The Ratings Don’t Matter, but I feel compelled to relay them anyway. PWTorch.com and Figure Four Weekly / Wrestling Observer are reporting:
WWE RAW:
Averaged 5.6 million viewers, exact ratings not available et.
TNA Impact:
Across the internet, fans are gearing up for the “New Monday Night Wars”—January 4th, when Total Nonstop Action brings Impact to Monday night for a week, with a special 3-hour episode featuring the debut of Hulk Hogan. On the same night, WWE plans to bring Bret Hart back to TV, 12 years after the “Montreal Screwjob.”
Fans are interested in both company’s efforts and some are predicting solid ratings for both shows, with fans returning to see what’s going on, and word of mouth buzz spreading. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter who turns in that Monday night: it matters who will enjoy the show enough to turn in the Monday after … but only WWE is airing a show on the 11th. TNA is doing the 4th as a special feature, an experiment, and their next new television show is not until a full ten days later, Thursday the 14th.
Even if TNA Impact on the 4th does well and they decide to move to Monday nights regularly [there are rumours that they will do a show on Mondays once a quarter], they won’t be able to promote that on the 4th, which is the exact time when it needs to be promoted. So they’ll be forced to promote the Thursday the 14th show—will the 4th do well enough for people to tune in 10 days later on a different night of the week, or at least enough for them to immediately set their DVR to record it?
No matter how well TNA does on the 4th—there is now way it is beating WWE—the winner of the ratings on the 11th will be RAW.
And that’s the problem with TNA: hot-shotting and one night specials can get attention, but they don’t build a larger viewership in the same way that consistency does. If there’s one thing that TNA has proved, it’s a complete lack of consistency: a show that flip-flops from serious to comedic; quality matches followed by completely lousy ones; pushes and storylines that stop in the middle or are pushed to their conclusion too fast; and ad nauseum, the complaints continue and TNA shows no signs of changing.
Could Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff coming to TNA signal a change in the way they handle things? It’s possible. But even if the 4th is a huge success for TNA, there’s going to be another downwards dip after it while TNA finds their footing and gets up and running under the new regime.
I wrote this originally as a reply on the Figure Four / Wrestling Observer message boards, in a thread that discussed the recent on-camera humiliations of Vickie Guerrero and WWE’s history of humiliating people on air. Some people think that it’s acceptable for WWE to do this as Vince McMahon has been humiliated on air himself, and he’s one of the majority company owners and leaders. Others think that humiliating Vickie based on her weight is acceptable because she’s “fat” — I don’t agree:
Vickie is fat? I don’t know how much she weighs, but if Vickie is fat on your barometer, then I think your barometer needs to be recalculated. Step out of the WWE diva bubble for a minute and go look at real people; Vicki is 41 and when she’s dressed well [hmm, you think WWE manipulates her outfits to get different reactions?] she looks really good. Compared to other WWE women? Yeah, Vickie is “fat.” In the real world, she’s totally normal.
Here’s the differences between how Vince has been humiliated and how he humiliates other people:
Do I expect better out of wrestling? No; but I wish I could. And obviously, before Vince and in other promotions, wrestling has been tasteless and stereotyping, but Vince _could_ change WWE’s direction towards that sort of thing if he wanted to, and over time it would make other American wrestling promotions change their tone, too — but he doesn’t want to.
Wrestlemaniac (or El Mascarado Massacre), starring Rey Mysterio [and with packaging designed to make you think it was Rey Mysterio Jr, of course...] was in the bargain bin at Walmart a few weeks ago, so for five bucks I couldn’t resist grabbing it.
It opens with a naked woman running out of a building, screaming. Cut to the opening credits, which are superimposed over old lucha footage. And then, right into a sleazy guy in a pickup truck explaining what a dirty sanchez is. That pretty much summarizes the tone of the movie, and gives you a good clue at the plot.
Sleazy guy is taking three girls [the starlets], a fat and happy guy [the lucha nerd who owns the camera] and a stoner guy [who owns the van] across Mexico to film a porn flick. Naturally, they get lost, and end up in a ghost town. Gory deaths and some funny bits ensue, as the pornographers have stirred up a maniacal super-wrestler created by the Mexican government in the 1960s.
Wrestlemaniac is a fun bargain movie, although it wavers too much between gorey and poking fun at the genre for my tastes. It’s short — about seventy minutes — and in my eyes that’s a plus, as there isn’t a lot of padding or filler.
