 as planned.

 

Oh man...I'd hate to think that is actually true...but it probably is. Is it possible that Gerwitz REALLY doesn't know who Bruiser Brody is? And hell...Hansen actually wrestled in the WWWF and was in that angle where he supposedly broke Bruno's neck! The guy doesn't even know the history of stuff that happened in the company he works for? Gah!

[The Niggardly King 0]

Here is what gets me, HHH and Vince KNOW what that is supposed to mean. Vince is a Bruiser Brody mark and I'm sure HHH doesn't care if his buddy Ric name drops people.

 

Why aren't they stepping aside from their shitty comedy to tell Gewirtz to shut up and let Flair do what he does best.

 

They're too busy with the DX thing to worry about Flair.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I expect Finlay's face turn to get over. I can also see Shelton and Umaga getting shipped off to Smackdown in a few weeks, along with 1 or 2 people getting called up from DSW or OVW.

[NoCalMike 0]

Wow, Stephanie wants DX to be the FOCAL POINT of the show...well into the fall? HOW FUCKING SUPRISING!

[Just John 0]

Joey Styles is said to recognize that how he was taught to announce and what he did in the past is not what they are looking for and he now just does what he is told.

 

So much for that "shoot" interview being from the heart, eh?

 

I'm also upset that the Haas/Vis program was dropped. I enjoyed Haas being on tv.

 

And the faster DX dies, the better. Turn Shawn heel with Vince, even if it means going against the entire main Raw storyline so far this year. The angle sucks anyway, so why not try something completely different?

[k thx 0]

I want Doane in ECW feuding with Punk.

 

Thanks for posting as always.

[Mole 0]

The plan is to introduce Harry Smith into the Orton/Hogan program with the Hogan Knows Best episode where he dates Brooke. It may have been why they Haas/Viscera/Garcia angle was dropped, because it was too similar to this one.

Was this the kid who knew "nothing" about wrestling?

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

Shawn doesn't want to be involved in anything involving sexual shit? His whole gimmick is he stips to a song called Sexy Boy, does crotch chops, and wears t-shirts that say Suck It! on them with cartoons of him and his buddy's asses on them.

 

 

And it's sad that these guys have so much power in the company and Ric fuckin' Flair can't even cut a promo the way he wants to.

 

Vince is paranoid about car sponsers now, so ECW can't sell thier best shirt. I expect Vince to be down to just Raw within a couple of years.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

The plan is to introduce Harry Smith into the Orton/Hogan program with the Hogan Knows Best episode where he dates Brooke. It may have been why they Haas/Viscera/Garcia angle was dropped, because it was too similar to this one.

Was this the kid who knew "nothing" about wrestling?

 

No, I'm 99.9% sure that is someone else. That kid who knew nothing about wrestling asking Hogan all those questions was hilarious.

[Guest JustPassinBy]

DX vs. The Spirit Squad: *. Said SS came across like 80s jobbers, with almost no offense and the match was mostly comedy spots with them playing the fools. Said there was nothing to the match at all, and that SS were on the verge of being hot when the feud started

 

They were never hot.

They received X-Pac heat from the very start, and were put into the main event scene way too soon.

 

Consider the WWE burial of them a mercy killing.

 

One of the worst wrestlecrap gimmicks (that received a notable push) that I can ever remember. Most wrestlecrap is mid-card material. This concept was pushed to the moon, and was a total disaster.

[Guest netslob]

Wow, Stephanie wants DX to be the FOCAL POINT of the show...well into the fall? HOW FUCKING SUPRISING!

 

 

but she doesn't favor her husband...he get's no special treatment...none whatsoever...

[Guest JustPassinBy]

Joey Styles is said to recognize that how he was taught to announce and what he did in the past is not what they are looking for and he now just does what he is told.

 

So much for that "shoot" interview being from the heart, eh?

 

I'm also upset that the Haas/Vis program was dropped. I enjoyed Haas being on tv.

 

And the faster DX dies, the better. Turn Shawn heel with Vince, even if it means going against the entire main Raw storyline so far this year. The angle sucks anyway, so why not try something completely different?

 

I like DX. I just think HHH is 10000 times more entertaining in DX, than anything else. DX needs to be feuding with Edge and Lita. The McMahons are boring. No one wants to see them.

[Guest netslob]

Vince is paranoid about car sponsers now, so ECW can't sell thier best shirt. I expect Vince to be down to just Raw within a couple of years.

 

and when it happens it'll be Heyman's fault...him and those damn fickle ECW fans who refuse to adjust...

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Wow, Stephanie wants DX to be the FOCAL POINT of the show...well into the fall? HOW FUCKING SUPRISING!

 

 

but she doesn't favor her husband...he get's no special treatment...none whatsoever...

OMG, I didn't even realise that. My first instinct was that Steph was just an idiot.

[Guest DRH 502]

They received X-Pac heat from the very start

 

Dude you don't know what the fuck X-Pac heat is do you?

[Dandy 0]

The plan is to introduce Harry Smith into the Orton/Hogan program with the Hogan Knows Best episode where he dates Brooke. It may have been why they Haas/Viscera/Garcia angle was dropped, because it was too similar to this one.

Was this the kid who knew "nothing" about wrestling?

 

No, I'm 99.9% sure that is someone else. That kid who knew nothing about wrestling asking Hogan all those questions was hilarious.

 

 

Anyone have a link to this story? I forgot about it.

[Guest Fook]

Vince has ordered the merchandise department to stop selling the “EC F’n W” t-shirt. He said he found the shirt “low road” and “crass”, and that it would be a negative if advertisers found they were selling something like that.

 

This from the creator of the Kiss My Ass club. And the Katie Vick storyline. And countless other tasteless angles. Hypocracy, thy name is McMahon.

[Guest netslob]

well, he didn't come up with the shirt design so it's hardly surprising.

[Scroby 0]

You think Gerwitz would get into trouble for not knowing who guys like Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen would be and thiking Flair he can't talk on the mic. If not in trouble at least educate the guy on who these people are, but then again you would think Gerwitz would educate himself on wrestling and the history of the WWE.