The Wrestling Sandwich 02.18.12

This week I’d like to start out by hoping everyone will join me in saying a prayer for Jesse Sorensen after his C1 injury from Against All Odds and that hopefully he will be 100% recovered as soon as possible. The most recent update on him from the sites is that he’s regaining feeling in his limbs and is expected to be out for a year to recuperate but he is expected to recuperate fully.

Predictably, the people who talk tough every week couldn’t put together the Sandwich which gives me the right to put whatever I want in this week’s edition. Some of you may think it was all going to be politics or some such but no, I actually have some wrestling related topics for you. One of my guest commenters asked me to do a Road to WrestleMania guest booking that would raise the buyrate and make it more interesting… so that’s what I’m doing today to replace Old School and Take 5 for this particular week. The RTW will not be too different because I am limiting myself to working with current signed talent but I’ll do my best to try and make this year’s craptacular WrestleMania into an event people will actually enjoy beyond seeing Rock kick Cena’s ass and then likely lose in his hometown. Yep, always a great booking decision there!

That’s all there is for this intro because we have plenty of news to get to so let’s go!

Top Stories of the Week!

Lead Stories

1. Weekly Ratings Roundup

TNA Impact Wrestling – 1.0, 1.5 million viewers (down slightly)
WWE Smackdown – 2.1, 3.2 million viewers (down slightly)
WWE RAW – 2.9, 4.1 million viewers (down significantly)

Impact stays steady, actually drawing a full 1.05 although it did take a slight loss from the week before. However, it was nothing compared to the hell that came for WWE RAW! Smackdown slightly dropped viewers as it was reported it had done a 2.17 rating, but that dropped to 2.13 the next day in a subsequent post on the number. RAW is the panic button of the week, dropping under a 3 rating during the Road to WrestleMania and only gaining a two-hour average of 4.1 million viewers. For the first time in a while, the second hour actually gained in viewership compared to the previous hour.

According to the ratings breakdown for RAW, people seemed to like the debate segment and not Jericho’s match with Kingston. They also liked Orton and Big Show and almost one million people jumped to watch WWE RAW when Shawn Michaels appeared! Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth lost over 600,000 fans, which just proves what I’ve said all along about Ziggler and the Cena/Eve segment combined with the Tamina/Brie match lost over 320,000 viewers. The final match of the evening with Punk taking on Miz was the lowest in the show, getting a 2.77 rating and losing 139,000 viewers as well. The overrun added 505,000 viewers to see Ryder take a giant spill from Kane off the ramp.

So, what you can determine from this is that once again the older stars are the big draws, people like debates, Divas matches and Dolph Ziggler matches are show killers, The Miz isn’t especially liked and the mainstream does not appear to be a fan of CM Punk.

WWE YouTube Numbers and Views:

Subscribers (as of Feb 16th): 382,476

Are You Serious? second edition – 72,984 viewers (drop from 194,774)
Santino’s Foreign Exchange second edition – 86,696 viewers (drop from 181,522)
WWE Inbox Second and Third edition: 129,847 for #2 and 7,773 for #3 as of Feb 16th
WWE Download with Dolph Ziggler – Episode 2: 83,558 Episode 3: 17,127
Z! True Long Island Story – episode #51 – 144,484 episode #52 – 136,954
WWE Presents – Bellas Tour West Point – 34,731 views

Thus far, WWE is losing viewers overall from the shows as people tuned in for the original ones and then began tuning out almost as quickly. The top show, obviously, is Zack Ryder’s own YouTube shows while the WWE sponsored ones are having a difficult time even trying to keep up with it.

Meanwhile, TNA now has 395.5 million views on their channel and 173,105 subscribers. Overall, TNA videos have more viewers and the highest number of views while WWE has the most subscribers on the channel. The number one video between the two is TNA’s Awesome Kong title victory with over five million hits thus far. Their recent TNA Impact Wrestling Post Show hit 11,846 viewers while their Before the Bell video on the Fourway title match at Against All Odds hit 21,558 views. TNA does not have specific programming for YouTube outside what they also air on their website, and usually have match clips uploaded every week of Impact and Xplosion matches. WWE is putting multi-million dollar campaigns together for YouTube and not beating TNA by much and losing overall in total video views.

But of course, I’m sure putting Santino Marella in the Elimination Chamber to replace Randy Orton will fix all of that. HAHAHAHA!

2. TNA Against All Odds Quick Recap

The Show:
1. X-Division #1 contenders match: Zema Ion wins due to legitimate injury to Jesse Sorensen – N/R due to injury.
2. TV Championship: Robbie E defeated Shannon Moore with the DDT **3/4
3. Knockouts Championship: Gail Kim defeated Tara with Eat Defeat ***
4. TNA Tag Team Championship: Samoa Joe and Magnus defeated Crimson and Matt Morgan when Magnus hit the second rope elbow on Morgan for the pin and the titles. ***
5. TNA X-Division Championship: Austin Aries defeated Alex Shelley with the Last Chancery (bridging guillotine choke) ****
6. Kazarian defeated AJ Styles with the Fade To Black reverse piledriver ****
7. Gunner defeated Garett Bischoff with a DDT **
8. World Championship Fourway Match: Robert Roode defeated James Storm, Bully Ray, and Jeff Hardy when Sting accidentally hit Hardy with the title belt and Roode pinned him. ***3/4

Best Booking of the Night: Keeping the heels strong

Worst Booking of the Night: Bischoff/Gunner got way too much time; Bischoff needs time to improve his skills first.

