Black Widow
05-27-2008, 08:33 PM
Wow, the title says it all. That was certainly one big announcement by WWE last night on Raw. The draft, we expected. Cash to the viewers? Not so much. It's a very interesting thing for the company to try and I will have a lot more on it when I do my hotline later today.
I do wonder why they chose to drop the bomb last night instead of next Monday however. After all, they do have One Night Stand this Sunday and it's not exactly like they have had the time to do a great build to a show that figures to be a hard sell anyway given that it's their fourth PPV in about two months (and if you got them all, you are about $175 poorer). I think it would have made a lot more sense to focus on pushing Sunday's show very hard this week and then make the big announcements next week. ONS could do a very low buy rate and if it does, WWE has no one to blame but themselves.
Aside from that, there was some solid stuff on the show. It just would have made sense for them to do a better job pushing Sunday's PPV.
The Angles:
I have to say up front that I hate the face off angles for the most part. The reason for that is that I don't see how it makes any sense for two guys who want to kill each other to stand behind a podium and do a back and forth circle jerk when they should, well, kick each other's ass. After all, this is wrestling. That is what they SHOULD do (well, at least it's what they used to do before it became "entertainment" instead of that dirty "wrestling"). Now, instead they talk. And talk. And don't beat each other up anywhere near as often as they should. With that said, HHH delivered a good promo and Orton wasn't bad either. I just wish they would have dropped the mics and threw down. That would have gotten me more excited for Sunday than watching, and listening, to a couple of guys yak to each other. I don't see that segment selling one PPV. Not one.
Ted Dibiase Jr. debuted. There's not a lot to say about it other than that other than he's here and he will be gunning for the tag belts. Uh, if I was debuting, I would be going after something that really matters, but hey, that's just me.
My quick question is this: How does the Roddy Piper-Cousin Sal-Jimmy Kimmel segment sell this Sunday's PPV? Ok, I know, that should have been a rhetorical question. Anyway, I am not a big Jimmy Kimmel fan so the segment did nothing for me.
WWE putting the soldiers on TV was very cool. You can't ever do enough for those men and women who protect our freedom.
Vince's announcements were covered above.
The Matches:
Melina vs. Jillian Hall didn't do much to make me want to pay to watch Melina go against the Glamazon on Sunday. The match was pretty eh but it was mostly due to Hall.
On the plus side, Bob Holly/Cody Rhodes vs. Brian Kendrick/Paul London had a solid match. On the down side, London and Kendrick, after doing an angle a month or so ago, are now effectively buried again. What was the point of even doing that if they never intended to follow up on it?
To follow the above line of thinking, on the one hand the JBL/Umaga vs. John Cena/Jeff Hardy match had the kind of finish that would maybe make someone want to buy Sunday's PPV to see retribution. On the other hand, the problem is that way of booking worked 10 years ago but now it just makes the fans pissed that Hardy lost. But, at least they had a solid match.
Ken Kennedy didn't look like he was in control against Carlito until the very end of the match, which means that once again the guy who is losing dominated the guy who would win. That is par for the course with how WWE pushes people, and also why very few guys are seen as top guys. Then again, if all that is waiting for him is Paul Burchill, maybe I overestimated Kennedy's push. The one thing that seemed obvious to me in the segment was that if they didn't plan to bring Willie Regal back, we wouldn't be hearing his name the week after he was let go. Then again, who knows.
Finally, after an overall somewhat soft show, they gave us Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels. I liked the match until the finish, which was obviously done to continue the storyline between Chris and Shawn. Now, I get that they want to sell PPVs and all, but if they aren't going to give us a decent finish, why book the match? I am enjoying their program, but this match and finish should have happened NEXT week, not on the go home show before the PPV.
What to watch if you DVR'd the show:
This was one of those shows where nothing was really bad, but nothing you really needed to see either. The big thing on the show was the announcements and it's not like you have to see Vince make them. So, this is one you can skip if you don't have the time or inclination to watch.
Rhetorical and Unanswered Questions:
Did anyone else hit the info button on the DVR and see that they were plugging "discussing William Regal's replacement"?
And, did you notice that never happened?
Wasn't it cool that WWE put over our troops at the start of the show?
