wrestling / Columns
The Wrestling Sandwich 05.19.12
Greetings pilgrims and welcome once again to The Wrestling Sandwich.
Last weeks column set off another round of interesting debate about Brock Lesnar as a draw. One point made in the comments was seeing how Brock draws on the Extreme Rules PPV. This is really the big point. We knew that he drew in UFC because the MMA faithful wanted to see his head taken off and stuffed up his ass for daring to bring in the “fake” pro wrestling to their legit sport.
However my main point for last week and the week before stands…Brock Lesnar was the biggest draw in UFC history. Period. UFC out draws WWE on PPV. Period. I could only strengthen my argument and focus on the last 10 years of WWE and UFC. I do undertand that it’s impossible to really compare eras and PPV numbers since the way we judge buyrates now was different to even 15 years ago.
The crux of my argument was you have Brock Lesnar, PPV champion and the man with potential to make Vince McMahon tens of millions of dollars was soundly flushed down the toilet due to Vince McMahon being batshit crazy and unwilling to do what was right for the business. People may quibble about my reasoning but really, you can apply almost any reasoning you want and the result is the same.
So right now we’ll wait from the Extreme Rules buyrate to drop, compare it to previous years and see where we stand. Though even if the buyrate is nothing spectacular I will sit here and talk about what a waste it was using Brock on a shitty B PPV anyway and that he should have been saved to SummerSlam at the earliest.
Anyway, this has been a big news week in wrestling…so let’s get to it.
Reader feedback from last week…
That introduction section about Vince McMahon is just fucking laughable – you make outlandish, extreme claims which you support with tenuous evidence at best. IWC smarks like you are the worst of all – deluded idiots who think they are experts on a business they have never worked a minute in. McMahon just got 1.3 million buys for one of his events, generating a ton of profit in the process, and you state that he “will do more damage from the inside than anyone could do from the outside”?? Get the fuck out of here. Get back to mopping the floors or making coffee or whatever meaningless job it is that you do.
Posted By: AJ (Guest) on May 12, 2012 at 10:36 AM
This is always my favorite type of commentator…shit on anything you say because I’m not an expert then offer an insider opinion like it’s a fact then personally insult me. I’m surprised I didn’t get the “virgin in my mothers basement” comment as well.
My “tenuous” evidence has been verified by multiple people. I did not include one fact that hasn’t been widely reported and most came directly from ex-writers and wrestlers. Last year leading up to WM the WOM/F4W did a series of podcasts with ex-writers/creative team members and they all corroborated each other stories. Some of the stories they told defied common sense and I didn’t include them all. I’m sure if you use torrents you can hunt down those podcasts and listen for yourself. Or seek out Dave Langana and his Formally Creative podcasts. They’re free and they contain some of the most insane Vince stories you could imagine.
Yes, Vince McMahon just did 1.3 million buys for WrestleMania but he needed to get the Rock back in the ring to get that. Domestically, last year, the WWE did a combined total of just a tick over 1.6 million buys for all PPV’s not including WrestleMania. If the guy is such a motherfucking genius these days how come Over The Limit last year only did 72,00 buys domestically? The marked decline in the quality of the WWE product and it profit margins are pretty much traceable to Vince and his complete inability to play things straight.
The real scary thing these days is that he’s turned into Vince Russo. It is widely known that Russo loves the swerve and goes out of his way to include one in every storyline to the point that everyone can see it coming or at the very least deduct what will happen by the following equation…
wrestling angle x logical booking – the complete opposite of logical (squared) = Russo Booking
So instead of giving us logical stories that lead somewhere Vince(s) Russo and McMahon now go out of there way to not make sense and think this will actually draw. Dave Meltzer recent cited the perfect example of this booking philosophy…
Rob Van Dam beat Randy Orton in his last match for the WWE. This goes in the face of almost every established norm for a wrestler leaving the territory. Randy Orton was one of your few true main event stars that’s being built up to be one of the main event players at WM and you have him lose to a guy that is leaving the promotion. RVD had long since parted ways with the main event and any relevance to the WWE product at that point and in no way should he have gone over. The only reason that he did was that Vince thought it was too predictable and wanted to do the unpredictable. Never mind that it didn’t make one lick of sense, swerving the audience was the priority.
Again this has been widely talked by many sources. None of the opinions I’m offering up are even that original and I know fully well just how “outside” the business I am. The thing is you don’t need to be an expert in a particular field/industry to know when things are being run poorly. Wrestling itself is so simple – you make money giving the fans what they want. They wanted Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock, Harley Race, Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino and Lou Thesz and when the fans were given these men, money was made.
