SAT. UPDATE: WWE on changes; Advertised main event for 3-hour Raw; Lawler last ditch effort
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We're looking for reports on tonight's WEC show on Versus, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to
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We're also looking for reports on tonight's Raw house show in Terre Haute, IN, Smackdown show in Bristol, TN, ROH show in Indianapolis and TNA show in St. Cloud, MN.
Tonight's lineup from San Antonio starting at 9 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. Pacific time:
Prelims
Javier Vazquez (145) vs. Deividas Taurosavicius (144.5)
Charlie Valencia (134.5) vs. Cody Wheeler (135)
Eddie Wineland (135.5) vs. Manny Tapia (135.5)
Wagnney Fabiano (145.5) vs. Mackens Semerzier (146)
Scott Jorgenson (136) vs. Noah Thomas (136)
Anthony Njokuani (156) vs. Muhsin Corbbrey (156)
Live fights
Damacio Page (135) vs. Will Campuzano (135)
Raphael Assuncao (146) vs. Yves Jabeuin (146)
Rich Crunkilton (156) vs. Dave Jansen (156)
Donald Cerrone (154.5) vs. Ben Henderson (155) for the interim WEC lightweight title
Tomorrow has Raw in Toledo, Smackdown in Huntington, WV and TNA in Mankato, MN.
Monday has the live Raw from Indianapolis, while there is a rare Monday night Smackdown house show in Pikeville, KY. Masahiro Chono has his 25th anniversary show on Monday at Tokyo's Sumo Hall.
Tuesday has a Smackdown taping in Louisville.
Thanks for all the nice words on this week's issue covering the history of pro wrestling in Northern California.
An examination of the WWE major programs, where they stand, and how they are handicapped by the current PPV theme situation, is the lead story in one of two issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter coming out this week.
A second issue lead story will be the history of the golden age of pro wrestling in Northern California. We used the Hall of Fame biography on Roy Shire, who promoted pro wrestling in Northern California from 1961-1981, as a theme to look back at one of the strongest territories during those years. This is one of the biggest historical pieces we've ever undertaken, as we look back at who Roy Shire was, who Ray Stevens was, Pat Patterson, Moondog Mayne, Pepper Gomez and so many others.
The first issue is available on the web site right now to premium members. The second issue, which will be a collectors item issue, will be on the web site tomorrow. Details are below on getting the issues themselves delivered via mail.
We look at the background of Punk vs. Undertaker, what happened, why it happened, and decisions that have been changed and where things go from here. We also look at the other main event programs in the company going forward.
The San Francisco feature looks at the heyday, the many ways the wrestling industry today has been impacted by Shire as a booker, the legend of Ray Stevens, the story behind the famous Cow Palace Battle Royals that led to the Royal Rumble, a look at the most famous shows Shire put on, his biggest feuds, and a rundown of 20 years of ups and downs.
We look at Roy Shire as a wrestler in the 50s, how he got started as a promoter, the heyday of National All-Star Wrestling, one of the highest rated wrestling television shows in the country, with lots of comments from people who were around from the start. We look at Roy Shire's first show ever at the Cow Palace, Shire's first big angle, his most remembered angles, the Stevens vs. Gomez feud, Shire's philosophy of what a wrestling match was, and the ironies of his run and how that relates to Vince McMahon, Verne Gagne, Bill Watts and others who came after him.
We look at Stevens vs. Sammartino, the Texas death matches, the atmosphere during the heyday of wrestling at the Cow Palace, the end of the Ray Stevens era, the Pat Patterson era, how television shaped the history of pro wrestling in this part of the country. We look at Shire burning out as a booker, the heyday of Moondog Mayne, Bob Roop, Kevin Sullivan and Buddy Rose, attempts to buy and steal the territory and what actually killed the territory.
We look at his decision to shut down, his final show, as well as the first pro wrestling personality to pose on a Playboy cover (and it was more than 30 years before Sable) as well as the alumnus of Roy Shire's wrestling who went on to become a major television star and had one of the most successful wall posters of anyone over a ten year period.