Since they made William Regal a focal part of the opening of the show, doesn't that make you think he will be coming back?
Man, does Vince have a big set of ears or what?
When Vince said his "superstars" may have a better idea than he does for the show, were you thinking, "Uh, no kidding Vince!"?
Does anyone else hate to see the red cover in the ring for a segment as much as I do?
Is there anything more exciting than Randy Orton coming to the ring to deliver an interview?
Seriously, who thinks that Jillian singing is entertaining?
Who has a worse hairdo, Vince or Jericho?
Why does Vince think Jericho would care if his IC title wasn't on the line?
I mean, wouldn't he care more if it WAS?
Not for nothing Ted Jr. but who brags about their dad being a tag champ?
I mean, isn't that like being a football player and talking about how you played on the special teams?
How excited were you to see a recap of Santino Marella, Cousin Sal and Roddy Piper?
And more than that, wasn't it just great to see the Sal training video?
Doesn't it crack you up any time a wrestling personality says, "This is for real"?
Did Mickie James get that shirt from a touring production of Godspell?
Was the escort service line by JBL made for Ashley great or what?
Don't you hate when they spend 5 to 10 minutes of valuable TV time on introductions?
And, don't you hate it more when they do that and then quickly go to a damn commercial shortly after the match starts?
Did JBL pin Jeff Hardy because he deserved to, because Jeff failed a Wellness Test or because Vince likes him so much?
When Shawn said it was hard to grasp that Vince would do anything decent, did he really mean in a booking sense?
Is it really a positive for WWE to show pro football players on camera goofing on the business?
Wasn't the footage from the Mexico tour pretty cool?
If Ken Kennedy is supposed to be getting a big push, why did Carlito spend most of their match kicking his ass?
Why is Trevor Murdoch singing?
When did Shawn Michaels become cross-eyed?
Did Vince really basically admit that his storylines have been weak when he came and did his promo?
How funny was it for the fans to NOT "What" when Vince wanted them to?
Did you notice the "What the F***" look on the faces of the fans when Vince said his big announcement was that they were giving away cash?
And, was he hoping that people would buy Sunday's show because they thought they may get a check from Vinnie Mac?
Given that Vince has always had disdain for and heeled the fans, why does he suddenly want to do something nice for them?
PWInsider.com
I do wonder why they chose to drop the bomb last night instead of next Monday however. After all, they do have One Night Stand this Sunday and it's not exactly like they have had the time to do a great build to a show that figures to be a hard sell anyway given that it's their fourth PPV in about two months (and if you got them all, you are about $175 poorer). I think it would have made a lot more sense to focus on pushing Sunday's show very hard this week and then make the big announcements next week. ONS could do a very low buy rate and if it does, WWE has no one to blame but themselves.
Aside from that, there was some solid stuff on the show. It just would have made sense for them to do a better job pushing Sunday's PPV.
The Angles:
I have to say up front that I hate the face off angles for the most part. The reason for that is that I don't see how it makes any sense for two guys who want to kill each other to stand behind a podium and do a back and forth circle jerk when they should, well, kick each other's ass. After all, this is wrestling. That is what they SHOULD do (well, at least it's what they used to do before it became "entertainment" instead of that dirty "wrestling"). Now, instead they talk. And talk. And don't beat each other up anywhere near as often as they should. With that said, HHH delivered a good promo and Orton wasn't bad either. I just wish they would have dropped the mics and threw down. That would have gotten me more excited for Sunday than watching, and listening, to a couple of guys yak to each other. I don't see that segment selling one PPV. Not one.
Ted Dibiase Jr. debuted. There's not a lot to say about it other than that other than he's here and he will be gunning for the tag belts. Uh, if I was debuting, I would be going after something that really matters, but hey, that's just me.
My quick question is this: How does the Roddy Piper-Cousin Sal-Jimmy Kimmel segment sell this Sunday's PPV? Ok, I know, that should have been a rhetorical question. Anyway, I am not a big Jimmy Kimmel fan so the segment did nothing for me.
WWE putting the soldiers on TV was very cool. You can't ever do enough for those men and women who protect our freedom.
Vince's announcements were covered above.
The Matches:
Melina vs. Jillian Hall didn't do much to make me want to pay to watch Melina go against the Glamazon on Sunday. The match was pretty eh but it was mostly due to Hall.
