Welcome back to the Phat Daily Column. Today, we'll discuss ratings and theorize on how the WWF did this past Monday Night. The RAW rating is usually a good benchmark for how the WWF will do for the rest of the week, with Smackdown's rating being directly affected.
For anyone who's been asking about books... this Summer, I've been rather busy, but I'm attempting to finish the Wrestlemania book, sometime soon, I hope. As far as Foley is Good is concerned, I don't know when I will be able to even buy that one, let alone pick it up and read it. It's going to be really hard once a nice handful of books come out, later this summer. D'oh.
I have nothing else to say. On to the PDC.
RATINGS ANALYSIS
-RAW is WAR-
First Hour: 4.2
Second Hour: 5.1
Composite: 4.65
Composite Last Week: 4.2
Composite Last Year: 6.4
-WWF Weekend Shows-
Livewire: 0.7
Superstars: 0.7
Mtv Heat: 1.3
Finally, an increase in the ratings! A good one too! The RAW after the King of the Ring Pay Per View with its WCW Invasion brought a much better improved number to the table for the WWF. The WWF hasn't been that high in the ratings since May 7th, when they scored exactly 4.6. Now it's nothing to cheer about, since the WWF still has a lot of work to do to keep the ratings up or keep them increasing. I'm thinking that if they make the WCW invasion interesting, they should go up to around a 5.0 every week in the composites. At least that.
The WCW invasion isn't like the NWO invasion we saw in 1996 that boomed the Monday Night Wars, but with the right mix of talent and angles, it could help the WWF for many months to come. They need that sort of long term feeling, too, for the angles between Austin/Triple H vs. Kane/Undertaker shot down any long term hopes, and it lost a lot of viewers that the WWF must pick up with the WCW angle.
Last week, I talked about any possible statistical significance of a ratings increase. This week, the ratings went up 0.45, so is that a significant change? Well, on Excel, I ran a few tests, and my data seemed too inconclusive. With only 13 samples, since that's how many weeks RAW has faced no Nitro competition, I'm getting a few problems with numbers, namely if I do any t-tests with any standard deviation. So I can't say if the 0.45 is a drastic change, not yet. The WWF's rating has mostly decreased since their first RAW without Nitro, and their average has been around 4.7, which hurts the t-test when using this week's rating of 4.65. Now I am concluding, just from looking at the increase compared to last week that this is a significant change in the ratings, and that the WCW angle is total money for the WWF right now.
Enough with the scientific shit. The point is that the WWF has NOT increased like they have this week ever since the RAW after Wrestlemania, where they shot up by 1.0. So this is indeed good news for the WWF, and good news for wrestling fans, for the WCW angle will be pushed, full scale. It's also going to help the probability that WCW may take over RAW, but we'll see on that.
In other ratings news, Livewire and Superstars went down. I could probably do some good stats on theirs, since they have a much more stable mean than the RAW ratings. But anyway, they went down, and Heat went up I believe? I think Heat was 1.0 last week, which was its worst ever. The King of the Ring hype, which usually hurts Heat's ratings, actually helped it increase this week. Now that's funny.
-Phew! It's a good thing Steve Austin's hand isn't broken, although a nasty bruise is a bitch to deal with. Many rumors came about when Austin was hurt after the match, with some saying that certain WWF officials were mad at Booker T for what he did. Well, it's hard to blame Booker T when he was throwing Austin on a crappy table, like the announcing one. Aren't those the same tables that gave Kurt Angle a nasty concussion when they broke wrong on him? Why yes they are. Plus, Austin hurt his hand on a basic reaction to when falling down, and that's when you automatically put out your hands to catch your own fall. That's what Austin did off the side of the table, and thanks to the enclosed space the announcing area made with chairs, etc., he came out hurt. If there was such a blame on Booker T, then why was he able to attack the WWF's leading man, Vince McMahon, on RAW?
-Just from reading Diamond Dallas Page's commentary on DDPbang.com, you can just see how truly happy DDP is in the WWF right now. It's like the handcuffs were just released, for he was busting his ass in the Time Warner WCW, to no avail with the bad situation there. Now, he has the opportunity to boom his career, again, and get in his dream matches with guys like the Rock or Steve Austin. Oh yeah, and for those who think DDP self promotes himself too much or has a big ego... please read his book. That should tell you about the so called self promoting that he does. But anyway, DDP is extremely happy under the WWFE banner, and great matches and work will follow.
-A lot of readers are wondering why the WWF's developmental territories are beginning cuts. Well, it's my belief that the WCW talent are taking up some space on the vast WWF roster, especially if the WWF aren't able to get a regular show for WCW. With the long list of WCW wrestlers, the WWF can really specialize in the overall quality of performers for their company. That's good for the WWF's future, especially since WCW had a lot of future superstars on their roster, just waiting for the moment to come in.
-Mike Awesome's debut is being well received, and as a WWF champion now, the WWF should allow him to wrestle in a match on a WWF television show, because when it comes to violence, Mike Awesome is as hardcore as they come. Rhyno, especially now, versus Mike Awesome would be a money match, even if the WWF fans aren't fully behind either guy. They'd be shocked at the offense that Awesome can dish out, and the selling that Rhyno would do. The powerbomb on the ladder, backstage, should tell you how insane a match of theirs could be for the Hardcore Title. It's none of that PUSSY trashcan fighting that the WWF is accustomed to for Hardcore matches. By the way, I find it highly funny that Hardcore matches aren't allowed to use chairs for their matches... only trashcans.
-And Finally..... Billy Bitchcakes. Excuse me, I mean Billy Gunn. Now Monday's angle wasn't too bad, and before Edge ripped him a new one on the mic, it was probably the best thing he's done in the WWF for a while now. However, his match with Edge was just horrible, and things were made even worse when Edge had to cheat to beat Gunn. It comes a time and place where the WWF just must realize that this guy has no future potential, whatsoever. At least with Bob Holly, his intensity could take him up a few levels in the future, and Holly can at least work a match. Billy can't, and with the many many chances he's had in the WWF to succeed, he just can't get the job done. You can put him in WCW, and the same thing will happen. The only hope is for him to find a tag team partner, and even that's a bad issue now, with the way nobody cared about the New Age Outlaws, there at the end, in early 2000.
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@That's it for today. I shall be back with MORE PDC tomorrow, which will be more Daily Apples and some Smackdown hype. See you tomorrow!
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