WWE General Discussion - November 2007

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Way to take that right out of "Old School Questions Thread", champ.

 

On a similar note, PWI gave an "F YOU" (I assume they've since fixed that typo) to people using Opera because they "had to change their code" because dirty, dirty thieves were posting their copyrighted news elsewhere! How will we get our misleading news pop-up free now!?

[Mecca 0]

Damage control time. From WWE.com...

------------------------------------------------

 

Cena: Steroids? "Absolutely not"

In a country in which the news media is highly suspect, and the quality of unbiased reporting has been thrown into the trash can, CNN has stooped to new depths. Notwithstanding the fairness, or lack therein, of CNN’s recent piece entitled “Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling,” perhaps the best example of how CNN misrepresents and unfairly presents their biased, if not illegal, point of view is the comparison of WWE’s unedited video above to CNN’s edited version. CNN’s depiction of John Cena as it relates to steroids is not only professionally and morally wrong, but damaging to his character.

 

Watch the entire unedited John Cena interview

http://www.wwe.com/inside/cenaoncnn/

 

It's not damage control when showing the full interview plainly shows they purposely tried to make Cena look bad.

[Vampiro69 0]

Why were they high-fiving anyway?

 

Stevie and Val were high fiving because during the Teddy Long-Krystal wedding the Godfather came out with the hoes and offered them up to Teddy if he backed out. Teddy refused and the Godfather invited all the wrestlers to the back for a party with them.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Lena Yada has signed a contract according to her website. She'll be a backstage interviewer for ECW.

[Hawk 34 0]

If you needed a refresher, she was the non-generic asian in the most recent diva search.

 

 

[Mecca 0]

The Gail Kim twin.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

But she'll keep her clothes on.

 

Because WWE doesn't have any divas. Right?

 

[Mecca 0]

WWE's quarterly report came out earlier this week. It was a bad period for the company. Chris Benoit died, which caused many aspects of business to tumble, both because of the negative publicity and just because people really didn't feel like watching wrestling for awhile afterwards. The company also didn't put out any major DVDs, which of late has been a major source of revenue. Profits ended up down nearly 10 percent.

 

With all that said, they still made $8.5 million when all was said and done. Sometimes you'll hear people mutter that WWE used to be doing great but now they're losing money. The reality is that they're not even close to doing so, even in a horrible period, and because of the success of WrestleMania this will very likely end up being their biggest financial year in history. Yes, in history, and that includes the 1997-2001 period.

 

So they're not going out of business anytime soon. But it is important to look at things that could affect them down the line. Obviously, the biggest would be a loss of television. The fact that ECW dipped to a 1.1 and Sci-Fi still re-signed them for a year tells you that Raw and particularly Smackdown (which is holding up remarkably well) aren't being cancelled anytime in the near future.

 

Besides Benoit's death, one of the things that hurt WWE over the last several months was the loss of a number of top stars due to injury. Say what you will about the wrestling content of the shows, but the reality is that pro-wrestling is a star driven business, and whether the top stars are any good in the ring doesn't necessarily have anything to do with whether they can draw money. The lifeblood of WWE over the next decade will be whether or not they can create new superstars. This is a concern.

 

There was a time during the wrestling war when comparing the median age of the superstars in WWE and WCW was almost comical. WWE had a ton of guys in their 20s and early 30s, and WCW had a ton of guys in their late 30s and early-to-mid 40s. For awhile, it didn't matter. The WCW guys were stars and thus WCW won many battles. But as time wore on, the stars just kept getting older and older, and when you're in your late 30s and early 40s it catches up faster than your late 20s and early 30s.

 

Today, with the exception of a few guys like Randy Orton, most of the top stars, the Undertaker’s and Batista’s and HBK’s and HHH’s are in their late 30s to mid-40s. Undertaker, Batista and HHH have all torn muscles, the latter two multiple times (in fact, Batista is working on the triceps tear that he was told years back would end his career), and Shawn has a bad back and two largely useless knees. These guys can't keep going forever. Most of the young guys on the undercard, even champions on other brands, have been positioned as guys who are not going to make it to the tippy-top superstar level. Where are the new superstars going to come from?

 

The answer, ideally, is developmental. Some of the biggest stars in company history went through the developmental system in some form, from Rock (Memphis) to Kurt Angle (OVW) to Batista (OVW) to John Cena (OVW) to Brock Lesnar (OVW). What giant superstars has developmental turned out of late? The answer is nobody. The closest we've gotten are MVP on Smackdown and Mr. Kennedy on Raw, who latter of whom nearly got both the Vince McMahon illegitimate son role and a world title earlier this year until circumstances caused otherwise.