On the plus side, Bob Holly/Cody Rhodes vs. Brian Kendrick/Paul London had a solid match. On the down side, London and Kendrick, after doing an angle a month or so ago, are now effectively buried again. What was the point of even doing that if they never intended to follow up on it?
To follow the above line of thinking, on the one hand the JBL/Umaga vs. John Cena/Jeff Hardy match had the kind of finish that would maybe make someone want to buy Sunday's PPV to see retribution. On the other hand, the problem is that way of booking worked 10 years ago but now it just makes the fans pissed that Hardy lost. But, at least they had a solid match.
Ken Kennedy didn't look like he was in control against Carlito until the very end of the match, which means that once again the guy who is losing dominated the guy who would win. That is par for the course with how WWE pushes people, and also why very few guys are seen as top guys. Then again, if all that is waiting for him is Paul Burchill, maybe I overestimated Kennedy's push. The one thing that seemed obvious to me in the segment was that if they didn't plan to bring Willie Regal back, we wouldn't be hearing his name the week after he was let go. Then again, who knows.
Finally, after an overall somewhat soft show, they gave us Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels. I liked the match until the finish, which was obviously done to continue the storyline between Chris and Shawn. Now, I get that they want to sell PPVs and all, but if they aren't going to give us a decent finish, why book the match? I am enjoying their program, but this match and finish should have happened NEXT week, not on the go home show before the PPV.
What to watch if you DVR'd the show:
This was one of those shows where nothing was really bad, but nothing you really needed to see either. The big thing on the show was the announcements and it's not like you have to see Vince make them. So, this is one you can skip if you don't have the time or inclination to watch.
Rhetorical and Unanswered Questions:
Did anyone else hit the info button on the DVR and see that they were plugging "discussing William Regal's replacement"?
And, did you notice that never happened?
Wasn't it cool that WWE put over our troops at the start of the show?
Since they made William Regal a focal part of the opening of the show, doesn't that make you think he will be coming back?
Man, does Vince have a big set of ears or what?
When Vince said his "superstars" may have a better idea than he does for the show, were you thinking, "Uh, no kidding Vince!"?
Does anyone else hate to see the red cover in the ring for a segment as much as I do?
Is there anything more exciting than Randy Orton coming to the ring to deliver an interview?
Seriously, who thinks that Jillian singing is entertaining?
Who has a worse hairdo, Vince or Jericho?
Why does Vince think Jericho would care if his IC title wasn't on the line?
I mean, wouldn't he care more if it WAS?
Not for nothing Ted Jr. but who brags about their dad being a tag champ?
I mean, isn't that like being a football player and talking about how you played on the special teams?
How excited were you to see a recap of Santino Marella, Cousin Sal and Roddy Piper?
And more than that, wasn't it just great to see the Sal training video?
Doesn't it crack you up any time a wrestling personality says, "This is for real"?
Did Mickie James get that shirt from a touring production of Godspell?
Was the escort service line by JBL made for Ashley great or what?
Don't you hate when they spend 5 to 10 minutes of valuable TV time on introductions?
And, don't you hate it more when they do that and then quickly go to a damn commercial shortly after the match starts?
Did JBL pin Jeff Hardy because he deserved to, because Jeff failed a Wellness Test or because Vince likes him so much?
When Shawn said it was hard to grasp that Vince would do anything decent, did he really mean in a booking sense?
Is it really a positive for WWE to show pro football players on camera goofing on the business?
Wasn't the footage from the Mexico tour pretty cool?
If Ken Kennedy is supposed to be getting a big push, why did Carlito spend most of their match kicking his ass?
Why is Trevor Murdoch singing?
When did Shawn Michaels become cross-eyed?
Did Vince really basically admit that his storylines have been weak when he came and did his promo?
How funny was it for the fans to NOT "What" when Vince wanted them to?
Did you notice the "What the F***" look on the faces of the fans when Vince said his big announcement was that they were giving away cash?
And, was he hoping that people would buy Sunday's show because they thought they may get a check from Vinnie Mac?
Given that Vince has always had disdain for and heeled the fans, why does he suddenly want to do something nice for them?
PWInsider.com