goodhelmet

Brian Gerwitz pulls strings from his couch --- His leave of absence is seen like a Pat Patterson retirement. He isn;t really gone. --- The wrestlers (with exceptions like Edge and Christian) have used his bad writing as a scapegoat. --- He was going to be gone to write a movie but when he found out Heyman would have control of the ECW show, knew it wa sa bad time for a vacation. --- He was strongly telling people Heyman should not be let near creative and that the resurrection of ECW was a mistake. Steph had similar opinions but quieted down when Vince gave the go-ahead to do the show. --- Heyman is being kept in the dark regarding the future of the ECW name brand. --- After the ECW PPV and when it was clear Heyman would not be on creative, then Gerwitz took his leave. --- Gerwitz political ally, Ed Koskey was sent to the ECW PPV to report to Stephanie on what went on backstage at the show. Koskey was hand-picked by Gerwita to replace him as head-writer of RAW. --- Koskey will email Gerwitz all RAW scripts and Gerwitz will have veto power. --- Gerwitz will not be attending conference calls or writer meetings but will have his fingerprints all over the show. --- The ECW PPV is on everyone's minds but people aren't talking about it until they get a clear signal from Vince or Steph on what the appropriate reaction should be regarding ECW. (This is friggin hilarious!!! WCW level bad ) Even More WWF Notes (It's the WWF issue of the observer... just for Coffey ) --- There have been discussions about bringing Matt Hardy back and the decision is in Hardy's hands. If he is even thinking about it seriously, Meltz believes he will be back in WWE shortly. --- Sabu and possibly Sandman will be offered contracts but they will be 6-10 appearances per year deals. This way, they can still work indies and Japan but be readily available under contract for any future ECW appearances. Blue Meanie may have also been offered a simialr deal. --- Speaking of Meanie, Meltz feels his appearance on SD! was a way for the WWE to not have to go to court. Even if they won the case, it would be an embarassment since it would be the 2nd case JBL was linked to that reflects bad on the company. --- Richards and Dean moving to SD! appears to be used solely for the reforming of the bWo, if only just for that one episode. --- Speaking of JBL-Meanie, the company probably thought that people wanted to see it because of the internet buzz even though 99% of the fans in attendance had no idea of what was going on. ---Meltz thinks the Rey-Eddie feud is reaching Kane-Undertaker stupidity levels. --- From his internal sources, Meltz says that the front office has never been so disorganized, and thi is coming from people who have been around since the beginning. The thought process, coming from people who aren't even fond of Jim Ross, is that Ace and Tommy dreamer are in over their heads and that Ross did a better job. --- JBL commentary on the ECW dvd was done live, not in the studio. Meltz compares him to a drunk belligernet fan sitting next to you and mentions he made fun of several races but was also funny at times. Meltz points out some of his comments... During RVD's speech, JBL reacted "And you were on two channels, right?" "You went bankrupt". When RVD siad he wished he could wrestle, JBL said "You're here. Wrestle. We don't call in sick". Everytime someone used a foreign object, JBL would respond with "That's talent?" - Ironically, JBLs best matches involve foreign objects and blood as Meltz points out "His last PPV match would probably have JBL saying "that's talent?" about 70 times. When Sabu sold a missed Rhyno kick, he yelled "He missed him" Orlando Jordan said the same thing during a Sandman-Richards spot. When a vido clip of Tazz choking out 911 appeared, he said "Isn't that our ring announcer that sits on a phone book?" When Benoit and Eddie wrestled, he said "Notice how these guys don't miss? They hit each other." When Heyman said 'I got two words for you... Matt friggin Hardy, JBL replied "Nowonder he can't balance a checkbook. He can't count to three." More Hardy drama --- Matt Hardy claims that the wrestler who framed him when Edge's tires were slashed was Joey Abs (real name: Jason Ahrndt). Hardy's current girlfriend was hit on earlier in their career by Abs when hardy was dating her for the first time causing a falling out between Hardy and Abs. Well, when Abs was questioned about the slashed tores, he claimed Hardy did it.

I guess noone watched the entire Booker T-Kurt Angle "I'm going to violate your wife" storyline. I'll repsond more to Sass's comments later.

Not in the July 4 issue as Meltz was still talking about the Cena-Trips program. Haven't finished reading the current issue.