These days when a guy like Zac Ryder (whom I don’t particularly care for) manages to get the fans to rally behind him and gets over big, the WWE squashes him and makes him look like a fool because he did it outside of their control. Any ability Ryder had to make money for the WWE pretty much is long gone.
This kind of thinking has been going on for over a decade and the most glaring example of which was The Invasion where Vince’s inability to let anyone other than WWE wrestlers look strong and go out of his way to make WCW/ECW look stupid cost him literarily MILLIONS of dollars. I never thought he could top the stupidity of that era of WWE right up until Brock Lesnar losing at Extreme Rules.
Just for the record, if anyone hasn’t notice the pop and sizzle of Lesnar and his return is now pretty much dead in the water. He is now just another guy in the WWE roster whose been beaten by John Cena and any chance of Vince making any serious bank let alone a return on his $5million investment is gone. Why? Because Vince couldn’t let John Cena get beaten twice in two PPV’s and it’s the exact opposite to what everyone was expecting…even if it made no sense.
So RAW will now officially be three hours as of June 23rd.
So much as been written about three hour wrestling shows on TV most of which most we all agree on, especially the opinion that three hours is just too much in one hit. WCW Nitro ran for years as a three hour show and thanks to their format it could be incredibly tedious and couple that with the poor booking of the nWo angle it burned the audience out and even a shift to a two hour format couldn’t stem the flood of viewers going back to the WWE.
However, the bottom line in terms of money and more precisely the extra advertising revenue that extra hour will produce will look nice on the WWE financial statements. Eric Bicshoff has stated while a three-hour Nitro creatively was a mistake the company lost huge amounts of money from dropping that first hour.
I for one have no problems with a big three-hour chuck of wrestling on Monday night and think it’s smart business…to a point. If all they’re going to do is add an extra hour to the start and stretch out the already limited ability to tell a decent story or create a solid angle then it will ultimate hurt the quality of an already weak product long term. If they are going to have a pre-RAW show for that first hour, I think that could work.
Given own identity within the RAW structure and bring in some of the “interactive” elements that the WWE are shilling it’s going to have which effects the main RAW broadcast and people will get into it. I’m pretty darn positive that Facebook and Twitter will be used to help pre-determine matches and angle direction and that will likely be the best use of social media in wrestling yet. Patience will be needed as you have to train the audience to tune in that hour earlier and if they miss that hour they miss out on contributing.
The other thing we’ll have to watch out for is if the WWE doesn’t like what people are asking for on such a public forum, are they just going to steamroll stuff they don’t like/want and do what they feel is right anyway? Last year we saw what happened when the viewers voted via text tally counts were botched the WWE was forced to put on matches they had no expectation would actually take place.
Since the whole text-voting deal has to be done legit because people are paying to use that service (hence the WWE fess up that vote counting was skewed) I would bet they would be leery of using that technology again even though it does make them money with every vote. At least with social media voting they can manipulate voting to an extent or just ignore it. However, if people are taking the time to play along and then get swept aside chances are you are going to sink the whole concept.
It’s certainly going to be a game changer for the WWE irrespective of whether it works or not. I sincerely hope that whatever way they choose to present the extra hour that it comes out a success because the product is teetering and needs an injection of someone new to appeal to fans.
I should also mention that Impact on Thursday is also going to be live as of May 31st for at least the summer. I’m not complete sure of this step but I will say it’s a gutsy forward thinking move.
TNA tapes its shows because it saves money. Now every week they are going to be bring talent to Florida to tape a show live. I have read nothing on who is going to be paying this extra expense but it’s all downside. If TNA is paying for it look for the red ink to continue to burn a whole in Panda Energy financials. If the network is paying for it, they will want a return for the extra investment.
TNA is lucky that they are the highest rating show on Spike and while the network does make a nice sum of money from them, their ratings continue to underperform. After all of this time you would want ratings to increase but they doggedly stay the same.
The bigger picture is that wrestling viewership declines in summer. It’s matter of fact. So TNA will now move to a earlier time slot, at a time when viewership will be down to begin with and be going live which will have negative financial implications.
I do understand the reasoning…
By moving to an earlier time slot that avoids clashing with other sports and doing it now when viewership will naturally decline, TNA/Spike will have plenty of time to educate fans to tune in earlier when things pick up leading into the cooler months. By going live they can bring an edge missing to the taped product they have and create a buzz.
The underling issue is all too familiar though…the product needs to improve.
Yes Impact has seen a marked upswing in quality but being 30% great and still having 70% shit is not going to fly no matter how bold you are being. The recent Sacrifice PPV was a big step in the right direction and when you find out that Dixie, Hogan and Eric were not on hand it does give food for thought as to why TNA continue to tread water.