Here’s the trailer:
From Figure Four Weekly / Wrestling Observer:
For those who have been listening to our John Tolos radio shows, here is the long-awaited link to a bunch of a his audio from the early 70s (Sendspace link). Thanks so much to Bob Barnett, who was also a great guest on today’s Figure Four Daily Show talking Tolos and more.
This is a half-hour of audio, classic stuff from an era before my time — well worth a listen!
The Hog describes Jimmy Jacobs as having a “big heart” mere seconds before the on-screen graphic calls him “violent and evil.” Both guys cheat; choking with different objects, Necro uses the ring bell, a table spot is blocked.
Necro hits a chokeslam into Tiger Driver combo, and then brings in the staple gun. Brodie Lee breaks things up for the DQ, but Necro Butcher chases them both from the ring with the staple gun.
The crowd is heavily behind Eddie Kingston early. Looks sorta sloppy early. Kingston eventually wings with a spinning backfist, after Callihan gets bloodied up.
Quick interview with Jerry Lynn, where he pledges to be a fighting champion.
Dempsey wins a squash with the DVD in less than a minute. Did they actually introduce his opponent by his full name? If so, I missed it. I’m trying to look online to figure out his name, but it seems that nobody cares about this show anymore. Even the ROH site doesn’t list this match! I hearby dub him Ultimate Maximum Jobber.
Can’t bring myself to care about anything that Cheech and Cloudy are in. They lose, and one of them gets pushed off the top rope into the barricade hard. Looked ugly.
Claudio uses an American as a foot stool to get into the ring. Excellent. He sneak attacks Albright, but Albright quickly turns the tables on him outside the ring. Back and forth for awhile, with Claudio pulling out some cheap tricks. Albright goes for a plancha over the ropes, but Claudio catches him and runs him hard into the ringside barricade. Really bad lighting here. The ring looks really small with these two guys in it, too. After more even-steven back and forth, Albright hits a sudden belly-to-belly suplex outside the ring. Back in the ring … this match is just a bunch of moves. Claudio isn’t getting sustained heat, Albright is making too many comebacks that are just a little bit too long, and I’m not feeling any story, nor any real grudge.
There was some really annoying announcing in this match, too, which I’ll cover in a post coming soon, which will cover my overall thoughts on ROH at HDnet after the first six weeks of shows.
Claudio eventually wins with a victory roll as he holds the ropes. Good finish even if the match never really found a good pace.
1. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Necro Butcher via disqualification when Brodie Lee interferes
2. Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Kingston via pinfall after spinning backfist
3. Bobby Dempsey vs. Ultimate Maximums Jobber via pinfall after DVD
4. Cheech & Cloudy vs. Rhett Titus and Kenny King via pinfall after powerbomb/blockbuster combination.
4. Main Event: Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli via victory roll while holding the rope.
Next week: Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson.
This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter breaks the following news:
Dragon Gate promotions announced on 4/15 in Japan that they are setting up a U.S. office and will be running six or more shows per year, using former ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky as the booker.
the news continues with:
There will be some similar talent brought in on the shows as they can do programs, but they will vary which of the top 16 or so Dragon Gate are brought in for each show. The concept is similar to ROH at the beginning, where they will look at DVD sales as a primary revenue stream. The annual shows with the Dragon Gate wrestlers were always among the best selling DVDs each year for ROH.
Two major problems are hitting small wrestling companies, especially Ring of Honor, lately: lots of piracy, and lack of interest because shows take too long to come out. Here’s some ways to combat that and sell to the fanbase:
Bottom line is that along with great wrestling, a new indy promotion [even if it's an offshoot of a bigger overseas promotion] needs to market and present themselves in ways that are not stuck in 2002.
Ref isn’t miked at all during this show, again. Looks like they gave up on that pretty early. Unfortunate.
Crowd heckles Aries early on with “Austin Asshole!” and “You tapped out!” before his match. Omega gets way more offense than I expected, and this is a good little match. Aries hits a wicked looking dropkick in the corner near the end before the brainbuster to bring this to a satisfying conclusion. I think I want to see some more from Omega.
Continuity fun! Jerry Lynn is interviewed, the week after they announced him winning the title, without the title.