We look at Shire's philosophy of television, as well as the big name sports star he tried to lure into pro wrestling as well as his famous feud with a boxing Hall of Fame legend. We look at his problems getting along with people, some of the most controversial issues during his run, and so many of the obstacles he dealt with. We look at his attempts to kill pro wrestling after his run was over.
We also have full coverage of the two major shows of the week. We've got coverage of the WWE Hell in a Cell show, with poll results, business notes, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and more. We also have coverage of Dream 11, looking at the good, bad, ugly, with match-by-match coverage and more on the company's next show.
We also look at Kimbo Slice and UFC setting record ratings with the Ultimate Fighter reality show. We look at just how strong the show was with Males 18-34, the records set as well as other records which were not set. We look at the change in marketing of Slice, the fight itself, Roy Nelson talks about Kimbo and his future and lessons to learn regarding marketing of Slice.
We also have a look at the SummerSlam buys, how they compare with last year both worldwide and domestic, and the key lessons of this year's show now that the numbers are in.
We also have updates on Jeff Hardy and his court situation, Rock's appearance, Linda McMahon's campaign, Undertaker's future, Jim Ross' future and things to look for, as well as a former WWE star who canceled an interview saying he was negotiating to come back, injury updates, some new WWE doctrines, more on Matt Hardy, the WWE's best selling DVDs this year, as well as updates in other business categories.
We also have a look at a new WWE signing, who was top three in the world in another sport, what former WWE star actually set up a famous Hollywood marriage, as well as the origin of the name of the current WWE star.
We also have a look at the ratings for all the major pro wrestling
and MMA shows on television over the past week.
We also have our usual weekly features such as the results of the
biggest matches of the week and rundown of the major television shows.
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--There is an AP story that will be hitting newspapers around the country on Monday on the new WWE direction. Story is at http://tinyurl.com/yjbta9y The story is actually hilarious, including Vince McMahon claiming the current product is more sophisticated. While I don't disagree that in the big picture, the new direction is the right move business-wise, it's sort of embarrassing to see the press cover it at face value that the new direction has made a difference with more kids watching. Ten years ago, at the peak of the raunch, about 38% of the WWE audience was kids and now it's 30%, and that's 30% of a significantly smaller overall audience, and both live attendance and PPV numbers are way down from that period. Ten years ago the mean age of a Raw viewer was 24 and today it's 39. So don't pretend that this new direction has led to more kids being into WWE. If it seems more at the live shows that is more a function of the 18-49 audience that watches on TV no longer attending the live events or buying PPV shows in as great numbers, and that's a function of not having as big stars to the public as in the past. The idea by making the product more tame that you get more kids viewers sounds great on paper, but in reality, the effect is the opposite, as we learned in the Monday Night Wars era where when WCW had the more "kid-friendly" product, they couldn't draw any kids at all as compared to WWF. Vince did acknowledge part of the reason for the change is an inability to compete with UFC, which shows how their public viewpoint of UFC has changed in just the past few months.
It is so embarrassing to be quoted in the same story with James Varsallone. When asked about the new direction, Varsallone said, "I do not get complaints from fans." As noted, I'm not against the new direction. To me, it's about getting characters over and producing good storylines and you can do that with a tamer product and in the big picture that's what is going to make the difference between business being up or down. However, to say you never hear complaints from the fans means you either live in a cave or don't know many fans. There is not a day that goes by where I don't hear complaints from fans, and all I heard over the weekend was complaints about no blood in the three Hell in a Cell matches. Fans in all genres complain. Football fans, soap opera fans, movie fans. Hey, there were people complaining about Forrest Griffin as a late replacement for Mark Coleman because it's another rematch (you know, because they fought 3 1/2 years ago and this match will add significant numbers to the show).
--For the three-hour Raw on 11/23 in Hershey, PA, they are advertising John Cena & DX vs. Randy Orton & Legacy as the main event.
