INSIDE THE RING NEWSLETTER
by Trevor Hunnicutt and Eddie T.
Return Edition
QUICK RAW THOUGHTS
by Eddie T.
A lot of noise was made about this past week’s edition of Monday Night RAW.
I personally thought the show wasn’t all that. Triple H is back on top of
things, as it should be, Edge is back to being nobody with a suitcase, and
Lita is still a slut. What more can one want? I like what they’re doing with
the Chris Jericho heel turn. They’re taking it slow, which gives it more
time to get accustomed to and smoothly transition from one phase to another.
I would say WWE has learned that turns matter only when done right, but I
know that Chris Jericho usually is given a lot of input when it comes to his
own storylines, so I won’t be surprised to find out he has a lot to do with
this one. The Viscera gimmick, although incredibly dull and plane if you
think about it, is a big hit for me. The guy is just hilarious, and Lillian
Garcia has been playing off of his shenanigans quite well. I thought the bit
where he sang two weeks ago was tremendous, while this past week’s dancing
wasn’t exactly all that great. If they’re going to waste ten minutes a show
with an “entertaining segment,” I’d rather have them do the Viscera gimmick
than the Diva Search. Speaking of that, have they found the solution to the
boring Diva Search in Big Ol’ Vis? Lots of ladies to hit on there.
Christian, the show’s hottest commodity only less than a month ago, has
quietly taken a seat back, although they’ve tried to involve him in the top
two or three storylines each week. They just failed to realize the week
before Backlash that he was getting very over with the crowd, and the push
back he’s gotten recently has killed his momentum. I’m questionable about
the Draft. It has a lot of potential going in, but knowing WWE, I doubt
they’re prepared or know who they’re switching from one show to the other.
Time will tell how that plays out. It was time for the Masterlock segment to
finally change, although killing Richards in his first match back with only
a couple of weeks before the ECW PPV was not smart. However, I’m sure he’ll
get his heat back either this week or next.
Speaking of which, the one thing everybody’s been talking about – the ECW
segment on RAW with Bischoff doing a eulogy for the company. Boy, was that
an interesting twist of history. I sat there, and although I thought it was
very compelling television, as Joe Balrog put it to me in an IM, and they
did nice playing off of each other, I couldn’t help but laugh because what
they were saying was ridiculous. That’s not how it went down, and you can
trust my word on that. To say that Bischoff killed ECW, when McMahon was
taking their talent just as much, but was simply nicer about it, is
ludicrous. Does Heyman really believe that it was McMahon’s financial
support that kept his company going, and it was that Bischoff who killed
ECW? That’s interesting if he does, because it was WWF programming that TNN
bought at the time they were airing ECW, and it was McMahon who stole just
as many ECW guys as Bischoff did, and it was McMahon who ended up getting
the company after it died. Did McMahon really believe that he killed WCW
single-handedly and ECW only made it thanks to his support? If he does, he
needs help, since WCW died by itself, and had it not been for some
ridiculous management and no direction in the company, Vince could be the GM
of Nitro right now. Anyway, it was good television if you ignored the
reality of it, but if you look at it from the realistic history viewpoint,
you just have to laugh. I think Bischoff came off the best after the
segment, as he made it clear that he’s simply an actor playing a role on a
TV show. While Heyman and McMahon seemed so much into it, as if they
believed every word they said, and you know Vince believed every second of
him “killing WCW,” and Heyman just loved the opportunity to yell at
Bischoff. I can’t believe the things they’ve put Bischoff through ever since
he started working there, but I give him a lot of credit, as he’s been solid
and has done everything they’ve asked of him, which means swallowing his
pride on plenty of occasions.
UPN MOVES SMACKDOWN!
by Eddie T.
In the most shocking news of this week, UPN has decided to move SmackDown!
to a new timeslot – Friday nights from 8 pm to 10 pm, in order to air a
block of comedy shows on Thursday nights.
The fall schedule sees the debut of a new Chris Rock show called “Everybody
Loves Chris” (the title mocking the popular show Everybody Loves Raymond)
followed by the moved shows “Eve” and “Cuts” as well as a 9:30 PM show
called “Love Inc.” starring Shannen Doherty.
This is without a doubt, a very shocking move, and one that could hurt WWE
big time. Considering the audience that watches sports entertainment, Friday
night will be much less beneficial to WWE and UPN. On the flip side of
things, there’s going to be less competition to worry about.
Eddie’s Thoughts: Well, this simply goes to prove you that idiots handle
television these days. There is simply no logic behind the thinking of Mr.