A very good PPV that delivered on several matches and in my view potentially already a match of the year candidate with either the X-Division title match or the AJ/Kazarian one-on-one match. Before I do discuss the PPV I’d like to point out that Jesse Sorensen was legitimately injured during the first match and therefore it is unrated as things had to be stopped immediately so he could be transported to the hospital. Obviously my thoughts and prayers are with him and I hope he recovers fully very soon. We now know that he has sustained an injury to his C1 vertebrae but is expected to make a full recovery, although doctors apparently believe he’ll require a year to do so. Even if you despise me, at least think of Jesse and say a prayer for him.

The matches actually delivered as well as you could ask these particular matches to deliver. Robbie E worked with somebody who helped steer him away from his weaknesses, the tag title match was good and had a couple of surprises, and the X-Division title match obviously stole the show away as you’d expect these two to do. Brutal spots with these guys!

Kazarian and Styles put on a clinic afterwards and that was followed by the worst match of the night with Gunner and Garett Bischoff, although it wasn’t a terrible match. Bischoff is still very hesitant and not timing his moves exactly right as expected from a rookie, and he shouldn’t have gotten this much time on a live event. Gunner going over was the right decision as it made Garett look like somebody who works hard and never gives up when he begged Hogan not to throw in the towel even though he couldn’t fight back effectively. I think giving this kid a few months in the training ring will do wonders for his career and I’m not holding any bias for or against him because of who his father is. Garett seems like he could be a good prospect down the line!

Roode delivered the chickenshit heel ending of endings when not only did he spit in Sting’s face but also Sting had to count the pinfall after hitting Hardy with the title! Oh that was a wonderful little surprise! The shit eating grin on Roode’s face as he covered Hardy was awesome to watch and shows just how well the character works, and with Hardy out it appears Storm may very well step up to get another one-on-one with Roode which will be classic.

Very good event, kept the champions strong and put more barriers to overcome for the face challengers. I also loved the fact Roode won the match in that fashion as it just does wonders for his character! Right now it certainly does pay to be Roode.

3. WrestleMania Card Predictions

1. Main Event: John Cena vs. The Rock (confirmed)
2. WWE Championship: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
3. World Championship: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus
4. IC Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Goldust/Dustin Rhodes
5. MITB likely involving Wade Barrett, Ted Dibiase, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Tyson Kidd, and possibly Bourne if he stays.
6. Celebrity Stupidity: Big Show vs. Shaq
7. Diva’s Championship: Beth Phoenix vs. Kharma

So, um, yeah that’s pretty much what I’m looking at for the “biggest” event of the year.

The word making its way around is that Big Show and Shaq apparently are going to have some sort of match that as usual won’t end well for the Big Show or any fans of actual wrestling on the event. At this point in time should the card happen exactly as predicted we’ll be seeing Punk/Jericho or the MITB match as the top match of the night without any difficulty. Orton and Henry are questionable for the event due to injuries and it is possible Mysterio will return by WrestleMania but not Cara and that is no loss. If there is no IC title match expect Rhodes to go in the MITB match instead, but if they don’t have one of those either I would surmise that they’ll have an interbrand MITB match in July on whatever the name of that PPV will be.

4. TNA Impact Quick Recap

1. TNA World Championship: Bobby Roode defeated Jeff Hardy with a Spear ***1/4
2. X-Division Tag Team Match: Austin Aries and Zema Ion defeated Alex Shelley and Shannon Moore when Ion rolled up Shelley **1/2
3. Knockouts Battle Royal: Madison Rayne eliminated Velvet Sky to become the #1 contender to the Knockout’s Championship ***
4. #1 Contenders Match: James Storm defeated Bully Ray via Last Call ***1/4

Best Booking of the Night: Bobby Roode and Bully Ray Heel It Up

Worst Booking of the Night: Madison Rayne as the new #1 contender

So we got a decent broadcast tonight although it wasn’t quite up to the last two weeks but still good nonetheless!

First off, I have to disagree with my colleague Greg DeMarco because I didn’t think the moves were done too soon as this is just how those guys wrestle and what happened to Sorensen was a freak accident. As we saw on RAW, even attempting the RKO can give somebody a concussion if they do not properly time it and prepare for it and these guys have to perform the way they are used to performing. One reason is that if they suddenly stop doing anything risky and then go back to it they’d likely end up hurt more often due to being rusty on the timing.

Angle returned tonight to cost Hardy a victory, which was just great since I could care less about that drug addicted slime ball. Roode continues to be the best world champion in the sport right now as it seems no matter what he keeps walking out with the title and lately, getting pinfalls rather than DQ’s or countouts as well. This helps emphasize his strengths and makes him less of a coward although we all know he’ll stoop to it if he has to.

Aries and Ion are obviously set for a heel attempting to upstage other heel match soon, but worked well as a team and put away their opponents before going into their attempts to one-up each other. It was fun as Ion yelled over for Aries to take notes and then Aries would tag in and tell him to get out and just picked up the pace. As far as the match goes, I’m pretty sure it’ll be a good one when it happens.

I like Madison Rayne, but I don’t think anybody at this point believes she can win the title over Gail Kim. What I believe is happening is that Rayne goes for the title, comes up short, and either Velvet or a debuting ex-WWE Diva comes in to win the championship. I do hope Velvet gets another title run but it might be Melina, as she is rumored to be facing Velvet in an upcoming indy match. I wonder if that’s to prepare her for the TNA Knockout style?