--Jerry Lawler in his last-ditch effort for this coming week's Memphis mayoral election that he's way behind in the polls in, trying to bring Al Sharpton to Memphis is at http://www.memphisflyer.com/JacksonBaker/archives/2009/10/09/
--There was a video that surfaced of Maria Menounos, who guest hosts Raw Monday with Nancy O'Dell, training in the ring at Ric Drasin's wrestling school in Southern California, which means she'll probably get physical during the show. Hopefully she's not in a singles match with Rosa Mendes.
--60 Minutes on Sunday will have a feature on concussions in the NFL and Chris Nowinski will be on the show.
--There is an article on Steve Austin attending his first soccer game last week at http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/10/08/1548918/ He said after seeing a game, he's turned into a fan and is going to start following the sport in the U.S.
--To promote tonight's show in Bristol, TN, there is an article at http://www2.tricities.com/tri/entertainment/ on JTG, which I didn't even know, is short for Just Too Good.
--A story on Dolph Ziggler building up tomorrow's show in Huntington, WV is at http://www.herald-dispatch.com/entertainment/ It noted his amateur background at St. Edwards High in the Cleveland area (he was on a wrestling team that was national champions) and at Kent State, where he was a three-time Mid American Conference champion. He talked about his drug suspension and took the blame for it. "Be careful what you get into and who you are associated with. It can easily be taken away. I had a month to think it over. I said I won't make that mistake again."
--Listed Smackdown brand main events for this weekend are C.M. Punk vs. Rey Mysterio, Christian & Tommy Dreamer vs. William Regal & Sheamus and John Morrison vs. Chris Jericho
--Will UFC 106 top 1 million buys
Yes 74.5%
No 25.5%
--Poll on Impact
Excellent 15.1%
Good 37.2%
Average 9.3%
Fair 9.3%
Poor 29.1%
45.6% of those responding didn't see the show
--Poll on Superstars
Excellent 0.0%
Good 43.2%
Average 27.3%
Fair 9.1%
Poor 20.5%
67.4% of those responding didn't see the show
--Who was the best of these wrestlers
Ray Stevens 46.9%
Undertaker 46.9%
Joe Stecher 3.8%
Sandor Szabo 1.8%
Ray Steele 0.8%
--
--ACE Wrestling tonight at the ACE Arena with Jana vs. Latasha in an empty arena match plus Jerry Lynn vs. Mo Sexton in the main event. Why do they advertise an empty arena match?
--A story on Jason Poirrier, a longtime pro wrestling fan, who was in a parking lot where he saw police trying to apprehend a man, and he broke away. Poirrer said instinctively he got the guy from behind and held him in a full nelson until police cuffed the guy. Police arrested Charles Remacle, wanted for allegedly violating child custody laws by kidnapping his son. Story is at http://www.semissourian.com/story/1577586.html
--Mike Adamle is doing the Iron Man triathalon in Hawaii at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-10-09-adamle-ironman_N.thm today, a week after turning 60. That a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike road and a 26+ mile marathon all in the same day. He's done the race twice before in his life. It did note that Adamle worked for WWE and is currently a sportscaster in Chicago.
--A story about a high school wrestler suing the school district in the Kansas City area as wrestling practice one day was canceled, but some team members decided to do MMA fights and Samuel Gomez suffered two broken teeth, another tooth knocked out, needed two root-canal surgeries that cost more than $7,000 and expects to spend another $20,000 on future surgeries. Story is at http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/1498292.html
--Larry Matysik is doing an ebook called "From the Golden Era," chronicling St. Louis wrestling from 1959-83 with results and attendance of every major show in the city during that era, as well as comments on the booking. For more info go to http://www.ecwpress.com/goldenera
--Nunzio will be appearing on 10/17 for the BWO in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ at the Pioneer Club
--EWA on 10/18 in Parkville, MD at Tall Cedars Hall
--Loco Wrestling and DWF on 10/24 at B&B Fitness Center in Pennsauken, NJ for a wrestling show and Halloween party
--Jersey All Pro Wrestling on 10/17 in Jersey City at the Golden Door Charter School with Dan Maff defending his JAPW title against the winner of a Rumble earlier in the show. Val Venis and B.G. James are in the Rumble