Moonves or his network. I don’t know why in the world would you decide to
move your #1-rated show on a day where half your stations nation-wide will
be airing baseball (SmackDown! will be preempted for many markets due to MLB
action on Friday nights), and where the viewers of the program simply won’t
care for it, nor will they have the time to care for it. It’s illogical. The
idea behind the big move is to give the Chris Rock show the 8 PM time slot,
since from what I hear, the show did extremely well in preview screenings
and UPN has big hopes for it. Business-wise this is a good move, but moving
SmackDown! is not. If someone can explain to me why they chose to move it to
Friday, instead of Thursday at 9 PM for example, I’d like to hear it. To me,
it doesn’t make sense. Viacom certainly got to slap WWE in the face with
this one.
INITIAL BACKLASH BUYRATE IS IN
by Eddie T.
The initial Backlash PPV buyrate is in and it’s somewhere between 250 and
275 thousand buys. This is down from last year’s 295K score. WWE has a lot
to think about.
Eddie’s Thoughts: This is a very bad score, that will be looked at as a huge
disappointment. This PPV featured the WrestleMania rematch between Batista
and Triple H, which was supposed to be coming off a program with lots of
‘Mania momentum, but due to WWE booking wasn’t. Most importantly, this PPV
had Hulk Hogan returning for one night only, and teaming up with Shawn
Michaels, of all people. It has to be considered a total disappointment by
WWE. Last year’s Backlash event (295K buys) shouldn’t have blown this year’s
event out of the water the way it did.
THE TRIPLE H/RATING GAME
by Eddie T.
If you missed it, this past week’s edition of RAW which featured the big
return of Triple H scored a 3.6 rating, while the previous week, which
featured the final of the Golden Rush tournament with the Lita turn, and the
absence of Triple H, did the strongest number RAW has done in months – a 4.3
rating. Boy, I wish I was in that room when they were analyzing the numbers.
JERRY LAWLER’S SON GETS ARRESTED
by Eddie T.
Jerry Lawler’s son, Kevin, made the rounds of news today as he was arrested
in Memphis on burglary charges. He broke into an apartment, and apparently
went to sleep in the place he broke into. It’s quite the bizarre story. You
can find more about it here —
http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=3388381
Follow-Up: Kevin Lawler pleaded a case of a mistaken identity, and came to
court with a steel-tough alibi that he was elsewhere at the time of the
events he was blamed in. If you click on the link above and read how bizarre
and ridiculous this case is, then you’ll probably end up joining Kevin’s
side of things. Only in Memphis.
ECW ONE NIGHT STAND MATCHES ANNOUNCED
by Eddie T.
WWE.com has announced the following matches as taking place at the ECW One
Night Stand PPV event:
Lance Storm w/ Dawn Marie vs. Chris Jericho
Rey Mysterio vs. Psychosis
Super Crazy vs. Tajiri vs. Little Guido
Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit
Tommy Dreamer & Sandman vs. Dudleys
These are all great pair-ups. It should be noted that we don’t get to see
the Dream Match many people, including Lance Storm, have been wishing for –
Chris Benoit vs. Lance Storm.
WWE.com also announced there will be appearances by Paul Heyman, Rob Van
Dam, Bill Alfonso, Tazz, Spike Dudley, Al Snow & Head, Sabu, Balls Mahoney,
Danny Doring, Roadkill, C.W. Anderson, Rhyno, Joel Gertner, Axl Rotten,
Justin Credible, Kid Kash, Masato Tanaka, Mikey Whipwreck and his manager
Jim Mitchell, Steven Richards as Big Stevie Cool with Hollywood Nova and The
Blue Guy.
It should be noted that WWE got a hold of Joel Gertner.
TNA OFF THE AIR
by Eddie T.
This Friday’s edition of TNA Impact! will be the last TNA show to air on Fox
Sports Network. Looking at the channel’s schedule for the weeks after, TNA
is nowhere to be seen, as it’s been replaced with darts.
Basically, TNA had to make a decision. They were given the option to resign
with FSN for another six months (and no less), or move to the WGN which
would have given them less audience, but on the other hand a better time
slot – against RAW. There’s also the possibility of signing with SpikeTV
once RAW moves to the USA Network, which is the main reason they didn’t
renew their contract with FSN. They want to go after the SpikeTV deal, which
will be hard to get. I guess they decided to leave the doors open and made
sure they’re not locked in a contract with FSN when the time to really talk
to Spike comes.
It’s tough to say what’s next for TNA, as they can become anything from a
serious threat for WWE, to being extinct.
INDY WRESTLER PASSES AWAY IN THE RING
by Eddie T.
Professional wrestling can be a very dangerous activity. Today that was
proven in an incredibly sad occuring in Taunton, MA, at an independend
event.
Dan Quirk from New England died during a wrestling match he was fighting
under the name Spider for the UWC promotion, after a bad landing following a
moonsault his opponent performed. A massive hemmorhage was caused after the
impact his head suffered with the concrete. He was revived briefly, shortly
after which was declared dead at a local hospital.
