WWE and TNA news and notes from the Observer

[Guest HTQ]

WWE:

 

New Years Revolution Match Star Ratings

 

1) Hardy vs Nitro = ***1/4

2) Tag Team Gauntlet = *1/4

3) Dykstra vs Flair = **1/2

4) Mickie vs Victoria = **

5) DX vs Rated RKO = ***3/4

6) Masters vs Carlito = *1/2

7) Cena vs Umaga = ***

 

TV Ratings

 

Raw on 1/1 drew a 3.83 rating, even with K-Fed, with hour ratings of 3.83 and 3.83, and 5.06 million viewers. The K-Fed vs Cena match did a 4.1 rating, which is very good for an opening segment which viwers have been trained to expect will normally be a 20 minute promo. The ending with Cena giving K-Fed an FU did a 4.3.

 

ECW on 1/2 drew a 1.5 rating and 1.77 million viewers. This is much worse than it sounds as this was a live show which normally leads to a 15% increase in the rating and it also had a two week build for RVD's title shot. The show did a 1.19 with Males 18-34 and 0.97 with Males 35-49. ECW has lost 41% of males 35-49 viewers since week 15. The average age of a ECW viwers is roughly the same as all the other WWE shows at 35.

 

Smackdown on 1/5 drew a 3.01 rating and 4.67 million viwers, which is a season high.

 

News

 

HHH's torn tendon in his right quadriceps has changed all future plans. John Cena vs HHH was slated as the front runner for the WrestleMania main event but now that's out the window they are going to be brainstorming to try and come up with a whole new show. The tentative plan of Bobby Lashley vs The Great Khali for ECW title was changed and Khali was moved to Raw incase they need to build up a monster for Hogan to face should Big Show not make it. No matches are official for WM, but 'Taker vs Big Dave is still penciled in. The Donald Trump angle will now end at Mania which is the best plan for WWE as it hopefully will get mainstream publicity for their biggest - and highest-priced - show of the year.

 

HHH had surgury on 1/9 in Birmingham under Dr James Andrews and Andrews diagnosed the injury as a tendon rupture, with it tearing off the bone and thte kneecap. He should be able to walk again in about six weeks and will be out of action for between four and six months.

 

Steph totally freaked out backstage after the match. Nobody was allowed to approach her and one office employ who did got chewed out for doing so. Her reaction was described as being as if HHH had been killed in the ring rather than just torn a muscle.

 

The three title matches at the Royal Rumble are currently set to be Umaga vs Cena, Kennedy vs Big Dave and Test vs Lashley (possibly with RVD added for a three way). The deal is that the Rumble match itself is seen as the big draw and the show is a chance for the champ(s) to get a convincing win on the way to Wrestlemania which is why you get the likes of Mark Henry and Bob Holly getting title shots.

 

Untill HHH got injured the 30 guys slated to be involved were; HHH, HBK, Flair, Jeff Hardy, Carlito, Super Crazy, Khali, Edge, Orton, Masters, Eugene, Big Vis, Taker, Benoit, Kane, Matt Hardy, Booker, Finlay, Chavo, MVP, Tatanka, Helms, Van Dam, Sabu, Punk, Sandman, Dreamer, Holly, Thorn and Striker.

 

Although it's not the first time it's happened, Dave describes the TNA chants on Raw as being 'surreal'. WWE had hyped on its website all day that there would be an O'Donnell vs Trump match. Vince thought it was a comedic idea that would get the company some mainstream publicity and WWE even sent a media alert that morning to TV stations saying that they could get footage for their 11pm newscasts. Nobody bothered to request any. In normal circumstances it probably would have got some press, but as they've only just finished the Federline deal it was far too soon to try again. O'Donnell was played by Kelly Adkins, a woman wrestler who held the NWA Woman's Title in 2005 and has recently retired due to knee problems. Trump was played by Ace Steel, best know for his ROH work. The 'match' went 5:28 with fans booing at first and then chanting loudly "We Want Wrestling!" and "TNA". Vince, who loved the idea when it was proposed, was at ringside for the whole segment which ended up being a big mistake as the segment clearly bombed and they kept showing Vince at ringside no selling the reaction which made him look completely out of touch with what the fans want. However, even despite this, Vince still loved the segment afterwards.

