Welcome back to yet another Phat Daily Column. The ratings came in yesterday folks, and it's interesting to see if no Monday Night Football would run up the wrestling ratings. Did WCW make a jump in the ratings as well this week by bringing back many oldtimers? Well, let's find out, on to the Phat Daily Column!

Ratings Analysis

NITRO

First Hour: 3.8
Second Hour: 3.0
Composite: 3.4

RAW is WAR

First Hour: 6.3
Second Hour: 6.8
Composite: 6.55

HEAD to HEAD

RAW: 6.3 Tito's prediction: 6.1
Nitro: 3.0 Tito's prediction: 3.2

-Interesting numbers this week, as no Monday Night football seemed to only make a small difference in the ratings. Again this week, RAW didn't run up the ratings into the 7's or 8's. Sure, again, 6.8 is a great rating, but it used to be way when unopposed. As for Nitro, they jumped up 0.2 in head to head ratings, but you could say the extra viewers this week made it that. Whatever the case maybe, both shows were top notch yesterday. For the last few weeks, I've been called a WWF mark, and this week I'm a WCW mark. Please make up your minds people!!! Geesh. As for the future of ratings, WCW might be in trouble. The WWF has 6 wrestlers/personalities at their disposal which they can use at anytime to generate ratings, and that's something in which WCW can't contend with. The WWF has Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon, Debra, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, and Tazz to put on television shows anytime with either Vince and Shane wanting to get on television, or the others getting a simple phonecall. That's a lot of power to have for one federation, and as you can see with the ratings, they are saving them for as long as possible. If WCW starts getting close, they will maybe unleash 2 of them to get back interest. And you wonder why the Stephanie-Triple H era has lasted so long...

WCW

-February 14th is make or break in WCW's case, because RAW is WAR will be pre-empted by that damn dog show. WCW wants Hogan and Flair to be on that show, and as you saw in Calvin's post, Goldberg and Sting as well. I'll put money down that Ric Flair won't come back for that show, but do you think the other 3 are big enough draws to take WWF fans away? That's certainly a great question, as the last time Hogan came back, the ratings faultered worse than ever. Sting is loved by a core of fans who grew up watching him(like myself). Goldberg...well, he's been getting a lot of boos lately, and from my reader feedback, everyone hates him now. WCW is getting really cocky about their returns too, which leads me to believe that the whole February 14th show will be centered around them, which I would doubt would take any WWF fans away. You know that Hogan would want a whole half hour or more to himself..and that spells trouble!

-More rumors are flying around that Kevin Nash will go to the WWF soon. You're crazy! He's going nowhere at the moment, because for one, he has a few years left on his WCW contract, and two, WCW doesn't release anybody that the WWF could cash in on. Stop saying that he's going to the WWF!!!! Hell, I saw a post on a newsboard somewhere that he signed with the WWF. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Of course, there is that rumor that dirty Kevin Nash is the one who is telling Triple H to be a prick to Chris Jericho. Kevin Nash wants to prove to the world that his shitty booking skills were correct in not booking Jericho for anything. I don't think it's that. Jericho, you remember, gave Chyna a blackeye, and I'd be mad like Triple H is as well if somebody punched my wife.

-Houseshows continue to be a horrible problem for WCW, as they just simply don't care about them. They have only a few main eventers on the cards, and they aren't the main eventers that draw fans. I hear that the wrestlers aren't into it very much still, as they just move around a little for a paycheck. I thought Russo was supposed to correct this? Houseshows keep an all around interest in a wrestling federation. You tour your show, you are selling your product. Fans will buy that product if you impress them, and not piss on them. WCW seems to still not care about houseshows, and it could be a factor as to why their ratings stay low. I've been to one WCW houseshow in my life, and it was during the early days of the original NWO run. Overall, it was boring then with only a good main event in the Outsiders vs. Faces of Fear...and even that was less than entertaining. It's an ongoing trend for WCW, which needs to be changed quickly!

WWF

-From a few e-mails I saw that Mankind after RAW went off the air that it was the return of Cactus Jack. Well, you should know by now that the WWF loves to play mean and cruel tricks on our minds. They love to do strange stuff off camera because they know information sends fast, especially on the internet! They know pages like ours would put up the news about Cactus Jack's return. They also know that by having a commercial on Direct TV, which they love to abuse to confuse fans, with Cactus Jack would also fool fans. I still wouldn't bet that Cactus is returning just yet, or if ever. (Tito's Note: I haven't read the Smackdown spoilers yet, so if he did return on Smackdown, I obviously didn't see it yet..so please don't send e-mails about it.)

-I keep getting asked about when Barbara Bush, or BB, will start wrestling. Well, she has absolutely no wrestling or athletic background to work with, so I doubt a piece of eye candy like herself could be turned into a wrestler like they did with Sable. Sable was in good aerobic shape and she had a small martial arts background to work with. BB has nothing. Look for the WWF to slip her into some strange angle where you will get to see a lot of her. Whether or not the WWF would pull what they did for Miss Kitty with BB, is unsure..so please don't ask about that.

-It seems that the Undertaker is almost guaranteed to be at the Royal Rumble, but for Tazz, it's uncertain. I remember reading an interview with Vince McMahon from the Miami Herald about how Vince wanted a perfect time and a perfect setting for Tazz to debut....much like he wanted that for Chris Jericho. Vince also said in that interview, that he wants the Undertaker to only come back when he is 100%, and nothing less than that. Some say that the groin injury is still bothersome to the Undertaker, and others say that he's in his best shape in years. We'll see when he finally comes back!

Finally, Wrestlemania 2000 has come to Mr. Tito's House!!

After my long week search last week, I orded WM2k online. It arrived Monday, on time I'll have you know, with excellent service. I ordered it from Toys R Us.com. Yes, I've heard that THQ plans on delivering the second shipment of games any day now. If you know your mall well, you should know that there is an extensive waiting list for that game. It might be harder to get the second time around than the first...so why not order it online? Toys R Us.com

@That's all for me today. I might as well give up on college, cause I'm getting hooked on video games all over again! Damn it! Oh well, I will survive! I'll be back with more PDC tomorrow, so until then, how about chilling till the next episode?

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Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.

Mr. Tito © 2000 Exclusive to Lordsofpain.net