Again disagreeing with DeMarco I liked the attack on the leg by Bully Ray to the point he stripped Storm’s boot and kneepad off and just clobbered on his leg. If you noticed, Storm never got a clean and accurate kick in as much as he hopped a bit and then hobbled into a pin cover showing he was in massive pain and unable to keep his weight on his foot. He was able to sell as much as possible and did a good job of it, making me think of the time Macho Man removed his own boot against Bret Hart at SNME and put on a selling clinic although it wasn’t quite that good. Ray is an old-school wrestler and seeing the old-school touch put on the beat down was just great for me.

5. WWE Suffering From Injury Bug

It has not been a very good week to call yourself a WWE employee. The week started out innocently enough with the story Cena paid his roofing bill which proved the company did do a legitimate job and Cena was stiffing them on the bill but came clean after several months. But after that, things went south in a hurry.

Monday’s RAW saw a concussion suffered by Randy Orton although some believe it is a cover story hiding a back injury or shoulder injury while others think it is totally kayfabe. You will remember Orton also had a back injury earlier this year and a concussion last year, which brings great doubt about his ability to compete in the ring much longer without injuries.

A lot of the idiots point towards TNA’s Against All Odds PPV as having injured one wrestler but the truth is that particular move and that particular sequence are practiced often and it was simply a freak accident. Jesse Sorensen is expected to make a full recovery, thankfully, but WWE has seen quite a few injuries racked up lately.

Currently the following wrestlers are out from one injury or another:

Mark Henry – working day-to-day despite groin injury and apparently some sort of knee issue
Rey Mysterio – Out indefinitely due to knee issues
Alberto Del Rio – Out for a few more weeks due to torn groin
Christian – Out indefinitely for an ankle injury
Sin Cara – Out indefinitely due to ruptured patella
Randy Orton – Concussion, out of Elimination Chamber PPV and out indefinitely

Layla is still finishing her return to the ring from a torn ACL and MCL, Undertaker’s actual ability to compete in a match is unknown at this time after appearing having more surgeries this past year, R-Truth thankfully is okay after a botched spot with The Miz from two weeks ago, Eve suffered a broken nose two weeks ago, and basically the company is looking like the walking wounded just a month and about two and a half weeks before WrestleMania!

I continue to say the “4 day on, 3 day off” workload is bullshit and should not be forced on any wrestler because of the high probability they will be so worn down they will get injured, and the WWE is pushing injured guys to work hurt anyway which just creates more problems. Orton and Henry need more time to recuperate as this is now the second time Orton has come back and gotten injured in three months! Henry got a second injury thanks to trying to work around his first one, and who the hell even knows what else isn’t reported? WrestleMania is an important event and it is possible more injuries could come from the Elimination Chamber match if one single thing goes wrong so putting Mark Henry in it along with Khali and the Big Show is asking for disaster.

Smartest Thing of the Week: TNA Lockdown Main Event Is Set

The one match I have a ton of interest in for Lockdown will be James Storm challenging Robert Roode for the TNA Championship. While obviously the specter of WrestleMania will hang above the month I’m through tossing my money to watch two-minute matches and lame returns so I’ll be watching Lockdown for the first year ever. The simple fact of the matter is that Storm and Roode have good chemistry as partners and opponents and both guys can wrestle, and when you add in the steel cage and some blood you can have a hell of a grudge match that’ll remind people of how much fun it was when such a thing was allowed in the PG hellhole on the other station. I’m looking forward to Lockdown now despite whatever else is booked considering it looks like fun and hopefully the MOTY between the two if they can deliver! But, of course, they’ll get jobbed out of that by the 411 YEA for Cena/Rock despite how much it’ll probably blow. Roode/Storm, however, will live up to the hype.

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Replacing Randy Orton With Santino Marella

Don’t get me wrong, I like Santino Marella and think he’s a pretty cool guy overall and deserving of what fame he has received in the WWE. However, with the way he’s been booked and the fact he’s mostly considered a comedy wrestler and at best a lowcarder he has no business being in the Elimination Chamber replacing a nine-time former heavyweight champion. Santino is not going to boost buyrates and hasn’t proven he can raise show ratings either, so why take the move? Mark Henry apparently is too injured to substitute and they don’t want to add Dibiase or Jackson for the obligatory quick flurry and then quicker elimination entry. Why they decided to do this is really unclear and frankly, I like Marella and think he’s a decent enough character but kayfabe wise a guy who rarely wins a match doesn’t have a place in one of the most dangerous matches in wrestling for the heavyweight title.

Road To WrestleMania Booking

I am going to book this WrestleMania and the events preceding it using only currently contracted stars to the WWE and those who are under developmental contracts to the WWE at this time. You decide if you’d rather see MY WrestleMania or the one being booked currently.

Jan 2, 2012 RAW

Jericho’s return happens as it originally did with the big exception being that Jericho actually speaks to the fans:

After listening to the applause Jericho takes the microphone and looks over the crowd before asking if they are happy to see him. They cheer, and naturally he takes the opportunity to say, “Well I sure as hell wasn’t happy to come back to all of you troglodytes!” to a big series of boos. Jericho berates the crowd before going into a little spiel about a certain someone…

