Picture courtesy of WrestlePalooza.com

Welcome back to the Phat Daily Column, the column that contains my opinions and mine only, although they are not fact or everyone else's opinion. Today, we'll go random, discussing topics like ratings and whatever else comes to mind. We will, however, avoid talking about Bill Goldberg's comments towards the WWF.

But I will say this. With these comments, everyone is claiming that Bill Goldberg is displaying his massive ego, or whatever. Just to let you all know, if you didn't already, Bill Goldberg is very active in charities or causes, especially now on his free time. He just doesn't do it for an "ego", or he wouldn't spend as much time as he does with it, even when he was still an active wrestler for WCW. Goldberg spends more time on special causes than the average athlete or celebrity. That's the truth, and it could have been what sparked his comments.

However, if you want TRUE ego, why not look at Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon. Their actions on the Thursday after the terrorists attacks on Smackdown were FAR WORSE than Goldberg's poke at the WWF. Vince gloated about being the 1st event after the attacks, and Stephanie compared the tragedy to her family's federal steroid trials.

And you know what? Nobody is blaming them for an ego. Oh no, the trained and condition WWF marks can't have anything wrong with two key figureheads of the federation they get off on. Oh no. However, once an outside wrestler makes some sort of comments about the tragedy, let's jump all over him. Please. Goldberg just questioned why the WWF wasn't helping out, since any other New York form of entertainment was helping out (again, Stamford, Connecticut is close to NY, which many people consider the WWF to be based out of New York City). That's not bragging, and it's definitely not comparing his own personal problems to the tragedy. But no need to blame the McMahons for anything, who have done more evil than Bill Goldberg could ever dream of.

I remember that I questioned, last week, if Bill Goldberg would use his site to give us his official status on his wrestling career. Well, I suppose he answered that question this week, and from what I've heard, he's going to officially answer it in more depth next week or something.

On to the PDC.

DAILY APPLES

-RAW is WAR tumbled in the ratings with their 4.4 rating. I remember when the Invasion and the Rock's return was keeping this show to at LEAST in the late 4's. In my opinion, I felt that show just lacked the energy that can make the WWF very enjoyable to watch. I don't know if it was the return to the interview-sets-up-the-show format, or what, but it never really clicked with me this week. The WWF seemed to have went back to the short matches format, while trying to tell a story with bad writing. Who knows? Maybe it was just having Paul Heyman tell us Austin's thoughts from a fax machine?

But across the board, opinions ranged the same. Usually, I check out a few of the more respectable opinions on RAW, like Scott Keith from Wrestleline and Nilton Fernandes from Observer after I finish up Tuesday's column. Otherwise, I float around to the message boards and read what the readers have to say, via e-mail. Sometimes, my opinion on what occurred on RAW is completely off with everyone else, while other times, it totally agrees. This week was one of those weeks where everyone agreed that RAW wasn't good.

-And while we're on the subject of RAW... It will take a while to get used to the show being called just "RAW" instead of "RAW is WAR". Sure, I grew up watching the show when it was originally called WWF RAW (besides Prime Time Wrestling), but the WWF has really pushed the RAW is WAR theme on us ever since 1997. With the title change, I hope that the WWF could also change the ring entrance, theme music, and the look of the show as well. Smackdown shouldn't have had the makeover that it had, since it should have been for RAW. The WWF has basically kept the same look since 1997, besides some screen additions. It sure wouldn't hurt, although the RAW equipment is probably very expensive.

-I completely laugh at the WWF doing weigh-ins at the recent set of shows lately. Hell, I'm trying to stay on this chair and write the column while laughing. Why? Because there's a terribly out of shape guy that would get busted. OH WAIT, it just so happened that he was at WWF NY for RAW this week. Wow, imagine that. Who would have known to send him out there when the WWF decided to check on the conditions of their wrestlers? Couldn't have been the same friend who brought the Big Slow back from Ohio Valley Wrestling? *cough*Shane*cough* Oh no, that would be insane.

-I'm not sure what to believe about the William Regal vs. Lance Storm match. After Regal's nose got busted open, he was sort of pounding Lance Storm into next week, and the Regal stretch was sinched in nicely. Regal has had some history of going off on wrestlers, including one Bill Goldberg, who has been receiving a lot of internet press lately. To tell you the story again, Bill Goldberg forgot a sequence of moves during his match with Lord Steven Regal on a Nitro. Once Regal got a hold of Goldberg in a submission, he was said to have stretched Goldberg more than he should. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and Regal gave Goldberg enough trust to allow him to hit the Jackhammer for the win.

-WWF Tough Enough did a decent 2.5 rating. That's pretty good, considering that the show had a 2 week layoff from the Mtv Music Awards and the terrorist attacks. Of course, the WWF plugged the hell out of show on both RAW and Smackdown leading up to the finale, but the WWF tries to plug Heat and Excess every once in a while, and look where that goes. The show is a definite success, although it's on the wrong network because Mtv is a total joke for any male audiences to gain motivation to even watch anymore.

But let's get back to the subject of Tough Enough 2. The other day, I discussed how everyone was unsure about how the show would do with independent wrestlers instead of anyone off the street. I thought about it, pondered over it, and whatever else. With independent wrestlers, Al Snow and the other trainers could quickly get into something that Maven, Chris, Josh, Taylor, or Nidia weren't trained enough to do. Plus, did you see Chris at the beginning of the season? He had SOME wrestling training, and with that, his way of doing things clashed with a few of the trainers' ways. Imagine having a whole squad of these?

In a way, though, I feel that independent wrestlers having the chance of the lifetime could be a good thing. Many potential superstars are stuck in independent regions with no exposure. The next big thing could be out there, waiting to be discovered. However, he (or she) could try out for Tough Enough and get some television exposure. I'm sure that a whole bunch of independent wrestlers were near having tears when they saw any average Joe off the street getting a shot to work for the WWF, via Tough Enough one.

I don't know... but I'm highly interested in Tough Enough 2, if it has SOME drama compared to the first series. I am somewhat discouraged about putting this show in LA, because the contestants will be living in a house on the beach. That has Mtv Real World all over it. Whenever Tough Enough got too personal with the contestants, it hurt the overall motivation for the show, and that is to see who will get the WWF contract. Who knows?

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@That's all for today. I'm sure I'll receive EVEN MORE Bill Goldberg feedback to fill up my introduction tomorrow. Boy, I really can't wait for that. So until next time....

Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.

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