Professional Wrestling

[Pharaoh]

Flair wrestled his last match at last year's Mania. IMO they did a very good job having him survive the "Lose and Retire" stipulation they had as the storyline. WWE managed to keep Flair winning by disqualification, countout, due to outside interference etc.

When he wrestled Shawn Michaels at the last Mania I know a few pro wrestlers cried as Flair lost. WWE basically gave Flair a 3-day retirement ceremony and many, many wrestlers shed a tear due to the respect Flair warrants.

That shit wouldn't happen with Hogan - Hogan tired to put himself over every single time. Flair made his opponents look like a million bucks. Sting is just 1 star that Flair made.

As for HHH v Edge/Christian on Smackdown - don't be surprised if HHH and the Undertaker end up on RAW after the Draft. My Network TV is not running first run shows other than Smackdown anymore. They are basically a shitty second rate channel.

WWE are not happy that My Network TV has turned to shit, especially after giving them Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Mr. Kennedy, The Undertaker and Jim Ross. WWE did all it could to get viewers to the network but it didn't help at all.

[Pharaoh]

BTW, there are rumours that Jericho won't even have a match at Mania.

The story goes that when WWE gets the Legends to take their bow in the ring on the Mania PPV Jericho will enter the ring and cut his usual promo. Then the glass will shatter and Stone Cold will come out. The Legends have their way with Jericho before Austin hits a Stunner or 2 and the Legends chug some beers to end the segment.

This saves Jericho from losing to someone that isn't an active wrestler and allows Austin to avoid wrestling a full match. Apparently if Austin gets hit in the wrong spot it could mean he's in a wheelchair for life!

Becoming the Dynamite Kid is something no wrestler wants.

[DennyMcLain]

They should try and get Smackdown on NBC. Universal own both (NBC, USA). The networks are looking for alternatives to one hour dramas these days, and WWE is a proven ratings winner. Also Saturady Night's Main Event seems to do well enough to gauge potential success on the network.

Also, moving Smackdown to Fridays didn't help.

[Pharaoh]

Denny, if someone from WWE does read this they just printed your post and faxed it to NBC.

WWE would love to be on NBC but the problem is that Saturday Night's Main Event doesn't draw the ratings that RAW draws. ECW on Sci Fi and Smackdown on My Network TV draw less than half of what RAW draws as well.

Basically, WWE survives off RAW. The fact is that RAW is Vince's baby, the show that saved his ass when WCW was almost putting him out of business, it's live and has the better talent roster.

IMO what WWE needs to do is have the 3 Brands actually be 3 different Brands. Eric Bischoff said that Nitro could either be better than WWF, different from WWF or less than the WWF - he went with different (and succeeded. TNA are not better than WWE, are not different from WWE therefore they are less than WWE).

So, back to the 3 Brands. Keep the rosters seperate. For fuck's sake that was the plan, right? So you didn't wear out storylines or wrestlers by having them "over-exposed". So why is Triple H on RAW and Smackdown? Why do Morrison and Miz show up on all 3 shows? So forget that.

The RAW show should feature more of the entertainment side than any other Brand. It should still have the better talent roster, because it's the flagship show. It would still have matches, though - it's not like the show is gonna be a sitcom.

ECW should feature more of the cruiserweight kind of style. That doesn't mean it becomes a "no-selling" show for "vanilla midgets" either. It just means that the smaller guys get TV time so that they can learn to adapt their Indy styles towards a more WWE-friendly style.

Smackdown should feature more of the WWE style of wrestling with less focus on the entertainment side of it. Remember when Smackdown had the 3 teams of Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit, Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, Edge and Rey Mysterio? Brock Lesnar was the "Undisputed Champ" and went back and forth between shows. The booker (writer) was Paul Heyman (it's funny how he always gets a mention when talking about good years in wrestling). Heyman used those 6 guys as his Main Event and featured them in every possible combination for ages. The fact that those 6 were/are great in the ring certainly helped.

WWE wouldn't have to do anything to accomplish what I've proposed either, though they could adjust the talent rosters using the Draft.

Take ECW for example: In order to use that show for younger, under used/under performing smaller wrestlers you simply move Christian, John Morrison, The Miz, Jack Swagger and Mark Henry to other Brands in favour of Shelton Benjamin, Brian Kendrick, Rey Myserio and Chavo Guerrero.

Benjamin, Chavo and Mysterio are veterans that can help the younger guys adapt to the WWE. Shelton and Mysterio are also both in need of a little rebuild too.

Anyway, I'm rambling - so I'm done.

[DennyMcLain]

SNME doesn't draw the ratings because:

a) It's on Saturday, the WORST night for ratings.
b) It's kind of a stand alone show.

Any night but Friday or Saturday, with continuing storylines and big matches, and I think it could show some decent numbers. It would also allow NBCUniversal to work with WWE to cross pollinate shows with WWE talent. These days, some of the wrestlers can actually act, as opposed to the Hogan days when they were all overblown characters.

As for MyTV, I'm not certain what % of households carry MyTV. When it was UPN, it was only about 90%.

I don't know what WWE charges per episode, but considering how much the company makes at the door for live events, merchandise, and PPVs, I'm sure the deal would be cost-beneficial for NBC.

Then again, we ARE talking about Vince McMahon, here.

[D's Nuts]

Andrew 'Test' Martin found dead at age 33 in his condo.

[Glenn]

Andrew 'Test' Martin found dead at age 33 in his condo.

"Natural causes", I'm sure.

[Timone]

Apparently the guy had a myspace page. Here's one of the comments:

D U C A T I





Mar 14 2009 6:58 PM

RIP bro. was a fan of you for a while. i won't forget you.
crazy physique!

I know I sound like a dick for saying this, but I couldn't stop laughing after reading that one.

Gotta love it when people comment on a deceased person's myspace page, as if they're talking to the person and they're going to see what they wrote.

[Pharaoh]

Well, I have stopped caring about the wrestlers that die young. They took the drugs and have to pay the consequences.

It will be fucking insane if we are sitting here 20 years from now and reading about someone like MVP dying before he's 50 because of drugs.

People say that can't happen because of the Wellness Policy and all that shit but Harry (D.H) Smith failed a test for roids and he should certainly know better.

His father (Davey Boy Smith) died young
His father's tag team partner (Dynamite Kid) ended up in a wheelchair (he took too many pain killers to keep wrestling while hurt)
He's fucking related to the Hart Family

If that dude does end up dying young he's the biggest moron on the planet.

Denny: I agree Saturday Night is the worst night for a show to air, but if NBC was willing to give Vince that timeslot weekly you can bet your left nut WWE would take it.

For whatever reason NBC are not willing to do that.

[DennyMcLain]

If the economy keep plowing into the ground, it wouldn't be a bad investment.

I'm sure it's got something to do with Vince McMahon and his monster ego. Never understood why Raw bolted from USANetwork for several years (here in the U.S.), but I'm sure McMahon was being unreasonable re: contract re-negotiations.

Something tells me he'd rather stick to a fledging network and be the big cheese, rather than be just another show.