The other big wrestling news story has been the continual woes of ROH on iPPV.
Not being a huge ROH and more being the type fan that tries to catch their TV via online streaming and seeks out the buzz matches on youtube or other such means I think I have a certain perspective on this.
At the moment ROH is getting dragged through the mud, as this is the THIRD iPPV in a row that’s been a bust. I took some time to read through comments here and one other forums to get a vibe of the hardcore fans view and I was certainly a little miffed. Off all three iPPV’s that have been an issue only the most recent Border Wars had ANYTHING to do with ROH itself.
Showdown In The Sun Day 1 had audio and video synch issue that has been wholly acknowledged as a Go Fight Live issue completely out of control of ROH. Day 2 saw the show effected by a brownout. I know Jim Cornett has assumed god-like status amongst some fans eyes but even he can’t stop this sort of thing.
So for two shows running things out of the control of ROH has screwed with their iPPV’s. For some reason they are carrying the can for this. I have no idea why. Border Wars however, they have a bulls eye right between their eyes and it’s well deserved.
Taking production in-house and using the resource of owners The Sinclair Broadcast Group was a wise move. I mean, you would think that company like SBG would have some idea of how to do this. Turns out they don’t. Essentially the SBG server couldn’t handle the traffic that the iPPV was going to bring and most people that paid to see Border Wars got nothing. When ROH promised the replay would have the issue resolved most people still had problems getting access.
Right now ROH has a massive PR problem some of it fair, some of it unfair. After the third PPV went south a large section of their fan base are talking about leaving the promotion behind in favor of PWG or CHIKARA as their preferred Indy wrestling alternative. ROH has tried to stem the tide of disgruntled opinion by offering their next iPPV free of charge to those that paid for Border Wars, which is certainly a step in the right direction but financially the next iPPV will have a paid viewership that could literally be in double digits.
The big issue here I believe is SBG. Big things were expected when they bought ROH last year. They promised a drastic upgrade in production values and wider viewership as they could now reach markets previously unavailable to them on HDNet.
So far must people have been underwhelmed by the ROH show. While Cornett has tried his best to provide quality wrestling blended with promos, storylines and vignettes, when people tune in it’s more like Memphis 1979 than something from the here and now. If you were a curious fan and you tuned in to see what the fuss was about, most likely you would turn the channel.
Given the issues ROH are going through I wouldn’t be surprise if a left field buy out comes from the WWE as they look to expand developmental. It wouldn’t be the first time that this was grist for the rumor mill but the reality is people watch ROH to avoid WWE programming. The WWE would just be purchasing a tape library. TNA might make an interesting suitor but ultimately you feel they would waste the potential of a ROH merger more poorly than the WWF/WCW/ECW invasion.
With all the talk about Vince finding future stars to replace John Cena the name I see banded about the most is C.M. Punk. Just like I bleet on about James Storm being a potential breakout star if the WWE got him and used him right, I will contend that C.M. Punk ISN’T the guy to carry the company.
For starters Punk tanks ratings. Even at his hottest leading into Money in the Bank last year he didn’t cause a viewership jump. Yes he caused a spike in buyrates but that doesn’t matter much to the WWE these days as they view TV as their primary income source and PPV as a dead industry.
I’ve talked about this often in the past couple of months, the only demographic Punk can move is young males. All female demographics tune out or stay static when he is onscreen. History shows the match at the top of the hour always causes a ratings bump and on more than one occasion a Punk match has cause a drop. Ditto for overruns.
I quote part of The Wrestling Sandwich from March 10th…
And this from the February Observer…
The low point of the show was the advertised main event as WWE Champion CM Punk’s match against The Miz lost 139,000 additional viewers to draw a 2.77 quarter hour rating. The overrun with Cena, Ryder and Kane gained 505,000 viewers for a 3.14.
That 2.77 rating is the lowest rated segment on RAW since 2009 and the lowest rated main event since 1997 (reported but I could not verify). As much as Punk is my favorite wrestler right now the man does not attract ratings like the WWE would like. In recent weeks with his mini Daniel Brian feud that has turned around somewhat but back in December there was serious talk of aborting this sustained push based on the poor ratings as champ
So everyone remembers that GOD AWFIL Kane/Cena/Ryder feud right? That overrun managed to gain 500,000 viewers while Punks match at the top of the hour lost viewers. It’s a miracle Punk survived as champ.
Reality is Punk is a natural heel. He is the perfect guy to help create your next star. His promo ability and capacity to get good heat on himself is blatantly obvious and as shown by taking on the role of new Nexus leader last year, he has the talent to turn a crappy situation into something entertaining. Right now I would start a slow burn heel turn for Punk that runs for a few months and then have him feud Brock Lesnar where Brock can win the WWE Championship to set up the inevitable Rock/Brock match at WM29.