“CM Punk is the reason I am back on RAW. For far too long, that skinny little nobody has been trying to convince all ten of his fans that he is the best wrestler in the world… does that sound familiar to any of you? It should because for years I’ve been saying I am the best in the world at what I do. And what I do is wrestle, entertain, dance, sing, anything to show I am the best and back it up! But what you have right here is a Chris Jericho wannabe who has been masquerading around as some kind of great voice of the people, and as usual he’s a sanctimonious hypocrite… look it up if you don’t know what it means, and I’m here to tell you the truth. While Punk makes you think he’s all about the people, he’s riding around in limousines provided by the WWE and first-class airfare while all his friends he claims he cares about are riding with two other people in a rented car and squeezing in coach! CM Punk goes on and on about fighting against the WWE but he isn’t turning down their money, and he certainly isn’t taking the WWE Championship anywhere because it is an act, a cherade, a massive bluff and all of you idiots fell for it! CM Punk used that title to get his contract bigger and fatter and to get the perks he thought he deserved, the perks that most of us have to work our entire careers for but he didn’t tell all of you that, did he? He didn’t tell you that his little double underhook backbreaker was originally used by CHRIS JERICHO, did he? He surely didn’t tell you that before CM Punk was even a gleam in his daddy’s eye Chris Jericho was busting his butt on Monday night for one company or another making a name for himself, beating the best in the business, and working all around the world the same way he claims to have invented! CM Punk, you can fool these people because they are stupid to begin with, but you can’t fool Chris Jericho. People these days walk around in a suit like I do, they talk slow with large words like I do, they do everything to make themselves think they are even remotely on my level but I assure you they are not. CM Punk, you did not just steal from me as much as you have stolen from me and made money off it like the criminal you most likely are with all those tattoos and body piercings like a felon fresh out of prison would look like! I’m back because it is the end of the world as you know it, CM Punk, when I win the Royal Rumble and I won’t need to wait until after the show because there’s only one title I want, and that’s the title I never really lost, and you’re holding it junior! Keep that belt warm because it is coming home to Y2J at WrestleMania and the world as you know it will end… because I’m taking back the life you tried to steal from me. See you at WrestleMania, Punk!”

The following weeks would revolve around Jericho and Punk taking verbal shots at each other but as of yet no physical contact. Also, the week after we’d begin to see odd videos that seem to indicate that someone long thought dead and gone is returning…

Royal Rumble Match:

The most important thing that occurs here is Jericho winning the Royal Rumble, and the booking of the actual match wouldn’t be all that much different except the announcers would stay in the booth and a few legends people actually want to see would have been brought in. My primary three would be Billy Gunn (after Road Dogg so they can do their old intro and double teams) along with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Sid Vicious. I felt the Rumble was significantly boring and needed some legends we haven’t seen in a while as well as one or two who could be relied on to pop the crowd as the reappearance of the New Age Outlaws and Psycho Sid would. Piper, of course, always is a hell of a choice too. The ending would feature Chris Jericho also revealing that very night he would face CM Punk at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship and not wait to make that announcement, but what fans have to wait until RAW to find out is why this is the end of the world as you know it.

Post-Rumble RAW:

Chris Jericho comes out to discuss CM Punk and his guaranteed title match but he explains his return was focused on ridding the WWE of the Chris Jericho wannabe and the best way to do that would be to join forces with the man who lost his job due to CM Punk. That man, of course, is Vince McMahon who enters not as an authority figure but as the financial backer of Chris Jericho and will be in his corner at WrestleMania. Thanks to a favor from an old friend in Laurinitas, Jericho is also the first person chosen to participate in the WWE Title Match at Elimination Chamber, which gives him two chances to beat Punk for the gold.

Feb 6th RAW

The Elimination Chamber participants are named but also, on this night John Laurinitas comes to the ring to be fired by HHH. HHH says that the Board of Directors has made a decision, but McMahon comes to the ring and tells HHH that he already knows the decision made because McMahon has a personal ownership of WWE stock exceeding fifty percent which means he could sell the majority of WWE to anybody if he wanted to. Therefore, with no choice, the Board now has elected McMahon to resume his position as the Chairman of the company. Laurinitas comes out to congratulate Vince but Jericho hits him with a Codebreaker out of nowhere and McMahon fires him as Otunga quickly moves to the side of Jericho and McMahon as their “attorney” of sorts. McMahon tells HHH that he has unfinished business with CM Punk and to stay out of it. HHH doesn’t want to back down, however, and McMahon promises him that he will be in the ring next week with a mystery opponent that decides the future of HHH’s employment in the company. Jericho hits a surprise Codebreaker on HHH to take the show off the air.

Feb 13th RAW

This will feature McMahon and Punk exchanging words in the ring about the MITB match that got McMahon removed from his duty and Jericho getting in Punk’s face before they come to blows. For the main event spot of the evening, HHH takes on his mystery opponent with Jericho as the special guest referee… and that mystery opponent is CM Punk in a non-title match. McMahon says that he’ll get what he wants either way because should CM Punk lose the match he’ll be forced to enter the Chamber first. If HHH loses, he is fired from WWE. As you would expect, it’d end up with HHH taking a victory when Jericho hits a Codebreaker on Punk and then HHH, draping HHH on top for a fast count. McMahon says that Punk will enter the Chamber first and that the same situation will occur at the Elimination Chamber as Jericho stands over Punk to end the show.

Elimination Chamber PPV:
WWE Championship Match: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane
World Championship Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton(replaced by Ted Dibiase) vs. Big Show
Diva’s Championship Match: Beth Phoenix vs. Tamina Snuka

The Diva’s Championship match would basically be Tamina working against Beth for a while but getting all her offense squelched and countered until finally Beth hits a few big moves and then the Glam Slam for the victory. The story, of course, is in Beth taking the mic and proclaiming herself the invincible Diva’s Champion and claiming she has no competition only for Kharma to come out and have a staredown with her as Kharma laughs and motions a title around her waist as Beth watches, for the first time a little unsure if she can win.

