Welcome to another edition of the Phat Daily Column. Yes, the column which has opinions that trigger lots of threatening e-mails, evil messages on messageboards, and flaming columns. Many of you are taking these columns WAY too seriously. It's not like they are what everyone thinks. That's why this is called the Phat Daily COLUMN. It's NOT the Phat Daily Facts, so settle down. We all have opinions, and I've never said that mine were the right ones, ok?
And another thing. A handful of columnists are saying that other writers are too negative, meaning, they are aiming at wrestling critics like myself. However, those writers need to look at their own material before judging other people's opinions. I can disagree about your opinions, and so forth. You can claim that I'm a hypocrite from my Bad Tito columns, but you failed to realize that I rip on the very corrupt internet sites, and NOT other people's opinions.
If I ever had a problem with a columnist's opinion on something, then I e-mail them professionally and give them my view in a nice manner. I don't go on a messageboard and flame them, nor do I take it out in my columns.
Say what you want about me, for I've heard it all in the 2-plus years as Mr. Tito. So keep bringing it on.
Today, we'll discuss Ratings, which took a beating, thanks to Monday Night Football. If I were to grade a football game, I'd give that one an A+ for being one of the best football games that I've ever seen. Anyway, was Vince's effort on RAW enough to show significant drawing power? Did people want to watch Nitro after a good Pay Per View the night before? Questions like this and more in Ratings Analysis. On to the PDC.
Both shows were down, thanks to the AWESOME Monday Night Football game. By the way, just about every MNF game has been good this year, and the ratings are showing that. Has the NFL taken back the ratings that wrestling stole? We'll find out after this season! But anyway, I don't blame the NFL on Nitro's shortcomings. Look at that first hour of Nitro. A 2.5 is the lowest first hour from them in a long time. Something needs to be done to boost that. There is NO football, nor is there any WWF wrestling to compete with them there. NO excuses!
I see a great danger, though, for the WWF. They were greatly affected by the game, which proves a good bit. For one, their claims that they lost the casual fans during the TNN switch were somewhat true, as they lost a good chunk of maybe newer casual fans to the NFL game this week. That shows a good sign that the WWF truly is in decline, no matter how much they brag about being on top, still. Funny thing is that the WWF was bragging about their ratings victory last week, when Nitro wasn't there to take some ratings away. Now that's bad, and they should suck it up this week.
The Vince McMahon interview.... get this, drew a 4.0 rating. Even crappier Mick Foley interviews draw stronger than that. Now that's bad, and hopefully, Vince gets his ego in check soon. The final match with Vince vs. Kurt angle drew the highest rating of the night, but that's without Nitro and the fact that the last segment always gets the top rating of the night. Do you know what was the top draw of the first hour? Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Hardy. Need I say any more?!?!?
Yuck, Shannon Moore vs. Shane Helms didn't do much to start off Nitro. Nothing in the second hour did much, either, as I bet many viewers were bored to tears at certain points. In my opinion, I thought that Nitro was solid, but just boring. I don't know whether to blame the dead crowd or just that the wrestlers looked rather tired. Who knows?
I suppose this new Vince era is giving SOME new interest to the WWF, as Livewire and Superstars shot up to their normals this week. Mtv Heat, however, continues to be a major failure. Not even the Dudleys can help that show draw the ratings.
Now, you could proclaim this as a work, but I don't think so. The plan was to have Nash and DDP, the Insiders to do some kind of promo on the Natural Born Thrillers. However, the incident stopped that, and changed the plans entirely. Also, I believe it was comments from Steiner that made Kimberly quit WCW, as reported. Now, I just thought it was the strange demands of Vince Russo that was doing that, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that those two don't like each other, at all, and DDP doesn't want to work with Steiner in any kind of angle.
Now, a fine of suspension should be handed to Steiner for his "shoot" comments. WCW nailed him for ripping on Ric Flair, so it shouldn't be any different here. Now, what will happen to DDP? That depends on the possible change of ownership, or how the current WCW regime takes what Scott Steiner was saying. Steiner was misbehaving for making unscripted comments, and it's sort of common for someone to get pissed off about it. They are saying that DDP threw the first punch or shove, so that could nail him. Who knows?
But what I do know is that WCW is now running on Scott Steiner power, like it or not. I wouldn't be surprised if WCW decides to release DDP for this incident, even though he didn't start it. It's sort of like Shawn Michaels not getting punished for the famous "curtain call" incident, when he was the WWF's top man in 1996. Or, I could see DDP asking for his release now, and then, WCW will grant it to him. Something will definitely happen here, and we can only keep tuning in to find out.
I just hope that this incident leads DDP to the WWF, you know, to help spark it a little bit.
MASKED MAN?? Who was that mystery guy on Nitro last night? Well, it was just a jabroni filling in for the absent Rick Steiner. Steiner hasn't been on WCW for a few weeks, so I guess it would seem logical to bring him back as a mystery man. However, I don't really see Rick as a main event draw, since some of his main event past matches were horrible and actually lowered the ratings. Now that's bad.
SID IS BACK TO THE SOFTBALL FIELDS. Sure, Scott Steiner is stiff in the ring, but Sid has been in the business long enough to take it. It seems that his body becomes instantly fragile the second he starts losing. When he wins, he's sooo healthy! I think he's faking it because he can get away with it in WCW. Plus, he might not want another match with crazy Steiner.
Dude, Where's My Car?? Since the WWF did have an advertising deal with the movie, by having an actor backstage in some corny segments, I'll let you know how the movie is. IT SUCKS! Easily, the worst movie that I've seen in the theaters this year. You can read more on this tragedy of a movie by going to News Orgy to read my full review on it.
News Orgy: Movie Reviews like "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "What Women Want", CD Reviews, News Parody, Crazy Rants, and MUCH MORE!
LoP T-Shirts: Nothing like saying "I Love You" than with an LoP T-Shirt.
@That's all for today. I shall be back, tomorrow, with WCW Day and whatever else. Remember, this column is based on MY opinions. So settle down please. Until the next column, check out the latest editions of Kicking Ass and Taking Names Later, along with the return of Bad Tito!
Phat Pharm: NEW Issues of "Kicking Ass and Taking Names Later" about selling storylines, and "BAD TITO" about Flash on Websites!! Click HERE to Enter!!!!
Take Care, and DO NOT SEE "Dude, Where's My Car?"