Meltz's thoughts on the released wrestlers so far: Mark Jindrak: He just wasn't getting it (whatever that means). Meltz is surprised because he is the kind of guy they like but he was a better wrestler in WCW 5 years ago than he is today. Spike Dudley: Kind of a surprise because he is respected but he never fit the WWE image and Heyman no longer had power to push or save him. Kevin Fertig: Another example of Heyman being out of power because of all the guys in OVW, Heyman was highest on Fertig. Shannon Moore: They just signed three new cruiserweights. (Guess you can't have too many for chrissakes) Akio: Likely a victim of the Juventud crew signing. Will probably have a job in All Japan or TNA or ROH. Maven: A surprise because he had superstar potential a few years back but stopped improving almost from the start. Gangrel: No surprise here. Kidman: Not surprised because by bringing in three new cruisers, Kidman was the third to be cut to make room for the Mexicans. The company was upset with his constant injuries and the only effective role he had was the guy who looked like he was just out of his teens having great matches. Meltz calls him a talented performer who stopped connecting with the crowd. ---Marty Jannetty was also cut but after his two matches and being signed, we never heard from him again. ---All the cut wrestlers will paid until early October and won't be allowed to wrestle until that time. ---With Maven being cut, Nitro is the only Tough Enough guy who has a legit chance at being a star. ---16 people were cut from the front office including Mark LLoyd. --- Of the original WCW talent that WWF picked up contracts on, only 3 remain on the roster: Chavo, Hurricane, and Stacy Keibler. Booker T and Torrie Wilson signed deals quickly but their contracts were not immediately picked up.

And wouldn't you know it, today's razor-thin issue arrives right on time. WWE Number Crunching Notes: --- Despite the addition of four PPVs and increase in international business, WWE revenue and profit declined in the fiscal year ending 4/30 --- The company made a profit of $39,147,000. From a wrestling standpoint, it is the 2nd lowest profit since the boom but is actually the 5th most profitable year in company history since they are not involved in any money losing ventures like the XFl and the World. --- The reason PPV numbers have increased over the past year is not because of more popular shows but because of increased international exposure to PPVs. --- Meltz feels the most overlooked aspect of company business is the domestic decline and how house show business is down from its peak. --- On the Mania buyrate. the current estimate os 983,000 buys. However, only app. 632,000 buys were from the U.S. compared with last year's Mania which only had 886,000 total buys but more than 700,000 coming from North America. --- Before 2002, international buys were inisignificant and the company only received 5% of total revenues from overseas. ---Comparison of domestic figures betwen 2000-01 and the past year: 2000-02= $430,000,000 Past year= $260,000,000 --- Acc. to Meltz, people who follow the company know the growth is going to be overseas but that level of decline domestically is largely unrealized. --- Meltz called the investors conference the most heated in company history. --- During the entire presentation prior to the Q&A, ECW was not mentioned once. During the Q&A, ECW was asked about but McMahon refused to estimate the buyrate. Then, the next day, WWE released a first estimate of 265,000 buys. --- Interesting note: Total profits from Hogan's run from 1984 to 1992 were less than the profit margin of WCW in 1998 alone. The Hogan era made Vince McMahon worth $100 million. The Austin era made him worth $1.2 billion. Unfortunately for Vince, the XFL cost him a large percentage of that along with his reputation. --- House shows were up from $22 million last year to $29 million this year because of successful overseas tours. --- TV ad revenues dropped from 13.6 million last year to 12.5 million even though ratings were up. This figure will drop to nothing next year. --- Home video sales dropped huge when compared to last year. $11.1 million last year compared to $5.1 million this year. --- Wrestlemania DVD sales are actually slightly up. --- Merchandising is slightly up from $5.8 million to $6.1 million. This is actually a disappointment because because they did so many international shows that usually do huge merch numbers compared to domestic shows.

We can only pray someone fucks with this company.

In the article, Meltz calls her the new Vince Russo. She claims that when Rod Perth put her in charge of RAW, the show did a 2.6 and it went from 2s and 3s to more than 8.0 average... when in actuality the show hit 8 only once (?) and the show never averaged more than a 6.6

Feel free to make a strong argument for the Duds and against the Bodies including match comparisons, promos, drawing, etc. I haven't seen enough of the Bodies to make a strong choice but I will say this... their match with the Rock N Roll Express was better than any Dudz match I have ever seen.