 

WWE has two developmental territories, Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling. OVW has been part of the system for a decade, and FCW rose from the ashes of Deep South Wrestling in Atlanta, which crashed and burned earlier this year in spectacular fashion. I cannot blame the folks at OVW for any of these problems since the trainers are the same trainers that helped groom all of the aforementioned superstars. The issue is in the system itself.

 

Two small territories are not nearly enough to provide a regular influx of new talent to all three WWE brands. On top of that, WWE has earmarked only around a half million per year for developmental. Think about that. They will gross nearly $400 million this year and exactly $500,000 goes towards building towards the future. They expect their developmental territories to run most aspects of the business themselves, from getting TV deals and running tapings to booking regular house shows so talent can gain experience. Nobody in charge of a developmental group is getting rich, and in fact Jody Hamilton lost money for over a year trying to get Deep South up and running to WWE's satisfaction.

 

On top of that, WWE, despite claims to the contrary, still hires and brings people up to the main roster based more on physique than talent. Some of the best wrestlers in the history of OVW ended up called up to WWE, saddled with pointless gimmicks, placed in the mid-card, used for a year or two, then fired. I'll always get sad thinking about how great Nick Dinsmore (Eugene), Rob Conway, Doug and Danny Basham were in OVW, how their talents were wasted in WWE, and how nobody outside OVW hardcores every really knew how good they were. Plus, there is always the issue of talent being brought to television too early, not getting over in a couple of weeks, and then being slotted into mid-card hell for the rest of their careers.

 

WWE needs to invest better in their future. They need to earmark more money for developmental, and they need at least five territories throughout the US. They dropped the ball with Booker T, since he could have run a great developmental promotion in Houston. A developmental group on the west coast and another in the Northeast would be ideal. With more talent to choose from, there would be less of a rush to bring people up to television early. WWE also needs to regularly be sending main roster talent to each of the promotions to work with the rookies. If a guy isn't being used in a program, he should be helping out in developmental instead of sitting at home. A green guy isn't getting any better working another green guy, no matter how many times they wrestle each other at house shows. To improve, one must work with someone at a level above themselves. Part of the reason OVW turned out so many great wrestlers in the late 90s and early 00s was because guys like Kurt Angle would regularly show up and have matches with the top OVW stars.

 

It's important to remember that even if developmental churns out 50 Shelton Benjamins who have all the potential in the world but end up being wasted, or even fifty complete failures, one Rock or John Cena can help boost business for several years. And it's simple mathematics -- the more developmental systems and the more guys in the system, the better the chances of finding the next huge superstar. WWE business is down a bit, and thus there will probably be some cost-cutting. But the last place they need to cut costs is developmental, and if anything, they should greatly increase their spending. Developmental is like a savings account; it's something to ensure that there is always something there in case of an emergency, and something to give you peace of mind about the future.

 

That's from Bryan Alvarez.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

- The "one night only" DX reunion on Raw last week was Vince McMahon's way to appease USA Network boss Bonnie Hammer (who favors the stars she is familiar with from 1998-2001).

 

- JBL appears to be gearing up for a return to the ring. He has lost 25-30 pounds, and is down to about 270 lbs.

 

 

wrestling observer newsletter

[Hawk 34 0]

With the news of CBS pursuing UFC to fill the strike induced void, is there any talk that NBC would consider more SNME's to replace the lost SNL's? While the ratings were astronomically low for those previous shows, I can't imagine SNL reruns would offer much for NBC.

 

 

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Answer:

 

November 4, 2007

 

The threat of a writers strike in Hollywood could be good news for WWE. NBC representatives have said if their shows are unavailable because of a strike, the network would turn to WWE for new programming to fill the open slots. This not only would give WWE much-needed mainstream attention but also would force the creative team to come up with first-rate material.

 

 

[cabbageboy 0]

The main thing I wonder about is exactly what does WWE consider first rate programming? Austin running his mouth and burying younger guys? Vince all over TV for no reason?

[bob_barron 0]

With the news of CBS pursuing UFC to fill the strike induced void, is there any talk that NBC would consider more SNME's to replace the lost SNL's? While the ratings were astronomically low for those previous shows, I can't imagine SNL reruns would offer much for NBC.

 

I can't confirm this, but I thought the SNME ratings were even lower than SNL reruns

[veseo 0]

- JBL appears to be gearing up for a return to the ring. He has lost 25-30 pounds, and is down to about 270 lbs.

 

That would suck, but it's hardly unbelievable. He's being running his mouth against every top face in SD for the last few weeks. Losing the best color commentator in E right now would totally suck.

