Welcome back to the Phat Daily Column. We've got two shows, and should we say Thursday Night Wars? I don't know, but I might actually watch Thunder tonight. After a good Nitro, I'm wondering what the boys will do with it. Oh well. On to the PDC. Thanks to anyone who voted for me by the way yesterday in that contest. :)
-Yesterday, Peter Penney had a pretty good idea about what happened to Miss Elizabeth on Nitro. The idea is that Jeff Jarrett, who is known for his hatred towards women, could have layed her out! That is indeed a good thought, but I thought about this for a while yesterday. I don't really think that the Time Warner officials would enjoy that kind of entertainment in WCW. Just look what they did for Lenny and Lodi, and they would easily do it to Jarrett for attacking women. They would probably strike it down quickly if that idea happened since Jeff Jarrett is new again to WCW. It is a good thought, especially with Jarrett's angle creators in WCW.
-I thought of something yesterday, also, that would really help WCW...especially for Thunder. Before Bill Busch, the new WCW vice president, came into WCW, many wrestlers signed contracts which kept them from wrestling Thunder events. That is probably why Thunder lacks the star power every week, as the top talent doesn't have to wrestle it. If I were Busch, I would try to do something about this, or at least remember this thought when re-signing the top stars of WCW. If a hard working wrestler who gets paid less wrestlers Thunder, then a slacker who makes millions should too.
-I'm loving the news that Russo and Ferarra want to push Benoit heavily. Thank the lord! WCW was steadily pushing him, giving him the US title and the TV title, but they never had him defeat any big names..just lose to them. The new creative team recognizes Benoit's talent, as the other idiots in WCW were blind of it. Benoit, along with Malenko, is touring Japan currently, and he should be back by Halloween Havoc. He'll be at this upcoming Nitro for sure, so look for Benoit to make some kind of impact.
-Why were the Filthy Animals getting showtime on Nitro a lot you ask? The new creative team saw talent that was misused for the longest time, and they decided to push it heavily. Although they are all small, they wanted to establish them as a force when together. I agree that this group has probably the most talent of any group in WCW currently, but it's kind of hard to push a bunch of cruiserweights together, or at least make them a threat to other larger wrestlers.
-I've seen the lovely spoilers, and I will say it looks to be a subpar show, as nothing really spectacular happens. But don't think the WWF is falling out just yet. Many have told me yesterday about the Baseball playoff affecting wrestling's ratings. I say HOW ON EARTH CAN THAT HAPPEN. Ahem. Last week, there was a baseball playoff game, and look what happened. Raw still ruled the ratings, and Nitro had their lowest ratings in a while. But this week, same situation with the baseball game, but RAW dropped in ratings, and Nitro shot up! So I think WCW improved right there. But then again, I stress don't believe that the WWF is going down. Everytime you think they are going down lately, they jump back up! They had their wake up call back in 1996, and I know the McMahons would NEVER let that happen again. I bet if they turned a certain Stone Cold wrestler heel, the ratings would go through the roof!
-One thing I will say about the WWF, and I've seen that in a few other columns as well, is the fact that Vince McMahon or anyone else can no longer bitch about "Billionaire Ted" stealing their talent. The WWF makes millions...and millions of dollars a year now, and they even make more since they went public. I believe the WWF is on the same level as "Billionaire Ted", so if there is no need to fuss over a talent raid when they happen.
-Well, Stone Cold will be on Nash Bridges this Friday. I'm wondering how pissed stars like Don Johnson and Cheech Martin with the only time they really get good ratings is when Stone Cold's character is on the show. It just goes to show you that wrestling does have an impact, and it even has impact on sorry shows with an 80's washed up actor and a man who needs to make another movie with Chong.
-Well, reports everywhere say that Hak, or Sandman, or Jim Fullington or whatever the hell you want to call him, might go back to ECW for a one time deal..like a lovely run in. Calvin Martin reported that Heyman is only interested in Hak short term. I guess that's what Hak gets for leaving the company so abruptly about a year ago. Of course, a year ago, there was not much for the Sandman to accomplish, unless he could have fought Sabu about 100 more times.
@That's it for today's edition. Thanks again for reading. I'll be back tomorrow....and I will also have somewhat of a surprise for October 26th, which is my one year anniversary of writing these columns. Just chill, till the next episode.
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Take Care, and Happy Wrestling.