Another sad day for the world of pro wrestling.
RAW PREVIEW FOR 6/30
by Eddie T.
The WWE.com RAW preview for tonight’s show is pretty simple and clear – all
the attention on tonight’s episode should be about Triple H’s “cryptic”
message to Batista – Hell In A Cell. Of course, WWE loves to think that its
fans are ridiculously stupid and don’t know what that means, so they have
the guts to actually ask you what it could possibly mean. Oh gosh, I wonder.
Jeez, man, I’m lost. I don’t know. Someone e-mail me and tell me.
I would expect more of the ECW bashing and brewing to take place tonight
with Bischoff starting to pick up wrestlers for his “crew” that will be at
the ECW One Night Stand event. We’ll see what they have cooking.
They’ve done a nice job with the Jericho heel turn, which should continue
this week on the program. Benjamin, as well as Hassan and Daivari‘s
involvement will be still there, most likely.
They seem to be out of ideas for Chris Benoit, which is a shame, but I still
expect him to be a vital part of the show.
I won’t be surprised if we get another ECW rules match, or some sort of
reminder of ECW.
We’ll probably have Richards involve himself with Masters again.
The now-usual Viscera promo should be in, and hopefully it’ll be better than
last week’s stuff.
That’s about all I can think of for now. Let’s see what goes down tonight at
RAW!
JULIAN RADBOURNE TAKES A LOOK AT THE LITA TURN
By Julian Radbourne, writer of THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW
Watching the final segments of Raw this past Tuesday, I wondered if Matt
Hardy was watching the show. I felt nothing for sympathy for Matt as Lita
turned on Kane and sided with Edge as he won the Gold Rush tournament. I
wondered how Matt was feeling as the show closed, with Lita kissing Edge on
the stage as a groggy Kane looked on from the ring.
This isn’t the first time WWE have used real life events to increase
ratings. Those of us who have been watching the WWE for years remember Sgt.
Slaughter’s pledge of allegiance to “the brave Iraqi nation” as allied
troops were dying in the Middle-East.
The WWE was seriously condemned back then, and for me, the Lita/Edge story
line is just as tasteless. Deep down, we all knew that the WWE creatives
would try and weave this into a story line somehow. I even called this a few
weeks ago.
But think of Matt Hardy in this situation. The woman he loves and wanted to
marry began an affair with one of his best friends. Because of this, Hardy
was pulled from the biggest show of the year, and a few weeks later he lost
his job. Now, the events that cost him so much are now being played out on
television screens around the world.
Now there are rumours that Vince McMahon has realized he made a mistake in
releasing Matt, and is considering bringing him back. If I was Matt, I’d
tell McMahon to take his job and stick it where the sun don’t shine. McMahon
has robbed Matt of his career, and with this new story line he’s robbed Matt
of his dignity.
The best thing Matt Hardy can do now is forge a tremendous career away from
WWE, and really stick it to them by showing what a great performer he is. He
truly deserves whatever success he can get now.
As for Edge & Lita, I think I’ll join the fans on this one.
THE LATEST ON THEBALROGSLAIR.COM
by the TBL Staff
There were some great wrestling opinion articles on TheBalrogsLair.com this
week, which I strongly recommend to all of you. Starting with the newest
Stuff, Joe Balrog’s latest Balrog Babblings talk about Mr. Jean Paul
Levesque himself, and how he affects Monday Night RAW. It’s a good read
since his viewpoint of this popular topic is quite different than what you
read on the Internet. Check it out here –
http://www.thebalrogslair.com/opinions/balrog/052805.shtml.
Joe wrote another Balrog Babblings earlier this week on a very special man,
and a very sad incident in pro wrestling – the anniversary of the death of
Owen Hart, and what have we learned, six years after this tragic event —
http://www.thebalrogslair.com/opinions/balrog/052405.shtml.
Josh Fox continues his excellent series of biographical columns that take a
look at the greatest pro wrestling champions. His latest –
http://www.thebalrogslair.com/opinions/innerview/2005/0522.shtml – takes a
look at none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin, a man that revolutionized
the business. His is a telling a story with some chilling facts that you
need to read to believe. Another great read.
Keenan Graeme also wrote a new column this past week, which focused on a
topic that I find very interesting – how wrestling and politics collide, and
how much politics you find in today’s Internet Wrestling Community, and
Wrestling World in general. Make sure you give it a read here –
http://www.thebalrogslair.com/opinions/keenan/2005/0525.shtml.
CONTACT
You can e-mail me your questions, comments, or suggestions for the Inside
the Ring Newsletter here – Levski11 at aol.com