The World Championship Chamber match would basically be all about Bryan attempting to escape his adversaries while they try and finish him off to become the new champion. Obviously Sheamus, Rhodes, and Barrett would have the greatest chances at showing their stuff and the way I’d book it is to have Show eliminated by Rhodes and Barrett working together after Show is first to start with Rhodes at number two. Sheamus would take care of Barrett with a Brogue Kick and take the victory there only for Rhodes to beat him with Cross-Rhodes out of nowhere. Bryan would be taking an ass kicking from the new entrant to replace Orton, namely one Ted Dibiase who comes close time after time to pinning him. Dibiase makes a mistake and is taken out of the match with the LeBell Lock and then it comes down to Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes. Cody would come close to taking him out only for Bryan to catch Rhodes going for a Beautiful Disaster and locking in the LeBell Lock for the submission victory and his celebration ceremony. AJ would come out to celebrate with Bryan, but it would be a short moment as Christian would return and become a face by ruining Bryan’s moment and showing Bryan hitting on a few other heel Divas to get AJ against him. In the end, AJ leaves Bryan and Christian nails him with a Killswitch before motioning for the title around his waist and heads off.

The WWE Championship Chamber match would see CM Punk end up paired off with Jack Swagger and both would go five minutes before Dolph Ziggler oddly is selected to come out as #3 and the two gang up on Punk. Fourth out of the gate is Kane, and the crowd smells a rat as now it is three-on-one and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. Chris Jericho is next, but he sits back and waits patiently as the mugging continues. Kofi is the final man out of the chamber pods and he hits some high-risk offense to help Punk but ultimately gets taken down by the three men. Jericho walks over to Punk and begins assaulting him as Kofi starts fighting back but to little hope, and finally takes a Zig Zag, the Doctor Bomb, and then the Chokeslam to put him away. It is now four on one as Punk tries to fight back but Jericho steps away calmly and watches as Ziggler and Swagger hold him for Kane. Kane, however, strikes Cena and then BOTH Ziggler and Swagger and it becomes two on two for a moment as the maniac Kane puts Ziggler away with another Chokeslam and Punk gets off a GTS on Swagger for the pin. Kane goes after Jericho and Punk manages to sneak Kane up for a GTS only to have it countered and Kane chokeslams Punk to the ground, but Jericho hits a codebreaker on Kane! Jericho then waves to the back and the crowd boos like hell as Vince McMahon stalks out with a vicious sneer on his face, watching Punk. Jericho gets a pipe from McMahon and bashes Kane with it, staggering him enough for a second Codebreaker and this time Kane gets a shoulder up but the referee is told to ignore it and counts Kane out. Kane goes outside to attack McMahon which gives Punk a chance to come back and attack Jericho, scoring a few near falls before McMahon is back and then gets into the Chamber itself to clock Punk with the WWE Championship from behind! A beaten, tired Punk is then locked into the Walls of Jericho and passes out as the referee awards the match and the title to Chris Jericho. McMahon takes the microphone and looks at Punk as he says, “Pipebomb this, you son of a bitch!” and throws the mic on Punk as Jericho stomps away only for referees and officials to head on down and pull them off. As they leave, Kane comes back when the Chamber is lifted and looks to finish Punk until the familiar gong is heard throughout the arena! Images of Kane and Paul Bearer tormenting the Undertaker from 2010 are shown on the Titantron before Undertaker makes his grand entrance to the ring with Paul Bearer, carrying the urn as Undertaker steps into the ring and stares emotionlessly at Kane while Kane simply looks at his father in shock and then at his brother in disbelief. After Kane comes in to attack, UT dispatches him with a few shots and stands tall as Bearer nodded his head and hugged the urn closely while Undertaker looks to the WrestleMania sign, and then runs a thumb over his throat at Kane in a clear symbol for a challenge.

The final portion of this will be posted next week!

The Good, The Bad, and The… WTF?

The Good

“First of all Wes I’d like to give you props for posting about Wendi Richter and the original screwjob. It is definitely one of the bigger screwjobs in wrestling history that doesn’t get as much discussion as the more infamous one in Montreal.

Now in regards to RAW this past Monday night, the show just seemed a little disjointed to me. I mean if they were gonna keep Johnny Ace anyway why make people go on wwe.com the next day to find that out. That didn’t make any sense to me.

I think the Bryan-Show feud is a lot better than you are willing to give it credit for. It’s the big man-little man feud but with a different twist on that in which the little man is the heel. I love what WWE is doing with Bryan’s heel turn right now. It sort of reminds me when Punk was doing the whole straight edge heel angle except for now it’s obviously Bryan doing the vegan heel angle I guess you’d call it.

In regards to Brodus Clay, it’s only a week they’ve had him off TV (3 shows; 2 smackdown, 1 raw; although the first smackdown match was cut due to time which is totally understandable considering all the matches they had to fit in to TV that night). I’m sure Brodus will be back on TV sooner rather than later. I think that most fans are buying it. I mean, come on it’s a goofy funny gimmick. It’s not supposed to be taken seriously. I’ll admit that I don’t really like the gimmick. But even I’m smart enough to realize that if you want to improve his charisma and help him connect with the fans, then this is a great way to do it. Greg Demarco (or was it his co-host this week? I can’t remember which one said it but I know one of them did) brought up a great point on his show on Tuesday about why Brodus may not be on TV right now. I think you oughta take a listen to it.

