Congratulations to the Blue Jays for completing the choke and handing the AL East to the Red Sox! Now they just need to cough up the wild card spot and finish off the season with class.
Not that I’m bitter.
But hey, on the bright side, Dave has once again embraced both uppercase and lowercase letters! And we get one of the most Because WCW issues ever.
TNA Update
With Bound for Glory and TV tapings scheduled for this week, TNA still does not have the funds, which are about $600,000, to produce the shows. Aroluxe and Billy Corgan were thought to have been frontrunners last week to buy TNA but according to sources, Dixie Carter has made a mess out of the situation and put all sorts of hurdles in place for someone to buy the company. John Gaburick, a longtime friend of Kevin Dunn, brought the WWE into the picture for a deal but as of now, the WWE are out of the picture as its assumed they do not want to take on TNA’s debt. TNA’s debt is in the millions and there is argument that the debt is greater than the value of the company.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Big Show & Mark Henry Updates
Both Show & Henry are being transitioned into more public relations work going forward and will be wrestling less.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Highspots Releases Newest Installment of the “I’m With Spud” Series
Host Rockstar Spud welcomes guest Mark Andrews and you can view the trailer by clicking on the link below
Hi Scott,
Enough time has passed that we thought it was time to make Kayfabe available for free on Youtube. Would you mind helping us spread the word, in case any of your readers are interested?
The movie is here:
Kayfabe: The Movie
|
And our page (which has the trailer and some selected scenes, in addition to the movie) is here: Kayfabe Entertainment
|
Yeah, I saw it kept coming up in my YouTube subscription links under "Stuff you might be interested in", but I didn’t want to link to it in case it was just someone ripping you guys off.
Hopefully everyone enjoys, because it’s HILARIOUS. Anyone who’s ever been to a local Canadian indy show will get all the stuff immediately, especially the very "subtle" digs at Al Tomko.
This was filmed in April of 1998
The interview was conducted by Eric Gargiulo
It runs at two hours and forty-seven minutes long
It delights me to no end that I’m able, in 2016, to post a review of a WCW C-level show from 1997, featuring the re-emergence of a relatively unknown lower card player from the mid 80’s NWA (dressed in his much less famous ridiculous costume), and have you at full attention.
That Dolph/Miz angle from SD was in my opinion, one of the best angles I’ve seen in a long time. Miz is just on fire, taking the match just on the hopes of retiring Dolph… Ziggler brought to tears about his career path, and being such a desperate babyface that he’s willing to risk it all… And best of all for the IC title! That angle made EVERYONE look like gold and I can’t wait for No Mercy. What did you think of the angle/ feud?
This kind of stuff would have more good will with me if:
1. Dolph wasn’t already killed off as a babyface
2. Anyone cared about the IC title.
3. Miz was a serious champion who had believably been champion for all those months.
4. They had any history of honoring stipulations.
But hey, if you’re excited about it, more power to you.
Could they have gotten away with Raw being 3 hours every week
IF
They only had Raw around, and Smackdown wasn’t a thing? Meaning that those three hours of programming would be all you get of WWE’s main roster on non-PPV weeks.
No, the extra programming is an additional problem, but the main TV show at three hours is just too long to hold viewers, even if you’re not asking them to also invest two hours into Smackdown. I don’t think the pattern could be any more clear, when they routinely plummet hundreds of thousands of viewers every week once the third hour starts. Also, and I know we’ve beaten this drum all year, PPVs are too damn long as well and it’s not helping the problem. There’s no reason why these split shows can’t be cut to two hours, easily.
Monday Night Raw
Date: April 29, 2002
Location: HSBC Arena, Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 8,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
The question at this point is how bad can things get. The wrestling has been horrible but the stories have been some of the worst of all time with uninspired main eventers who look like they’re about to collapse from old age. Maybe things can start to pick up soon because it can’t get much worse. Let’s get to it.
NXT
Date: September 28, 2016
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves
This is an interesting time for NXT as we’re still moving closer to Toronto but it’s still too early to really know a lot of the card. We do however have a new #1 contender to the Women’s Title in Liv Morgan, who Asuka agreed to face without seeming that worried about it. We’ve also got some cruiserweights around so maybe they’ll make an appearance tonight. Let’s get to it.
Tonight, we have NXT, MLB Action and more
1- Hindsight 20/20 what if they let Scott Hall beat Bob Backland late 1994 and carry the title in 1995 instead of Kevin Nash. Could have Hall defend the world title at WM11 against Shawn Michaels in a “ladder re-match” and then feud with a heel Kevin Nash that summer…Would business have been better?
Anything would be better than what Kevin Nash brought to the table. Except Kevin Owens, he’s fat. And yeah, your scenario would be a good one.
2- Hindsight 20/20, who should have won KOTR 95′ to spare us King Mabel?
The heel turned Razor, who was supposed to have feuded with Undertaker at Wrestlemania.
3- Instead of the lame tag
team with Bulldog, what would you have done with Lex Luger after the failed superman push in 93/94.
The push didn’t fail, they just gave up on him way too soon. If we’re changing history I would have just put the belt on him at Summerslam, when people were ready for it.
4- Is Waylon Mercy a better character than Bray Wyatt?
Given that you can actually define what his character is and understand his promos, sure.
5- How/Why did Jeff Jarrett get so many pushes in the mid to late 90s? He sucks
Well, he’s no Kevin Owens, at least.
Yeah, Kevin does look like a web designer, doesn’t he?
