Yet another wonderful day to talk about wrestling! The ratings are in with some shocking numbers! I wonder if ECW on TNN defeated anybody this week... Anyway, today, I'm bringing back the Phat Video Review, as I have one of the newer WCW tapes to review. All of this and then some, so let's get right to it!

Ratings Analysis

NITRO

First Hour: 3.0
Second Hour: 2.5
Composite: 2.75

RAW is WAR

First Hour: 5.9
Second Hour: 6.9
Composite: 6.4

HEAD to HEAD

RAW: 5.9 Tito's Prediction: 6.2
Nitro: 2.5 Tito's Prediction: 2.3

ECW vs. Lower-End Shows

Livewire: 1.3
Superstars: 2.0
WCW Saturday Night: 1.4
ECW on TNN: 1.3

-Once again, RAW clobbered Nitro. What can I say, the WWF is way too powerful now, and WCW is very weak for the moment..or are they? A few people have mentioned that WCW is just like the WWF was before they became what they were today. Not to bash the ones who thought of this, but here's my opinion. Back in the day when the WWF was losing, they didn't have the bad backstage politics. They didn't have wrestlers bickering and crying like they are in WCW. The WWF then was simply lazy, and they still did what they still do today, and that is to make the World Champ someone who is over. The WWF back then suffered from a weak midcard, and too many shows were taped back then. WCW, in my opinion, is WAY different. They have bookers who tend to their friends, old guys who refuse to put over younger guys, and the morale in the lockerrooms is very low, as in wrestlers are very unhappy with their situation. That wasn't the WWF back then.

-For the new ECW vs. Lower-End Shows segment, you can see that ECW just missed beating WCW Saturday Night, which I was counting on happening. Instead, ECW on TNN tied with WWF Livewire!!!! That's not bad, considering they both get about the same amount of viewers each time that they are on. Livewire attracts children on Saturday Mornigns, and ECW attracts whoever watches on a Friday Night. Point being that they've tied a WWF show! I didn't expect Livewire to be the closest one yet because of their 1.7 rating last week. ECW almost tied Saturday Night too, as I'm wondering why more people watched that show than last week. Well anyway, congrats ECW, as it would be nice if you could defeat all 3 shows.

WCW

-One thing that continually bothers me is all of the time that WCW wrestlers STILL take off. Look at Hogan and Sting. They only do promos to hype their pay per view matches. That's all. So they work, what, maybe 5 times a month? That is very sad, as they should be busting their asses on Nitro and Thunder. Both shows could use an extra name to get better ratings. Lord only knows that Sid Vicious and Jeff Jarrett aren't draws. As for Hogan, he has the excuse of being under a "pay per appearance" deal, so I guess they want to save their money, but then again, they will lose money for weak buyrates by not building up a good match. Sting on the other hand should be at EVERY WCW television event. He's still the most over wrestler there, as the WCW fans remaining are the ones who grew up watching him.

-When Goldberg comes back from his ridiculous injury, WCW has plans to build the company around him. Oh please. WCW has tried that, remember? Remember when Goldberg was world champ? The ratings went slowly down, but of course, there were other problems going on during that time. He's not the one to build around, as you shouldn't just have one guy to rely on. WCW has struggled with that idea with Hulk Hogan and Sid, who have proven during this time, that one can't carry a company. Besides, Goldberg is very injury prone anymore, so why give him the ball?

WWF

-A lot of people have been badmouthing Vince McMahon for his decision about the "Beyond the Mat" ads. Here is what I think: Vince does have a valid point. Why you ask? Who let the "Beyond the Mat" crew in the WWF lockerroom and at events to film this documentary? Who would watch this thing if WWF footage was even in it? For the director of the film to keep ignoring the fact that Vince helped his movie out in the first place is ridiculous. Then you could say that Vince is being a "bastard" for keeping the ads off his shows because of the fact that he wanted to buy the film. Well, when you have a good part of it involving your WWF wrestlers, wouldn't you? Another thing...you can tell that the director or producer, or whatever he is just wants money. That's right, because he's desparately wanting a good rub of WWF shows to get viewers. Now that's what I'm talking about!

-Some are saying that Triple H is somewhat becoming a "Kevin Nash" in the lockerroom for being so close to the owner and main decision maker, Vince McMahon. But this is a good "Kevin Nash", as in that Triple H isn't having his friends as champions, nor is he holding down younger talent like the real Kevin Nash as a close man to the bosses of his company does. I just hope that nothing gets to his head in this position, because the WWF doesn't need something like that in their lockerroom. If that does happen, Vince McMahon will notice it, and do something about it. It's not like WCW, where all the problems aren't noticed.

Mr. Tito's Phat Video Review

Since my brother is one of the biggest Ric Flair fans in the world, he bought the most recent Flair video, which is part of the WCW Superstar Series, entitled "The Nature Boy Ric Flair". Since it's still recent, I figured that it would be nice to review. So here goes:

The Nature Boy Ric Flair

The video starts out with his match with Sting at Great American Bash 1990. You are probably like "where was his other history". For that, you must buy "Ric Flair: 3 Decades of Excellence", as I think that's the title of the video. Anyway, the whole video is commentated by Ric Flair, and he has some great thoughts and opinions to lay on you. They are in FAST FOWARD through his career up until his long feud with Eric Bischoff for the power of the company. The best thing was when Flair said that he wanted Hogan and Savage into WCW. He said that he was heavily involved in getting them into WCW, and he was very willing to put both over. That says a lot!

I disagree with Flair on his opinion on the New World Order. He said that the 4 Horsemen were way better, but yet to this day, the Horsemen never drew the ratings. New World Order caught the wrestling world on fire, and the Horsemen only attracted oldschool fans. Another thing on the video, which I was shocked by, was the Eric Bischoff feud. Flair didn't bash him on the video, but somewhat praised him! They showed their long feud for power over the company. I didn't realize how good of a feud that was! Flair's commentary throughout the video is probably worth a look at, as he self proclaims himself as the best wrestler ever in professional wrestling. In a way I agree, and in another I don't. At least he put over everyone and their mother, but yet he couldn't let Vampiro pin him a few weeks ago on Thunder(oops, did I say that?)

Anyway, if you love Ric Flair, buy this video! If you want to look into the mind of Ric Flair, and see his personal thoughts on the wrestling world, buy the video! If you are looking for a good highlight reel, well, all I can say is that the Bischoff feud for power was very well covered in this video, and that's that. But overall, it was a good watch, and probably one of the best Superstar Series videos that WCW has ever made. I'll give it an

A-

for an overall good video. Keep in mind that the video is covering the recent Flair, and not the Flair of the past...as I wonder if that is a turn off for fans.

Tito's Video Dreamlist:
Owen Hart WWF video, Hell in the Cell collection, Best of King of the Ring, WWF Ladder Match collection, a newer video on Mick Foley, Best of Royal Rumble, a good NWO tape(the Superstar Series one sucks!), and many others that I'm hoping that the video divisions of the federations start making. Oh it would be so nice of them to do so.

Tomorrow: Hopefully, an ECW Hardcore Revolution for N64 review. Hopefully.

@That's it for today. I'll be back with the usual Thunder ramblings, and I'm hoping for a certain video game review to happen as well! So just chill..till the next episode. 3 weeks until 1 year of consecutive columns!

It's Fantastic

Take Care, and Thanks, as always, for reading everyday.