[Hawk 34 0]

I don't think he'll leave the table. He can easily do both.

[veseo 0]

If it's one-time thing, yea, but from this quote I get it as he's gearing to be a full-time wrestler.

[2GOLD 0]

With the news of CBS pursuing UFC to fill the strike induced void, is there any talk that NBC would consider more SNME's to replace the lost SNL's? While the ratings were astronomically low for those previous shows, I can't imagine SNL reruns would offer much for NBC.

 

I can't confirm this, but I thought the SNME ratings were even lower than SNL reruns

 

They were. Not by much, but they were. There wasn't much the SNME programs were beating on the network in ratings.

[TheFranchise 0]

If it's one-time thing, yea, but from this quote I get it as he's gearing to be a full-time wrestler.

It's still possible he could do both, instead of hanging around the locker room he could simply me at the announce table.

 

Could also use it for kayfabe purposes to scout opponents.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

JBL's much more valuable as color commentator. I don't know how he could do both, I know Lawler does, but he's sitting ringside in his gear, wrestles a short match and goes back to calling the match. JBL would be in higher profile matches, that would both last longer and be more physically taxing. He'd need a segment before his match to go and get ready, his whole match, and then a segment after his match to cool down and change out of his gear - that's at least a quarter of the show without him on commentary, so I assume you'd need to bring in a guest commentator for those segments unless you want Cole to call them alone.

[TheFranchise 0]

JBL's much more valuable as color commentator. I don't know how he could do both, I know Lawler does, but he's sitting ringside in his gear, wrestles a short match and goes back to calling the match. JBL would be in higher profile matches, that would both last longer and be more physically taxing. He'd need a segment before his match to go and get ready, his whole match, and then a segment after his match to cool down and change out of his gear - that's at least a quarter of the show without him on commentary, so I assume you'd need to bring in a guest commentator for those segments unless you want Cole to call them alone.

[Diamonddust 0]

JBL's much more valuable as color commentator. I don't know how he could do both, I know Lawler does, but he's sitting ringside in his gear, wrestles a short match and goes back to calling the match. JBL would be in higher profile matches, that would both last longer and be more physically taxing. He'd need a segment before his match to go and get ready, his whole match, and then a segment after his match to cool down and change out of his gear - that's at least a quarter of the show without him on commentary, so I assume you'd need to bring in a guest commentator for those segments unless you want Cole to call them alone.

 

Or you put Tazz back out there.

[Scroby 0]

But she'll keep her clothes on.

 

Because WWE doesn't have any divas. Right?

Is there some reason why your panicing about the divas?

[Hawk 34 0]

But she'll keep her clothes on.

 

Because WWE doesn't have any divas. Right?

Is there some reason why your panicing about the divas?

 

Divas have been erased from WWE.COM, Benoit-style.

[TheFranchise 0]

Diva's = SAVE_US222.

 

Maybe the E panicked and switched from Jericho to the Diva's.

[Scroby 0]

But she'll keep her clothes on.

 

Because WWE doesn't have any divas. Right?

Is there some reason why your panicing about the divas?

 

Divas have been erased from WWE.COM, Benoit-style.

...ok and? So the page went down is there some reason why he's going all nuts over it?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Because, as James Earl Jones would say: THIS is TSM.

[Enigma 0]

For what it's worth, WWE is advertising Melina vs. Mickie James on WWE.Com Heat. I have a feeling they're going to be rolling out a new Diva section or possibly an entirely different website tomorrow. It would probably explain why everyone's stuff was taken down except for Vickie Guerrero.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

What with the departure of Brooke Adams the extreme expose act appears to be through. Unless of course Adams is replaced by diva search winner Eve Torres, who has a dance background similar to Layla because she was a member of the Los Angeles clippers dance team. Layal and Kelly accompianed Miz to matches at houseshows over the weekend but on Tuesday's ECW show it appeared they were broken up because they wrestled each other.

 

Although the compnay word on Layla is that if extreme expose is broken up Layla will be repackaged and given a new role in the company. But the problem is that many of the talent who are put on the repackaging list are usually never heard from again because they are released soon after. Vito is a good example of that. It's doubtful that repackaging Layla is a top priority for anyone in the company.

 

The office was never big on Laya because her look isn't really want they want out of their divas. However she got over in the 2006 Diva Search and they went by the honest results and gave her a WWE contract.

 

 

Furthermore. Laya doesn't have a wrestling spot to fall back on in case the dancing team gets dropped because she was never given time on the road to practice her in ring skills at house shows

 

 

 

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[Hawk 34 0]

However, Kelly is safe despite her inability to work or dance.

[The Niggardly King 0]

RAYCIST~!