Welcome back to the Phat Daily Column. The ratings, after the Columbus day delay, are in..and they are surprising! Well, I'll get into that in Ratings Analysis. I will say that there is lots of rumors flying around in the wrestling world...and hey, I just might want to bash or strike those today. On to the PDC.

Ratings Analysis

NITRO

First Hour: 3.6
Second Hour: 2.2
Third Hour: 2.0
Composite: 2.6

RAW is WAR

First Hour: 6.1
Second Hour: 6.0
Composite: 6.05

Head to Head

RAW: 6.05
Nitro: 2.1

-Oh my God! Nitro is going downhill, each and every week. This week is the worst I've seen in a while. Thunder posts the same numbers than Nitro now!!! What on earth is going wrong? I'll tell you. WCW still doesn't put up the show they need to. Each week I bitch about how their midcard sucks. Well, their midcard sucked once again, and the wrestling fans could care less, thus the low grades. Yes, you could say that there was some stiff competition, but Monday Night Football's rating was down with a 10.4. I think there was some baseball playoffs on too, Yes/No? But anyways, Nitro can do better. Not to bash WCW, but this is where the WWF was when they were behind during WCW's great run. They need to fight back now, and become new and innovative. Having Hogan as a third member of the Outsiders again isn't new and innovative.

WCW

-Speaking of Hogan, I've lots of rumors and stories about Hogan's 90 day thing as a work. Well, I'll believe it when I see it, and I'll also throw up if he rejoins the Outsiders to reform the NWO one more time. Remember what happened when you reformed Hall and Nash with Hogan...just remember what that did for ratings. Basically, fans want something new. Reforming the trio means you are giving us repetition, and that I'm never going to be nice on Monday Night grades to you guys again(Grades are coming back next Tuesday by the way). I'm hoping this is just a rumor, because we don't need another incarnation of the New World Order. It was great for its time, but the time right now doesn't have a place or doesn't give interest for it anymore.

-Yesterday on Huffman's hotline report, it said that Sting wants to desperately work his way back to babyface because the fans aren't accepting him as Sting. Heck, I've noticed that too, because I still hear the cheers that Sting gets. True Sting fans will still cheer for him, and not the WWF imports. It seems very resonable to turn him back. Why not? He doesn't tell off the crowd..and all he does is attack Hogan..the man who turned on Sting at Bash at the Beach in 1996..the same man who tried to bury WCW with the NWO. They wonder why people still cheer Sting.

-I'm really wondering what the current WCW booker team thinks about losing their positions to Bill Busch's purchases of Russo and Ferarra. They've gotta be pissed off as hell, especially Kevin Nash. Nash was obsessed with booking, as he enjoyed doing it. However, he always favored himself or he would favor those close to him..or he would have Hogan tell him how it is. Basically, Nash has done a shitty job at booking. The others are way too conservative, like Kevin Sullivan and Dusty Rhodes. They love the oldschool entertainment, when the new stuff is what grabs the ratings. Hey, if Hogan is possibly self destructing because of Russo and Ferarra, what says that Nash won't? Of course, everything seems to be a F'N work anymore.

-Lots of surgery for WCW wrestlers, as Shane Douglas's surgery the other day went well, and Big Poppa Pump is finally going under the knife. It's good to see that Scott Steiner is finally getting surgery, because he's wasted enough time trying to come back without surgery. Shane Douglas, on the other hand, will be out several weeks after this surgery. He's just itching to wrestle again because he can't really turn heel as just a manager at ringside. Well, it would be better if he did it during a wrestling match which he was in.

-Nitro just might get better. I have read all over the net about the proposal to make Nitro two hours every week in order to increase the demand of advertisers, and also give less stress to bookers. Hopefully, the Time Warner and TNT execs like the idea. Hopefully, they just chop off the 10-11 hour..that way, we can all end this annoying clicker cramp, and everyone can enjoy both federations more. But of course, WCW will cut the first hour because they want to compete...why do you think that WCW extended their show to 3 hours..because RAW moved up an hour..so they made their show 3 hours to compensate for it. Now, they might move it back to compete better again...kinda ironic.

WWF

-UPN is extremely happy with Smackdown. Not only do they like the good ratings they pull off in such rough competition, they really like how Smackdown is getting other weak shows a little better ratings. People think that the ratings would shoot up higher, but it's really hard on Thursdays. Thursdays have all of those viewers who love a good laugh, or want family type entertainment....not the quality of shows that the WWF puts on. But you never know, Smackdown might rule the networks one day....

-Word is, that the Undertaker is slated to make his return in about a month. Hopefully, he's 100%, because he was really struggling before he left. But of course, he can probably peform better than 80% of the WWF while injured. Also, Paul Bearer will come back around the same time, and he has been dropping pounds while off. I just hope the WWF decides to bring the duo back together, but only ditch this evil gimmick. God, I miss the old Undertaker..the one who would have the urn and the bodybags. I'm not much for this demonic crap.

-According to Slam! Wrestling, the WWF has signed Danny Doring's ECW valet Miss Congeniality to a deal. That's good, as she's one tough and I've heard that she has a wrestling background..something that many women wrestlers in the WWF lack. Anyways, she's pretty built if you haven't seen her, and she'll be a good contender.

Not much really on the WWF, since I don't talk about news from Spoilers

@That's all for today's Phat Daily Column. I'll be back tomorrow, and yes, the PDC Flashback has been dropped, but expect a monster column once October 26th hits, which is my one year anniversary of doing columns. Just chill till the next episode.

We've Got Your Apples here!

Take Care, and Thanks a Million for Reading Everyday.

Mr. Tito © 1999