Posted By: The Hodge (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 01:41 AM”

Hodge, it is eerie how many similarities the Original Screwjob has to the Montreal Screwjob. Both involved the legitimate screwing of champions over contractual and money issues, both involved the worst enemies of the talent involved (kayfabe and real life) and both situations the referee was in on it. Even odder, both times the event took place on a major card in the month of November. I’m thinking that although HHH is the one who suggested Bret get screwed, McMahon had a look over his work in 1985 before planning out what he was going to do.

Brodus is a funny gimmick but the fact is people who could get over as a main event talent are having that time allocated to a gimmick that isn’t really going anywhere. Do you really see Brodus Clay ending up as the WWE champion this year with that gimmick? There are wrestlers who never get the time Clay received. Clay isn’t really going to connect, in my view this’ll end in the crap heap with Flash Funk and PN News before it is all said and done. It is fun watching the man dance though! I know being off TV a week or two isn’t anything to worry about seeing as we are in the Road to WrestleMania, so we’ll see what happens down the line. How funny would it be if they bring in Ernest Miller to fight him over the music though? Wouldn’t do anything for ratings but it would be funny to see the music hit and Brodus stares at the Cat coming down screaming about stealing his funkin’ music!

“Well hopefully Vince realizes that 20-0, sounds a lot better then 19-1 in an advertising campaign, I mean who’d buy a show if you say “Well yeah he’s got a big match, but he’s 19-1, so he has lost..once”

Compared to “Hell yeah man, this guy is 20-0, nobody can beat this dude, seriously”

As for the TNA stuff, I like the current product, just wish Hogan wouldn’t say “This man is the future of the business” when talking about Garrett..that thought scares me.

I was watching Slammiversary 2005 on DVD the other day and it was such an awesome show..just bought it off of Amazon around Christmas time. I wish Monty Brown had won the World Title at some point..

Posted By: Baboon (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 02:31 AM”

I seriously don’t think Undertaker is going to be around for many more WrestleManias in an actual wrestling capacity, as the severity of his injuries is the cause for much speculation but we really don’t know for sure. This, for all we know, may be his last match and having him lose to the boss’ son-in-law would be a crying shame and a good reason for fans to walk out of Miami.

TNA’s 2005 and 2006 PPV’s are the stuff of legend. When I remember the crap I ordered because I didn’t really know much about TNA or want to give it a chance at the time due to my longtime fandom of WWE I feel horrible! I can’t understand how so many people would pay $50 to see Mark Henry fight the Big Show and not spend $40 on Roode/Hardy/Storm/Ray and Aries/Shelley. Then again, according to the buyrate for Henry’s main event run not many people did!

“Just to make a correction. I live in Canada and about 90% of the content on youtube is blocked. the only videos which aren’t are the WWE classics, and the new original content. you do make a valid point though on how low some of the views are.

Posted By: Guest#7547 (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 09:42 AM”

I’ve had some conflicting reports on the content blocking, honestly. I’m going to try and get a few friends of mine in Canada to attempt to see the channel and let me know what is going on for sure. Also, with those views I wouldn’t even try and attempt a network.

Do you know why I have complete confidence the WWE Network will fail? The majority of the programming will be classic television wrestling shows, and the WWE Classics On Demand has been losing subscribers and money every single quarter. Now, would you really put on a new network with 75-80% of the content being old material when the current On Demand of that old material is losing subscribers constantly?

“good read!

some thoughts…

…what miz did is unexceptable and just show how green he still is!

his wrestling is average at best & I think the reason wwe hasnt done to well in the last 2 year is because they have jokes like miz in the main event scene!

…these last 2 impact episodes have been amazing from top to bottom, theirs been no stupid booking or terrible segments, and the shows have been loaded with good wrestling…

on top of all that the crowd has been phenominal!

so why is tna getting lower ratings?

do people prefer bad shows? because these last 2 shows are easily top 5 best impact episodes since BFG, yet the bad show get better ratings!

…please keep the uk ratings, i want to see how well tnas doing overseas, especially because tnas live there…

fuck the haters, if they dont like them they can scroll past the section!

…any luck getting the impact analysis running?

…this years wrestlemania card actually looks good! i skipped the last 2 terrible manias, but… i think im gonna watch this one!

i just dont like the thought of UT/HHH 3!

HELL IN A CELL is the only way this would intrest me, and even then id prefer it to be a 3 way HIAC with michales!

Posted By: Guest#1961 (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 01:01 PM”

I’ll give The Miz credit for fighting to keep a spot everybody said he didn’t deserve. His actions lately aren’t helping his cause much and I think he might need a few weeks off to get his head straight.

Honestly, I’m skipping it. First WrestleMania I will have not seen since 1987 but I really don’t feel like seeing UT be made a fool of by the company suck up and Rock to lose in his hometown to a bum who couldn’t draw half of the viewers Rock did in 2000.

“I sure would find it funny if the bacon sandwich at the top of the column was replaced by a vegie sandwich, and Kirk would give Daniel Bryan current character some love. I’m really digging the smug vegan and his feud with the Big Show, I think he is comedy gold. As a fan who enjoys the WWE more then TNA I find it hilarious all the hateful comments Kirk gets for his column. The dude is a writer with an opinion on wrestling and politics that is different from your own, this is no reason to demonizing him, or have so much hate for someone. I know some of the commenters would rather live in the old USSR, North Korea, or almost any country in the middle east. But unlike those places we are able to express our opinions even the unopopular ones like TNA is better then the WWE.

