-Smackdown kept up the good work last Thursday, as they continued their success with a strong 4.8 rating. Things should go up for the WWF once Thunder disappears from the Thursday scene. This show is really starting to get some respect now with the PTC laying off(finally), and things like TV GUIDE praising them for toning their violence and adult themes down. Oh well, I guess I'll be seeing how good Smackdown really is in 2000.
-WWF has to be proud of how good WWF Volume 4 and Wrestlemania 2000 are doing. I keep seeing excellent numbers produced everyweek by WWF 4 in sales and they are holding their own for a wrestling album in the Billboard charts. Wrestlemania 2000 has to be the hottest selling game out there. From who I've talked to at close by retailers, they've never seen a game sell out so quickly. I've hear that it's the same thing everywhere else as well. I said to hell with waiting on my recent stores and ordered in online as I should have it by next week. I'm sure WM2K will easily become the top selling wrestling video game of all time.
-I guess my head wasn't Y2K compliant yesterday, as I forgot to tape ECW on TNN!!!!! AHHHHH! I missed the rematch of Tanaka and Awesome..what a horrible way to start 2000! From the lovely results I can see that Mike Awesome is your champ again. I just hope he destroys Little Spike Dudley like he should at the man of his size and bump taking ability. It seems like the Bam Bam feud all over again with Spike, as Spike got the best of him on the shows, and Bam Bam crushed him at the Pay Per View. It will follow suit here.
-WCW Best of Nitro only did a 1.7 which isn't bad for not hyping it very much. I didn't bother to watch it because I watched last years. I hear that it was nothing but Hogan and Bill Goldberg, mostly, and that's a damn shame. The man of Nitro was Sting and the best parts of Nitro were the ORIGINAL New World Order's chaos. Sting walked the rafters and so many people got compelled from that. I bet they didn't show the very first meeting with Sting and Hulk Hogan way back in 1995 when Hogan thought Sting was turning bad. Remember? Can you remember Sting putting Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock, and Hogan screaming to Macho: "He's Gonna Break It Macho!!" Of course, that match was killed off by the Dungeon of Doom, but it was a significant part of Nitro. I bet they showed a good bit of Hogan and a good bit of him during his final title runs when ratings were dropping. Same with Goldberg. Ratings dropped when he was champ. Look who they circled the show around too.
-My God, some are speculating that the "Tito Award winner for Overrated Wrestler" Bill Goldberg will be out for longer than expected. His damaged arm needed plastic surgery the night he hurt it, and he walked out of the hospital with 40 stitches. So you can scratch him from Souled Out already, and possibly from the two following that as well. Yikes! This hurts a company that wishes to center everything around Bill Goldberg. With Sting also out, I guess you should let the NWO act like good guys with the lack of faces around at WCW right now. Of course, you can keep them heel as it took months for faces of WCW to start attacking the original NWO.
-WCW is finally getting some good talent to show up at houseshows, as I've recieved good feedback on houseshows from fans. I've seen the talent line ups on results here at LoP, and they do look much better than they did before. I guess this is one thing that Russo is doing great for WCW, and it's somehow getting his wrestlers to participate more. Before, the main eventers would only wrestle Nitro and Pay Per Views and they would leave Chunder and houseshows out in the cold. Now they are living up to their million dollar contracts by wrestling everything just like the low payed midcardes have had to do for years!
@That's all I have for today, as there is not much going on for the first day of 2000. What's my New Year's resolution? To keep bringing the Phat Daily Column to you everyday like I have been for the past year. I will also try to be a little nicer on the grades, and not let personal preferences get in my way. If I see something that I don't like, I will continue to express my opinions in this very column. Oh well, enjoy the first day of 2000!
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Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.