Welcome to the start of an incredible year of wrestling action for Jim Crockett Promotions. 1985 was very good. 1986, for the most, part, was even better. This is the high point of the Crockett territory, with a roster full of hall of famers and should-be hall of famers. It’s also the year the Four Horsemen take over for the first time. As a wrestling fan of almost 40 years, I would match JCP’s 1986 up against any era from any territory. It’s one of the best ever in terms of angles and in-ring action. The first 10 months of it, at least.
This show is a big one…
I’ve been stationed in the Philippines for work since the beginning of August, and one of the biggest adjustments, as someone who has never been outside of North America, has been getting used to the food. The Philippines is relatively Americanized, but their palates slant heavily towards sugar. I assumed finding spicy foods would be a snap in any Asian country, but it’s not the case here.
Hey Scott,
You yourself have said that WWE should just buy Evolve and make it the real developmental brand on the network. Which is basically a NXT show from 2013 or FCW before that time. Obviously that era didn’t have the Indy darlings but there’s something neat to watch completely new guys just starting out.
With rumors of WWE buying TNA, do you think there’s any chance of this happening? Rebrand it "WWE Impact", have tapings down at Full Sail, have green ropes (because everything HAS to be color schemed), and a fresh roster of developmental guys?
If they’re going to buy the whole company for just the tape library, why not use it also for an hour of weekly content for the network?
From what I understand, it wouldn’t work that way. They wouldn’t be concerned with buying the actual company like Corgan is, because they don’t care about saving it, and in fact it’s in their best interests not to. Their concern would be buying the tape library for $1 million or whatever lowball offer they make, and probably the intellectual properties associated with the shows, and the rest would just die like WCW. They just let Dixie go out of business, along with the millions of dollars that the company is reportedly in debt, and sign up whatever wrestlers they want on new deals for pennies on the dollar. Their TV deals would be worthless to WWE anyway. Given how touchy WWE investors are about quarterly profit margins as it is, sinking money into keeping an albatross like TNA alive in any form would be ridiculous. In fact, I have no idea why Corgan is wasting his time as it is.
Hey Scott,
I heard that next Monday’s Raw will feature wrestlers telling solemn stories about how much Kevin Owens likes to eat.
It will be called Raw is Owen’s
What’s with the apostrophe? And you have away the punchline in the subject header! Leave the Owens jokes to the professionals, please.
Would the ratings really be any better if Balor, Reigns, Rollins, shit even John Cena was champion of Raw? There has been a steady decline in the ratings for the last two years.
And now half of the stars of the company don’t even appear on Raw anymore because of the brand spilt. Also the show is 3 fucking hours long. Plus Smackdown is another 2 hours. Oh and there is a ppv every two weeks. So every other week there is 8 hours of live WWE television to get through.
What about Hulu? That has to dig into the Raw rating. 3 hours or 1.5 with limited commercials hmm…(though personally the DVR route is the best for me; I don’t like letting others decide what parts of the show to skip but I can still get through it in about the same amount of time, even less in the weeks when it’s really bad)
Isn’t the real inductor of how a champion is doing the live gates anyway? They didn’t give up on Reigns as champ until the house show numbers started to dip.
Lastly the whole Nielson ratings system is stupid and obsolete.
Live attendance is not doing well either. But again, you’re just skipping over the most important facts: Owens is fat.
Good god, Dave is still CAPSLOCKMAN this week. I don’t know where this came from, but hopefully it ends soon.
Next week I’m going to be away at a work conference so it’s doubtful I’ll be doing these much. I’ll try to do a few in advance on Sunday before I go and post-date them, but no promises.
WWE.com NXT Preview
http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/2016-09-28
WWE Status of Tony Nese & Drew Gulak
Nese & Gulak have not signed with the WWE. They remain signed to EVOLVE but will be making additional appearances for the company which is allowed through the WWE/EVOLVE agreement, something you can read more about by clicking on the link below.
NXT Star Returning From Injury
Elias Samson will be returning to the ring this coming Thursday at the NXT Live Event in Lakeland, FL. He has been out of action since suffering an ankle injury this past June.
http://wrestlechat.net/nxt-star-returning-from-injury-soon-triple-h-congratulates-the-bella-twins/
Smackdown
Date: September 27, 2016
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Mauro Ranallo, David Otunga
It’s a big night for Smackdown as we have a rare World Title match on free TV with AJ Styles defending against Dean Ambrose. We’re less than two weeks away from No Mercy and it should be interesting to see where things go as we get ready for the triple threat and whatever else is announced before the show. Let’s get to it.
January 28, 1989
From the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, AL
Your hosts are Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Vince McMahon
> Hey Scott-
>
> With all this "lowest ratings ever" stuff going around, why is the blame only placed on Owens? Shouldn’t whoever is chasing the title take part of the blame as well? Especially since in this case it would be Rollins, who was the previous low-drawing champion who was being chased by Reigns? The point is: This is all Roman Reigns’ fault!
>
I know, sometimes we lose sight of the important points, like how much Reigns’ sucks. But, lest we forget, Owens is fat.
Think about it.
Live from Norfolk, VA
Airdate: December 26, 1988
Attendance: 10,000
Hosted by Tony Schiavone, Magnum T.A., Jim Ross, and Bob Caudle
Will the NWA, now under the Turner umbrella, introduce a new champion? Or will they maintain the status quo? Let’s find out!
Tonight, Smackdown is highlighted by the WWE World Title match between Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles.
Plus, we have MLB action tonight and NHL preseason games too.
http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/raw-ratings-trumped-first-presidential-debate-221661
Lowest rated RAW in HISTORY. They should go to Kevin’s house and steal the belt tonight. Maybe replace it with a bucket of chicken Indiana Jones style.
