Note: I quickly scanned through all of my e-mail yesterday. If you didn't get an answer or anything, sorry. But I did look at them all, and answered as much as I can. I've been very busy lately, so sorry if you needed anything answered.
Where did the wrestling viewers go? RAW after a pay per view only produced a 5.7 in the first hour??? Why of course it did! They started out with the Rock(acting like Stone Cold) interview, and they had repetitive Benoit vs. Rikishi and Xpac vs. Jericho matches. Considering that 0.7 or so left Nitro to watch the night after the Pay Per View, RAW didn't fair too well in the first hour. They did do better in the second, as they stacked, or at least tried, the card for the second hour. Nitro's new product is producing the same ratings it did during the Russo era...and he's coming back!
Nitro beat Heat, barely, in the head to head this week. However, you go by hours, and Heat defeated Nitro's second hour....but Heat doesn't have much competition for Sunday nights at 7 pm, as it was only created because USA Networks wanted a tie in for their Sunday night line up. Oh wait, they are going to lose that!
Saturday Night produced a 1.4 in its final show in primetime, as it will now be on TBS at 11 am on Saturday mornings. WCW shouldn't even care about the ratings for this show, as the old format of just wrestling and no recaps helped out many Power Plant wrestlers get a feel for the ring and television at the same time. Now, it's just a recap show, and it will suck as bad as Superstars and Livewire, who seem to only get 1.4 or so at most...that's what the Saturday Night show was getting! ECW on TNN....maybe next week will be the FINAL night for them on Friday night...on TNN. WWF will shove them away really soon.
But this case will impact a whole lot of things. First off, the Face Value of the WWF will definately go up, because a big market like Viacom has decided to throw out a nice chunk of change for the WWF. This deal will ultimately help the WWF fund the XFL, and of course, increase the WWF's total revenue. Then again, if the demand for wrestling, or at least the WWF, drops, then Viacom could be pound their fists at this HUGE investment. Of course, I'd throw a lot of money and trust into something that turned around a station like UPN. Now if it saves TNN, then Viacom made one hell of an investment!
Well, I guess it's official with the NO PILEDRIVER rule in the WWF. I take it that the DDTs are allowed, especially since the Rock does them every match. But wait, if we take away his DDT, then the Rock will only have 5 moves left to use! I'm surprised nothing has come about on Powerbombs. Then again, the Powerbomb is one of the coolest moves to watch, and it always pumps the crowd up. But I'd say the Powerbomb is twice as dangerous as the Piledriver is, as the Powerbomb could kill someone when done wrong...even worse neck damage than a Piledriver.
Well, for those of you who have enjoyed the past 2 Nitros without Vince Russo, look no further, because Vinnie Roo is coming back to the booking team, and once again, as Head Booker. Yay, back to confusion, and back to angles where a bunch of midcarders are used at once in one segment! This past Nitro was the most understandable Nitro in a long time, with some good action. Good storylines + Good action = Good Wrestling show. Maybe someone from the top can tell Russo how happy most of the locker-room was in his absence. Just when WCW starts to improve......
@That's all for today's edition of the Phat Daily Column. I'll be back tomorrow with more PDC to go around, so just chill...
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