Bill Eadie (as Demolition AX or Masked Superstar ): $800

More WWE notes: --- There is interest in bringing in Balls MAhoney and Axl Rotten in as a tag team. They will be given tryouts starting on 7/11. The company is also interested in Danny Doring and Roadkill since Vince McMahon has been on Johnny Ace about the weakness of the tag division. --- Kid Kash has likely signed a develomental deal and will start working OVW. --- Sandman has been cmaiming that Tommy Dreamer told him he is in. However, Meltz said, besides the music issue, if he can't drink, smoke, use a cane and stay protected like in ECW, there is nothing there. --- Bonnie Hammer, current President of USA credits herself with the success of WWE ratings during the peak. --- The Backlash PPV Buyrate estimate was down to 280,000 as it was predicted as high as 295,000. --- He gives Eddy vs. Rey from the 6/23 SD! ****. --- Heenan Jokes: On marital issues between Flair and his wife Beth "He'd better watch it, because f they get divorced, she's going to wind up with full custody of Arn." "Do you know why Hogan and his wife never got divorced? Both were afraid they would wind up with custody of Beefcake". --- John Cena will do his first real concert on 7/26 in Cleveland --- Angle is really making a push to get the title on RAW. He says his neck is recovered and he can work a full time schedule. --- On the JBL Nazi walk in Germany: The use of Nazi symbolism of any kind is illegal in Germany with one exception: if there is a play or movie where the symbolism is essential to the story. Since the law went into effect, no wrestler has ever used a Nazi gimmick in Germany and it is doubtful JBL needed to do the goosestep to establish the match. JBL was told after the incident to never let it happen again however Ace, Malenko and JBL are not aware what a slap in the face to the live crowd that it was. The German press didn't pick up on the story for two wrestlers: First, even though the story is significant, wrestling isn't significant in Germany. Next, a WWE associate used a favor to keep the one reporter at the Munich show to not acknowledge the incident so it would not damage business. ---Shawn Michael's autobiography "Heartbreak and Triumph" is to be released in the UK on 11/7. No U.S. date was given.

LOL, I'll pretend you said 18 --- As mentioned before, Rf is getting back into the wrestling scene. He is going to be combining ownership with Johnny Kashmere's Pro Wrestling Unplugged promotion. The first show under the ownership will be on 7/30 at the Animal House in Philly. --- Bad press got out just hours after this was announced, as Kashmere released a statement that the ownership is with RFVideo and not Feinstein himself. Kashmere said it would be Doug Gentry that would be representing RFVideo and Feinstein would have no front office involvement. --- Meltz feels that a war with ROH over talent will happen. Meltz reminds us that this is wrestling and since social morality isn't prevalent, few wrestlers will refuse to work with RF. The real problem will be outside the wrestling community and partnerships with people outside the company. More stuff: ---CM Punk put over Colt Cabana in FIP in a 50 minute farewell match. --- Matt Hardy debuts in ROH on 7/16 --- What wrestlers are charging on the indy circuit= Road Warrior Animal = $2500 King Kong Bundy = $750 Honky Tonk Man= $1000 Jimmy Snuka = $1000 Missing Link = $750 Lanny Poffo = $600 Tony Atlas = $500 Al Snow = $1250 Ricky Morton = $400 TNA: --- Sentiment in the locker room is Jeff Jarrett should have been suspended for refusing to work on the PPV since he wasn't going over. --- Right now, Jeff and Jerry Jarrett have no support in the company except for a couple of hand-picked friends such as Dutch Mantel and Jeremy Borash (who are on the booking committee). --- Jeff Jarrett's actions at the PPV made Panda realize he isn't a team player. His actions also showed that the Jarretts' only interest was to control a bleeding company and use it for Jeff to play Jerry Lawler. --- Matt Hardy has not committed to the company because people in WWE are telling him not to sign with TNA. However, Meltz feels if he goes back to WWE, he would be proven to just be a puppet for McMahon.

Quite honestly, I have enjoyed Cornette so much in ROH that if he was released, I would think he wuold play a bigger role in ROH. Maybe I am looking at it from a narrow viewpoint but I don't see that much OVW to feel the sting. The WWF seems to take guys from OVW and expose their weaknesses while hiding their strengths so Cornette's work is wasted. They pull up the guys who are too green while letting others flounder thier for years. Then again, Cornette should get the hell out if he can't control his emotions like that.