Ernie Osiris is a “panhandler and known thief.” Well, I think that’s a never-done-before gimmick! Comedy early, then Delirious wins with Shadows Over Hell. Not much here.
Del Ray and Haze look better in the tag team match than in the singles match they had on the show a few weeks ago. Don’t see a lot from Sassy Stephie, but Nevaeh looked kay in the time she was in the ring.
Jerry Lynn and Brodie Lee go David vs. Goliath, as expected. Jacobs throws in some interference, but berates Lee when Lynn manages to roll him up for the three count. After seeing this match, I want to see some more from Lee, too.
1. Kenny Omega vs. Austin Aries
2. Ernie Osiris vs. Delirious
3. Sassy Stephie & Sara Del Ray vs. Daizee Haze and Nevaeh
4. Main Event: Brodie Lee vs. Jerry Lynn
Due to my vacation last weekend I’m late watching ROH weeklies; going to catch up today, I hope.
Show opens with a few quick highlights from last week, and then Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak discuss Jerry Lynn winning the world title from Nigel McGuinness in Houston.
Then we have two matches that nobody cares about. It’s like an undercard from a 2002 ROH show.
Is this Chris Hero’s new permanent goofy look? And if you’re going to have a loaded elbow pad, why would it be a different color than your normal elbow pad? That said, I often like how Hero wrestles. Some of it is a little too wacky, but other times he does logical things to set up spots that would otherwise be illogical—witness his setup for the top-rope blockbuster in this match.
Danielson and Aries is fun.
This week, the ref doesn’t seem to be miked at all. Boo.
Oh, continuity fun— they announce Jerry Lynn as the new World Champ, but next week he’ll appear without the belt, and on April 17th a taped PPV will have Nigel defending the title.
1. Sterling James Keenan vs. Erick Stevens
2. Cheech & Cloudy vs. Dark City Fight Club
3. Necro Butcher vs. Chris Hero
4. Main Event: Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries
Next week: Brodie Lee vs. Jerry Lynn!
I won’t be watching WrestleMania this year: I’ll be on a mini-vacation that weekend, the place I’m staying at doesn’t have cable TV, and I just can’t be damned, based on how awful the build has been and how uninteresting many of the matches are.
So, these aren’t my predictions. This aren’t what I think WWE should do, but these are what they hope they would do, in an ideal beautiful world made just for me:
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
The Undertaker wins, keeping his streak alive, after another in his series of great WrestleMania matches. Rematch at Backlash in the cell.
CM Punk vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Finlay – Money in the Bank ladder match
MVP refuses to do that high-flying shit, and after everyone else has killed themselves to be a three second highlight in next year’s MitB pimping video, MVP outwrestles CM Punk and wins the match.
Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton — WWE Championship
Orton takes the title after Stephanie’s interference backfires … or does it?
Edge (c) vs. The Big Show vs. John Cena –Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Cena hoists Big Show up for the ex-FU, Edge spears Cena, Big Show falls on them both, Cena is pinned and Big Show and Edge go on to fight for the title at Backlash, without Cena’s greeting cards as a backdrop.
25-Diva battle royal
Molly Holly debuts her new finishing move, known only as “kick shitty wrestlers right in the box.” She uses it 24 times in this match en route to victory, and then retires again to not sully herself with an association to the terrible diva’s division.
She still doesn’t return Wade’s calls.
Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy Extreme Rules match
I was actually enjoying Jeff getting a push up the card, but this feud with Matt has ruined it. I want Jeff to win so Matt can cry on his blog about not only turning on his brother and losing his family, but still being a loser.
The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) vs. John Morrison and The Miz Lumberjack match to unify the WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship
Miz and Morrison win, and then we get plenty of dirt sheet episodes that involve the Bella twins. Or, at the very least, we get tag team champions that travel all the brands and don’t suck while doing it.
John “Bradshaw” Layfield (c) vs. Rey Mysterio Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
JBL uses the Clothesline from Hell to remove Mysterio’s head from his shoulders, Mysterio goes away for a long time and returns as a heel with a Venom-style bodysuit, and JBL goes back to commentary.
Chris Jericho vs. Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka (with Ric Flair) – Elimination Match
Snuka and Piper get into an argument early and brawl to the back, leaving Steamboat and Jericho to have a good 8 minute match, with Jericho on the verge of winning before Flair gets involved, knocking Jericho out and giving Steamboat the pin.