Posted By: Siva (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 05:19 PM”

I would absolutely love the idea of seeing some of our liberal commenters spend time in one of the countries they admire so much like North Korea, Cuba, or Iran. They could make a hell of a reality show on that!

About the hate and the disparaging comments… welcome to liberal America, Siva! See, if they can’t beat somebody with legitimate facts they just bash them until they quit. Unfortunately for them, I never have.

“Regarding global warming, there are some FACTS that at most shut up people who insist it exists, or at least get them flustered because they can’t come up with a reasonable explanation OTHER than there’s no such thing as this horror story known as global warming.
it would be good if a climate investigation over centuries would be known. Well, Science magazine gave the results of such a study that covered the last 3000 years. It showed that we now are under the mean temperature of the last 3000 years. It also showed that the widely fluctuating mean temperature (based on isotope ratios in the skeletons of marine organisms deposited in the Sargasso Sea) hit peaks five degrees higher than now around 900 B.C. and 400 B.C. and 3 degrees higher than around 100 A.D. There were also lows 2 degrees cooler than now around 100 A.D. and 1700 A.D. Since this last one, the temperature has been steadily rising (a scorching 🙂 2 degrees in the last 300 years). An outcome of these calculations is that: (2) human activity could not have been the cause of it (as global warming alarmists claim). (3) ‘Slightly rising temperatures’ can actually be a good thing when you consider that they cause greater food and animal growth for the starving people of third world countries. (You’d think that liberals would be happy about that?) (4) Global warming and cooling fluctuations are tied to solar activity. (Another proof that human activity is not the cause). (5) More than 17,000 American scientists have signed a petition opposing the Kyoto treaty. (6) Proponents of global warming predicted 20 years ago that in the following 20 years from then there would be a warming increase of between 1 and 2 degrees. There’s been none. (7) The fear that global warming would cause floods is not justified because at a warming spike in 1000 A.D. there was no major flooding. Much of the above was reported in The Wall Street Journal, Global Warming Is 300-Year-Old News, January 18, 2000, by Arthur Robinson and Noah Robinson, chemists at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, with updates from them in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (2007) 12. 79-90.
But I think that some even newer data puts this issue to rest. NOAA has reported that almost all the allegedly “lost” ice has come back. An NOAA report shows that ice levels which had shrunk from 5 million square miles in January 2007 to just 1.5 million square miles in October, are almost back to their original levels. And a Feb.18 report in the London Daily Express showed that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than usual.The winter of 2007-2008 was one of the worst on record in many parts of the Earth. And the polar bear population has soared in recent years. But don’t let facts get in the way, people.

Posted By: REALITY (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 07:00 PM”

I really should give you a guest spot in the column at some point, my friend.

…Oh, yeah, that newspaper came out in the year 1922 right before the coldest decade thus far. The Original Global Warming Article shows the proof that this has been around for many years indeed.

“Global Warming, it’s still real to me dammit!

Good column Wes, my thoughts:

Don’t see how Miz can be blamed for the Survivor Series buyrate, He and R-Truth were made to look inferior throughout the entire build up, Even The Rock wasn’t promoted right. It should have been the Story of The Rock returning for his first match back in the building, at the very event he first debuted and Vince should have been part of the build up forcing them to team up instead we got poorly planned horse shit. You know the WWE special.

I haven’t bothered watching the WWE youtube stuff because in all honesty I DON’T CARE. If they can’t make me give a fuck about a 2 hour show, what are the odds I will give a fuck about 5-8 minute internet specials. BTW I’m calling it now, all the fun will be sucked right out of Ryder’s youtube show.

Those TNA youtube numbers are amazing.

I’m caring less and less about WrestleMania as the weeks go by. Cena and Rock has no buzz, Taker-HHH I don’t care, and Punk-Jericho while it will be good, Eh.

Surprised WWE would try and boast about their numbers over NBC since they are a NBC television partner.

Impact really has become the wrestling show, people used to push Smackdown but their wrestling has fallen off and unlike TNA they never really advanced angles or had many memorable sports entertainment moments (at least since 2007)

It’s amazing how far Raw has fallen, since the glory days and to think that’s the A Show. If the A Show and B Show both suck is there truly a difference?

My only real memory of Wendi Richter was WrestleMania 1 with her title win. It was an incredible moment though.

Wes I was just curious, a few weeks ago you posted the ways you’d Improve TNA if you were in the power seat. So how would you fix WWE, or at least Raw to improve ratings and possible buyrates. What would your road to WrestleMania look like to get those 1 million buys. Guest Booker with Wes Kirk (Royal Rumble to WrestleMania) I’d watch that. Are you reading, Kayfabe Commentaries?

Anyway, Wes take care. Kirk Nation Stand Up!

Posted By: Mister Mike (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 05:26 AM”

Hey again Mike! If I were you I’d send a liberal to Europe where they are having the coldest year of the past few decades to tell them about the soaring temperatures. Oh, wait, they already claim anything is caused by warming, my bad.

I’m taking your advice and doing a special Road to WrestleMania in this column. I think even the haters would prefer to see this to the current likely line up.

“Nothing is going to make these morons happy so why would TNA target them?

They asked for longer matches, the got it they bitched.

They asked for fresh faces in the main event they got it, they still bitch

They got better story lines and TNA feels fresh, its still not good enough

Yet every fucking week they sit and listen to CM Punk smart ass insider bullshit. They listen to an announcer that takes away from matches and a color commentator that just doesn’t care.

They say nothing when Smack down went through 2 months of short matches, crappy feuds and the only person that developed any character was a World champion who laid on the Big Show for 3 seconds.