WO News and Notes: I usually receive these on Friday but it didn?t drop until Wednesday, two days before I am supposed to get my next issue. So, I?ll try to post as much today since I?ll probably do another one of later on today. Judgment Day Star Ratings: Carlito v. Shelton Benjamin **1/2 Victoria v. Christy Hemme *1/2 Kane v. Edge **3/4 Shawn Michaels v. Kurt Angle ****1/2 John Cena v. Chris Jericho v. Christian ***3/4 HHH v. Batista (Hell in a Cell) ****1/2 Meltz analysis of the draft results: --- John Cena for Batista ? Meltz feels RAW gets the advantage here. He thinks that Batista?s successful run so far was a result of his interaction with Flair and HHH, not because people want to see Batista. He thinks HHH v. Cena will be a fresh program but that a Batista v. JBL program would be much better if JBL held the belt. Then again, he thinks Batista would lose any steam he has if he lost a match. --- Chris Benoit for Kurt Angle ? Not surprisingly, Meltz feels this is another advantage for RAW. He feels Angle is a star no matter where he is at on the card where Benoit is only a star when set with other stars. --- Carlito for Hassan ? Again, he feels Raw got the better end of the stick. He calls the Hassan and Daivari team a one-trick pony. --- Big Show for Christian- Meltz calls it a wash. He thinks Show has more chances of being in a top program on RAW than Christian has of being a top draw on SD! However, he says Christian in the mid-card would be better than Show being stuck in the midcard. --- RVD for Randy Orton ? As injured guys go, Meltz says that since Orton is being groomed for a top spot, this appears to benefit SD! ? except moving RVD to RAW kills almost any shot of doing a SD! vs. ECW feud (this issue was before the roster cuts). Random star ratings: Kurt Angle vs. Ric Flair (Raw) ***1/2 Kanemaru & Sugiura vs. KENTA & MArufuji (Noah 6/6/05) ****3/4 CM Punk vs. Austin Aries (ROH 6/18/05) ****1/2 Hall of Fame Notes: --- Meltz says he has received criticism that it is harder for stars of the 60s and 70s to make it in the Hall of Fame. He argues that half the inductees worked in those eras. He also said that in that time, there was more wrestling because of the territories. However, since wrestling grew exponentially in the 80s, a guy like Sting would be an automatic choice if he wrestled from 1959-1970 instead of from 1989-2000 and verbatim ?And he?s a guy that will never get in.? ---When people argue that the Hall of Fame should not be a quota system, he agrees but also states that it would be reasonable to think that the number of guys in the late 90s (when business was at its peak) would be higher than the number of inductees from AWA in the 1970s. ---He also argues that those early regions hardly ever carried more than 30 wrestlers at any given time where there are at least 125 workers in the WWF in 1999-2000. ---This was a response to a bio on Bill Miller that Steve Yohe wrote in argument for Miller?s induction in this week?s WO.

What did you think of it?

Match #13 - Hardy Boyz v Hart Foundation --- Hart Foundation. I don't really like any Hardy Boyz matches and I can think of 3-4 Hart matches I like more than anything the AHrdys have ever been involved in inc. the TLC matches. However, I will be honest and say I have not seen enough OMEGA to truly condemn the Hardys. Match #14 - Harlem Heat v Fabulous Freebirds (Hayes/Gordy/Roberts) --- Freebirds were involved in some of the most exciting and creative angles of the 80s. Harlem Heat entertian me but for all the wrong reasons. Booker T calling Hulk Hogan a "Nigga" being one of them. Match #15 - Heavenly Bodies v Dudley Boyz --- I haven't seen enough Bodies stuff to give a true vote. I abstain. Match #16 - The Russians (Ivan/Nikita/Kruschev) v Brainbusters --- On pure ability, the Brainbusters get this with little effort. On angles and storylines, the Russians triumph. However, Arn and Tully did great things as singles more than as a team IMO. I am going with the Russians.

I am fully aware of that. My point was that he didn't just say "I have to honor my no-compete". Instead, he went the "I would like to relax and freshen up" route.

Read: my no-compete clause kicks in for awhile.

This was, by far, the easiest round to vote on. No tight races at all IMO. Rockers Rick & Scott Steiner Miracle Violence Connection (Williams & Gordy) Midnight Express (Eaton & Condrey)

So all of these personalities are gone?

Match #5 - Midnight Express (Eaton & Lane) --- I expect one of the MX teams to be on tops when all is said and done. I still haven't decided which one but either one would be choice. Match #6 - Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith --- I never liked Demolition so this makes it a little easier. Match #7 - Road Warriors --- I really wanted to vote for Doom but not above LOD. Match #8 - Rock & Roll Express --- Another team that should be near the finals (but not quite) when all is said and done.

Speaing of Kevin Dunn, I was watching the Best of WWF Vol. 19 last night and he is the geekiest, annoying f**ker you have ever seen. Does not look anything like I imagined him to be.

Loss made the comment in another thread that in a perfect world, Bret Hart would be booking the WWE. So, what other things would occur in the perfect world? I'll throw a few out to get it started. - In a perfect world, HHH would not be married to the head of creative in the WWE. - In a perfect world, Stephanie McMahon would not be head of creative. - In a perfect world, Ric Flair would have already retired graciously. - In a perfect world, Eddie would not have flamed out as a champion and would still be carrying the strap today. - In a perfect world, guys like CM Punk and Samoa Joe could come into the company and not have to worry about what kind of gimmick Vince would saddle them with.

Jim Breaks matches are now listed for the next Mortimer wishlist.

Now, THAT is something these guys should be learning. Know your friggin opponent.

I have never heard of him... not once.