Vince’s next big star is going to have to come from elsewhere.
Remember when this was part of an angle to a main event feud? Talk about a day late and a dollar short. Not sure why they are pulling this match out of thin air and putting it on the pre-show. Common sense says that you have Ryder win this one but as I talked about earlier, you throw common sense out the window and pick the least obvious result.
Winner: Kane
Talk around the WWE campfire is that Kharma is ready to return but “creative” havn’t been able to come up with a viable way for her to re-debut. Never mind that the perfect time was last months PPV but that was nixed because word leaked out to a couple of “insider” journalists. I would have Beth win this match and Kharma storms the ring and DESTROYS Phoenix and then set the fuse to explode at SummerSlam.
Winner: Beth Phoenix
This has the potential to be a really great match. So far we only have five PPV matches announced so it might not be out of the realms of possibility that this match could get 10-15 minutes. The hard part will be getting people to care since the tag division is a massive joke these days but I think these guys can pull it off. The natural talent on the heel side is frightening and in Kofi you have a tremendous babyface to get heat on. You do the face-in-peril phase of the match right and you tag in Truth with his explosive offence and you will suddenly find yourself in a very entertaining match. If given time and the absence of shitty booking, this could even usurp Punk/Bryan for match of the night…maybe.
As much as I want champions to hold the straps for a while I think moving the titles over to Swagger and Ziggler as they have the potential to run further with them. Ziggler is on th verge of moving from great worker to a tremendous one and being a dominant tag champion for a year or so would serve him better than being mid-card fodder for someone like Sheamus.
Winner: Swagger/Ziggler
No Countout, No DQ, No One Allowed At Ringside, No Special Referees, Any Superstar Interfering Is Fired, And If Johnny Ace Loses He’s Fired
While it wont be match of the night it certainly has the potential to be a epic train wreck. I haven’t seen that many stipulations since Vince Russo took control of WCW!
I’m a little each way on this one – Johnny Ace has certainly come into his own as a TV character and after watching his promo on Smackdown this past Friday the crowd certainly responds to his presence. While the “figurehead” role is way past its used by date, he certainly has made a good fist of the job. The stips certainly set up a Johnny win and the Big Show firing from RAW certainly sets up him to come and cause an issue during the match. The likely swerve is that it was a set-up by John so he can get someone to crush Cena and get a win.
And if Johnny wins (no matter by which means) it makes Lesnar losing last month even more ridiculous.
The other side of the coin is that the set-up has so blatantly telegraphed a Johnny Ace win that a swerve is almost guaranteed. Since Vince is in a spending mood he could throw a couple of buck they way of someone like a Batista (although HIGHLY unlikely) to make a surprise appearance and take out Show. The other option is to just play the storyline out as it sits and have Show come in and destroy Johnny and get Cena the win.
Winner: Johnny Ace (most likely)
I don’t think this match will suck but four ways are notoriously hard to book and I don’t think this will be any different. The really big problem with this “main event” is that these guys aren’t really setting the world alight at the moment. Sheamus is suffering from the Daniel Bryan debacle from WM, Del Rio has no traction with fans, Jericho’s recent run has been uber-disappointing and Orton has been treading water for the last 6 months. The advantage to this match is that all these guys are great workers and in Orton and Jericho you have two excellent ring generals.
Since Sheamus has the rocket push happening putting him over strong seems to be the way to go but as I’ve said the expectant surge with his win at WrestleMania didn’t come when fans turned on it. Randy is a solid option to push back to the main event as he’s been in the mid-card for a while and a new extended run on top could be a wise move and maybe have a heel Sheamus challenge and win the title later in the year.
Winner: Randy Orton
Anticipation for the match is quite high and for good reason. You have two great workers who are over in the world title match on PPV. Given the lay of the land these guys may get 30 odd minutes to tell their story. If so, this match could be off the hook.
Last month Bryan showed just how awesome he is by creating a fantastic match with Sheamus that proved when you have a worker the caliber of Bryan, you can create a match where everyone gets over. You want proof, he lost last month and is headlining this month. The big difference now is Punk is a better worker and more over with the crowd.
These two have an obvious chemistry together and the big key is if they are given time and allowed to work a match with minimal input on how it should go from behind the curtain. If given free reign I expect a strong style match with Bryan using his MMA background to create something unique since we know Punk can hang in that type of match.
While I’m sure Vince is happy to have Daniel Bryan be his “B” heavyweight champion I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be given the real title. The memo for Bryan is to do what he did Sheamus and times it by ten.
Winner: Punk.
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