They accept anything WWE half ass booking team throws at them and eats it all up but TNA makes some big changes and they still bitch?

I won’t be happy until the writers other than Wes, DeMarco and maybe Colin Reinhart just admit they are WWE fan boys that will NEVER give TNA a fair shot. That’s all I want instead of them making excuses pretending they’re unbiased writers.

Posted By: Guest#8059 (Guest) on February 13, 2012 at 02:24 AM”

You have a great point. Some people are only happy if they have something to complain about!

The Bad

” “Because when people outright lie and everybody is too stupid to even read the numbers proving it a lie right in front of their face what else am I supposed to do?”

You ignore them and and continue with your otherwise excellent column. Surely, as a long time writer for a wrestling webpage, you are more than aware that haters are gonna hate, and that people are stupid. Just think this would put yourself in a better light amongst those actually worth spending time writing for. Higher road, etc..

And as for the ratings thing, I still don’t get it. Yes, you posted the ratings for the first four RAWs of 2011, and then compared them to the first four RAWs of 2012. What were the ratings for the LAST four RAWs of 2011? And anyways, All they have to do is just compare any rating from 2011 that are lower than the current of 2012 and say that ratings are up. In the true spirit of Joseph Goebbels.

Posted By: Candy Bottocks (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 02:57 AM”

I only put this in the bad section because of the ratings thing since I do try to explain it as much as possible.

The ratings came about because on RAW Laurinitas said the 2012 ratings for RAW were better than the 2011 ratings at this time of year. That brought about me pulling up the first four RAW shows from 2011 and compared them to the RAW ratings for 2012. To no real surprise Laurinitas and Lawler, who had agreed with him on commentary, were both wrong. I can’t compare the last four RAW shows because we have yet to have the final four RAW shows in December 2012, see? This is actually the time of year they generally draw the highest ratings.

“I notice you talk about ratings being down with the WWE. Did you know that in 2001 according to the WWE corporate website they drew a high for the year of 4.58 million viewers the day after WrestleMania XVII. That got them a 5.7 rating back then. Looking at your statistics they had 4.6 million viewers this week, which got them a 3.2 rating. Looking at just this week and the day after WrestleMania XVII the only thing that has changed is the rating not the amount of people watching Raw.

Posted By: Guest#0853 (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 05:49 AM”

So you are going to believe the WWE corporate website? Oh lord this is an exercise in futility.

If you want a clear picture of how wrestling has lost viewers just look at the graph of the Monday Night War ratings that Sforcina sometimes posts in Ask 411 Wrestling. I’d say going from an average of ten million viewers a night to barely 4.8 million is pretty much a huge drop!

“We don’t have food stamps in the UK boy, but since I’m half way through a PhD I won’t ever be needing them. Remind me to stop by here and sneer at you once I’m forging ahead in life with my Doctorate – a position which allows me to choose my own salary rather than have it dictated by the amount of socially-inadequate geeks who shuffle through my shop doorway each week.

PS. Your ‘new talent’ (Aries etc.) scored the lowest rated segment on Impact this week. Wrestling matters all right, but only in the WWE. Bush league indeed.

Posted By: The GOAT (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 09:22 AM”

You are correct DOCTOR Goat, the UK does not have food stamps. Just a lot of riots, a sinking GBP, and more debt than your country knows what to do with due to failed socialist policies and a liberal government that has no clue what to do. Ever heard of hyperinflation? Your country is probably headed for that rather soon… but if you are so well educated you already knew that.

Yep, darn those ratings. I wish we just had women running around farting on our shows because apparently that’s what draws in ratings. Sad part is, Natalya can wrestle but she’s turned into a joke on national television for a cheap reaction. That, my friend, is the real definition of bush league. Enjoy your stay at East Anglia University, where the only requirement to get in is to be able to open a door.

“kirk trolls… then WM 28 will sell about 1.3 million PPVs (150k more than last year’s) and he will troll again,(even though an average WWE PPV sells 20 times more than a TNA one – 200k vs 10k) ’cause that’s what he does. he knows the facts but manipulates them in order to make people comment about him so he can continue with his column.

THEREFORE, this is the last time i’ll post/read the sandwich and i suggest all good wrestling fans do the same.

PS: i like both WWE and TNA but this is ridiculous, really

Posted By: Guest#6231 (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 10:48 AM”

Sure it is. By the way, around here we like to have proof of what we discuss. Perhaps you can show me a copy of TNA’s PPV statements proving that they received 10,000 buys? Until you can prove it, shut the hell up.

“percentage wise TNA lost more viewers. your analysis is so weak I assume you don’t have a post high school education.

And congrats on having rich parents to buy you a job in this recession. And before you start yapping about food stamps, we don’t get those in the UK and I work 60hour weeks.

Posted By: JJ87UK (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 03:51 PM”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

60-hour weeks? I probably make more in one hour than you do in the whole sixty. Get back to the sweatshop, moron. That is why people like me are successful and rich and people like you work until you drop and get replaced because people like you are replaceable and a dime a dozen.

The WTF

“There is no such thing as god, and you’re a douche…how are those TNA ratings from this past week?? Oh they are down!!!

Posted By: WWELives (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 04:47 PM”

Somebody didn’t read the RAW ratings. I’d rather lose 80,000 viewers over two hours than 400,000 in one single hour! Don’t even bother looking at the Feb 13th RAW ratings because you are not going to be happy one single bit! Sorry…about your damn ratings.

One final thought before we continue next week…