RAW’s ratings keep dropping, and dropping, and dropping. This past Monday they hit their lowest point since the show the day after Wrestlemania 14. Yikes. The lack of competition is causing the WWF to become somewhat lazy I believe, because they don’t have to beat WCW in the ratings. Part of it may be that wrestling seems to come and go in cycles, but yet another factor is that the quality of the shows has been lacking quite a bit ever since shortly after Wrestlemania, which just a few notable exceptions. And still another factor comes in the form of the fact that The Rock was gone for several months, Triple H has been gone for many months, and so has Benoit. Austin turned heel, Kurt Angle turned face, and it just left the WWF in a much different state than it was prior to these ratings decreases. Personally, I feel that the WWF storylines are lacking right now, mainly just in development. Nothing gets developed very well anymore, with the exceptions of the Rock/Jericho feud and the Austin/RVD situation.
But let me set one thing straight, I am not bashing the WWF. I am saying that they could improve, and I am saying that the ratings should be stronger than they are. I am NOT saying I could book better and I am NOT saying that the bookers or the McMahons are idiots. That’s not my place to say either of those things. All I see on the internet lately is WWF bashing, and you know what it is? There’s no WCW to bash anymore. When WCW was still struggling to make it, the internet was filled with people bashing WCW and anyone who worked for it. Now that there is no WCW to bash, these people who love to be negative have turned to bash the WWF. It makes them feel big to talk like they could do so much better than the WWF is doing right now if they had the power.
Let me just say that after standing in a line for WWF tickets both of the last two weekends, and talking to the people there, I can honestly tell you that “smart” internet wrestling fans are the MINORITY. I can tell you that when I started to talk about Tazz, a man who is a cult hero here on the internet, and a guy who I do happen to like, the vast majority of fans I was talking with said things along the line of “Tazz sucks, I hope they fire him or something”. Or when I mentioned how great Taz was in ECW, “Huh?” Simple as that. That’s just one example, but the vast majority of people there were huge Undertaker and Rock fans. The WWF isn’t going to make Tazz a player just out of nowhere, and they’re not going to push guys like Justin Credible and Tommy Dreamer, simply because the majority of fans DO NOT want to see that! Whether the Undertaker sells or not, and whether he’s old or not, no matter WHAT the internet fans think of him, he’s going to get pushed (at least somewhat) and he’s going to be on each show because that is what the majority of fans WANT. Listen to the reaction he gets every night and try to tell me otherwise. It sorely irritates me when I read things about how stupid Vince McMahon or another member of the McMahon family is for booking what they do, or how the Undertaker should retire, Tommy Dreamer should be pushed, or whatever.
Yes the ratings have decreased, but look at WCW. When they tried to cater to the internet fans with “shoot” interviews and that type of thing, they didn’t get any stronger ratings. What gets ratings is the outrageous storylines, the ones that make the casual wrestling fan want to tune in to see what happens next. Longer, quality matches aren’t really the answer to the ratings. I do however, think making the Alliance not look as weak and seem like more of a credible threat, would be a very wise move.
No Mercy was a great event. It was very nice to see Jericho defeat the Rock. I was very worried that because of his popularity, the WWF would give RVD the win, but I was pleasantly surprised. I like RVD, but I just think that if he were to win the title after 3 or 4 months in the WWF, not only would it upset some of the more established WWF stars, it would also probably go to RVD’s head. But anyway, it was a good event, especially the two main events. I was very much pleasantly surprised, not like with Unforgiven, when I was sorely let down.
RAW the next night was solid, a good show, much better than some of the other recent shows, but this concept of “winner takes all” at Survivor Series seems very odd to me. We’ll see what happens, but if the WWF wins, what becomes of the whole concept of WCW getting it’s own TV show? And if the Alliance wins, I just have no idea what the hell would happen there.
A couple of random thoughts before I go:
I read Kurt Angle’s book within the first two weeks it came out, I just forgot to say so. So here’s my opinion of it; it is a very good book, well written and interesting. It’s not one of Foley’s books, but it’s sure as hell not Chyna or the Rock’s book either. All in all, I’d say go buy it, give it a read, it’s worth it.
Smackdown 3 and Legends of Wrestling come out for Playstation 2 very soon…I gotta buy a damn PS2.
I got tickets to two straight nights of WWF action, November 25th in Tulsa, and November 26th in Oklahoma City for RAW. I can’t freakin’ wait. Personally, I’m hoping for the return of Triple H at RAW, but I won’t hold my breath. I had the pleasure of meeting Stacy Keibler and Jim Ross at the box office in Tulsa, then Torrie and JR at the box office in Oklahoma City. All three of them were nice and I enjoyed the conversations I had with them, as brief as they were; but I’d just like to say that hands down, Stacy is SO much hotter than Torrie. Oh, and by the way, if anyone has any ideas on what I should put on my sign when I go to RAW, send them my way. I’m sure I’m going to put “I like girls” (it’s almost a catchphrase I use in daily life...don’t ask) on one side, but the other is up for debate.
Until next time…