 

Cyber Sunday back on 11/5 did a preliminary estimate of 233,000 buys (about 150,000 domestic). The 2005 Taboo Tuesday did 248,000.

 

Piper is said to have an 85% chance of survival.

 

1/1 was the end of the K-Fed angle. However if he ever wanted to return they'd be happy to have him back.

 

Vladimir Kozlov is going to introduced in the same manner as MVP was - being on TV for a couple of months watching matches and getting more and more involved with the show.

 

Lost more models are to be signed, with the thinking that they need nice looking people to get the ratings up. It's as if they've looking at what segments get low viewing figures and decided that's the way to go.

 

Diavari was not brought to Raw with Khali as they felt he was a 'distraction' when Khali was in the ring.

 

'The Marine' finished $18,748,516 domestic and $1,152,966. So that's less than half what was needed for the movie to be profitable.

 

Punk is currently in the doghouse, probably as he disagreed with the layout of the Elimination Chamber match with Arn Anderson and Michael Heyes who were the producers for it. For this weeks ECW TV Dave Lagana had written that Punk should get Holly in the vice and Holly should turn over, grab a rope and pin Punk. In the production meeting when the TV was being put together the whole room turned on Punk when Lagana told them his idea. Arn Anderson especially was against him, saying the Holly should make Punk pay his dues as he's just "Heyman' guy" and not any good so Holly shouldn't need to cheat to pin him. Anderson also said Punk was only over because Heyman fluked it and shouldn't be happening. Punk was personally told by Anderson that "after 14 years on being on WWE televison, Holly is the bigger star" as an explanation why the heel should pin the babyface clean. The actual finish was came up by Finlay.

 

Vince has also suggest Punk should turn heel, saying "This straight edge stuff shows me he thinks he's better than everyone else." The funny thing is Vince has no idea that Punk's catchphrase when he first came into ROH as a heel was "Straight edge means I'm better than you!".

 

Larry Zbyszko has contacted WWE trying to get himself signed onto a Legends deal and a commentry gig. No word as of yet if Vince is interested.

 

Monty Brown is pegged to be a heel when he debuts, which will be as soon as his knee heals up.

 

The company is working of a Wrestlings Famour Famillies DVD focusing on the Funks, Guerreros and the Harts.

 

Christopher DeJoseph (Big Dick Johnson) got some heat for getting himself booked on the Christmas house show run as those shows traditionally draw some of the biggest domestic houses of the year. Also several women involved in his skits aren't happy as they feel he comes across as a bigger star than they do.

 

They are looking at doing a new Hart Fountation with Harry Smith, Nattie Neidhart, Teddy Hart and possibly TJ Wilson. This depends on Hart signing and he's got an MTV deal till February and is often his own worst enemy when it comes to promotions who book him.

 

Mike DiBiase - Ted's son - is currently daying Bret Hart's daughter Jade.

 

Nobuyuki Sakakibara claimed that Pride meeting with WWE was about using the likes of Umage, Undertaker and Batista in Pride's proposed Super Heavyweight tournament in 2007. Dave estimates there's a slightly less than 0% change of that happening.

 

Kenny Bolin is back at OVW after his heart problems.

TNA:

 

There has been a lot of very negative talk internally about how the TV shows are presenting the company and the workers. The feeling is TNA can put on much better wrestling than WWE and have that as it's calling card, but because of the way Impact is booked someone watching the show for the first time would have no idea how good likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe or Christopher Daniels are because you when you only see 2:00 matches how can you tell?

 

They are still trying to bring in Chris Jericho, who is yet to either say whether he is or isn't interested.

 

Konnan's hip replacement surgery was due on 1/8 if he was healthy enough. He's lost 35lbs from the dialysis and dieting since the last TNA TV taping.

 

TNA contacted Sun Sports, which was the major outlet for the Xplosion show and told them in early December they would no longer be supplying tapes after the end of the year. The show will keep being produced to sell to foreign markets as it's very cheap to make.

 

The Imapact due for 1/25 will now air on 1/24 at 10pm.

 

Borash had tickets for Liddell-Ortiz but couldn't go as he had to be at the taping of the VKM skit at the Alamo that day.

Credit for typing it out goes to The Decemberists.

[Loss]

Interesting notes. Thanks for posting.

 

Poor Punk.