Welcome to the Friday edition of the Phat Daily Column. Thank God the week is almost over, as it's been a stressful one. Well, anyway, we had Smackdown last night, and it was the first match for the Undertaker since before his many many injuries. Let's get into this, so on to the Phat Daily Column.

WWF

Smackdown was a typical WWF show lately. A couple of good matches, a funny segment here and there, a hyped main event, and nothing spectacular happens. Tonight's show was a great example of all of these, which isn't good when you are the top wrestling company in the world. The only newer thing going is the Undertaker, and that's where my interest has been heading lately...and that's it.

Months ago, many were considering RAW stale like many consider it today. They were proving how the Stephanie-Triple H era would be a complete failure due to the fact that the WWF kept dragging it out. Well, here we are, about 6 months or so from when that era has happened. So what has changed?

Well, the angle really wasn't supposed to last this long. The WWF heard those "slut" and "asshole" chants for every arena they went to, so they kept the angle going. Little did they know that it doesn't come across like that when you are watching the TV. Anyway, the main thing keeping it going was Triple H's wrestling. His main events this year at various WWF PPVs has proved why the WWF gave the title to him. However, getting there involves many dragging angles, especially when Mick Foley and the Rock were the main targets for those very matches.

The main thing I'm concerned with are the McMahons. I think that they've lost their edge over the past few months, but yet they keep getting on television more and more. It's also hard to deny them because each of them, except Linda, has brought great ratings before. They are all good performers, but the continual fight to screw over the Rock can seem, at times, very repetitive.

However, with the Undertaker's arrival helping out the main eventers, let's take a look at the midcard. Midcard is loaded with excellent wrestlers, but yet the crowds sometimes make no reaction to their excellent matches. Why is that? For one, they make some of their midcarders just pure wrestlers who "can put on a good match". In the WWF and sports entertainment era, it is very hard to get away with that. Fans usually want to know a character other than completely respect him for his wrestling ability. Midcarders, in my opinion, need some better angles and a few gimmicks to really spice that division up again.

Yes, the WWF is dominating the ratings. But what about in the long run? Right now, you have fans pending to watch WCW once again since Russo wants to compete again. If the WWF keeps putting on regular shows like Smackdown or RAW this week, Russo could slowly gain. RAW, two weeks ago, were in the low 6s while Russo gained from the precious week by a good margin. I think the WWF is relying on Stone Cold to be a great safety net, and they think the setting now would be perfect for his in-ring return.

Only time will tell to whether I'm right or wrong on the WWF for these paragraphs. It's just my opinion.

Todd Pettingill coming back to Livewire? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Pettingill is an artifact from the WWF's badtimes. It's not wise to relive those.

WCW

Thanks in part to the Coca Cola 600 race to determine positions in this weekend's race, Thunder helped itself to a 2.1 rating. This isn't bad, especially considering many fans could have thought that the show was cancelled. If you weren't patient like me or anybody else who wanted to watch the show, then the channel would have been changed real fast. I'm REAL curious on how this would do if it started on its regular time.

Lance Storm is set to enter WCW after Great American Bash. His commentary, yesterday, was a pretty good read. He mentioned he chose WCW because it fit right for him. I couldn't agree more, especially since you must have great charisma and a great attitude to wrestle in the WWF.

From Boyd's report earlier, it was reported that Slamboree had a terrible buyrate of 0.14. Wait a second, wasn't that the same Pay Per View which featured David Arquette coming into the event as World Champ? It sure was! So for any of you who dogged me for ripping the decision to put the title on Arquette, just take a look at that buyrate. That's final proof that Arquette was a waste of time for WCW, and hopefully, WCW has learned from this whole experience.

I still think that Raven possibly returning to WCW is a bunch of fluff. Seriously, this is the man who walked out of WCW when Bischoff challenged the whole locker-room to do so if they felt they were mistreated at WCW. Raven couldn't take any more, so he left. Now I've received many e-mails saying that Bischoff respected Raven for his decision, blah blah blah blah blah. I tend to disagree with that. I think his challenge to the locker-room was intended for him to take some control in the locker-room, and when Raven walked out, it showed lots of vulnerability in Bischoff's stand. Weeks after this, Bischoff was relieved of his duties at WCW.

@Nuff Said. I'll be back tomorrow with those wonderful ECW on TNN impressions, among other things. So just chill....till the next episode!

Backyard BBQ: LOTS of BACKYARD WRESTLING! Now that should be a good enough reason to CLICK HERE.

Take Care, and Listen to track #12 on Eminem's NEW CD.

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