by Logan Scisco
-A video package
highlights the confrontation between Steve Austin & the Undertaker and Kane
& Mankind on last week’s show.
-Jim Ross and Michael Cole are doing
commentary and they are taped from Austin, Texas. Tonight is the go home show for the King of
the Ring.
-Vince McMahon
comes out and invites Kane to the ring.
Paul Bearer is sitting at home, recovering from the Undertaker’s attack
on last week’s show. McMahon tells Kane
that it is his destiny to be WWF champion and that a victory over Steve Austin
at the King of the Ring will erase his awful childhood. McMahon announces that Kane is challenging
Austin to a first blood match at the King of the Ring, and Kane speaks for the
first time and proclaims that if he does not win the WWF title, he will set
himself on fire. The only question that
remains is whether Austin will accept the challenge. Kane’s announcement was so outrageous and out
of left field that I have to give this a point.
1 for 1
-Call 815-734-1161
to get your D-Generation X home video.
It can be yours for $14.95 (plus $4 shipping & handling)!
-Opening King of
the Ring First Round Contest: Ken
Shamrock defeats Mark Henry with a belly-to-belly suplex at 4:35:
The Nation continues to try to accompany their members to
the ring, but they are dispatched to the locker room yet again by WWF
officials. Henry concentrates his attack
on Shamrock’s back, but Shamrock rallies and when Henry is knocked to the
floor, Vader attacks him to get revenge for last week, and Shamrock advances to
face the winner of the Marc Mero-Jeff Jarrett match in the semi-finals. I’m impressed by Henry’s development to this
point. He’s not participating in *****
matches and his skills are still limited, but he is showing better awareness of
how to work around his limitations. Rating:
**½ (2 for 2)
-Shamrock tells
Kevin Kelly that he is going to climb the top of the mountain and win the King
of the Ring.
-Edge is shown
sitting in the audience. He makes his
debut tonight.
-X-Pac (w/Chyna)
beats Dustin Runnels with a spinning heel kick at 5:31:
Runnels prays before the match, clueing us in on his new
Christian gimmick. Runnels is the 1998
version of Tito Santana and is putting over all the talents that bookers have
longer term plans for. He nearly
finishes X-Pac off, but when he goes for a bulldog, Chyna trips him and that
allows X-Pac to earn his first victory since returning to the company. After the match, Runnels offers a handshake,
but X-Pac refuses the gesture. Rating:
**½ (3 for 3)
-Ross interviews
Bearer from his home via satellite and Bearer promises to be at the King of the
Ring with his son.
-Jerry “the King”
Lawler, who’s crown was taken by Snow last week, rants about Al Snow after the
commercial break and invites him into the ring.
Snow comes to the ring through the crowd and is dressed like an old
woman. Lawler says that if he gets his
crown back that he will give Snow an appointment with Vince McMahon. After Lawler gets his crown back, Snow
receives a contract, not an appointment, that books him and Head in a tag match
against Too Much. If Snow wins, he gets
an appointment with McMahon, but if he loses, he has to leave the company. Snow says that McMahon just wants him to do
another job on pay-per-view and says they might as well do the match now. Too Much rushes the ring, but Snow takes care
of them with Head and leaves. This is a
good example of a storyline that went over the heads of most of the audience,
who were not of the smark persuasion. 3 for 4
-King of the Ring
First Round Match: “Double J” Jeff
Jarrett (w/Tennessee Lee) pins “Marvelous” Marc Mero (w/Jacqueline) with a DDT
after Sable distracts Mero at 4:30:
This is the first heel-heel King of the Ring match in
history and Jarrett nearly causes Mero to tear his ACL by botching a powerbomb
near the ropes. For all intents and
purposes, Mero should have gone over here, since he was still getting heat for
the Sable feud, but Vince Russo’s affinity for Jarrett wins out and he moves on
to face Shamrock at the King of the Ring.
Rating: *½ (3 for 5)
-Jarrett tells
Kevin Kelly that he will become the King of the Ring this Sunday.
-Steve Austin’s
fight with Kane on top of the Hell in a Cell on last week’s show is the
Cinnaburst Rewind segment.
-Lawler joins Ross
to do commentary for the second hour.
-Kane beats The
Road Dogg with a Tombstone at 4:04:
The good thing about tag teams is that you can sacrifice
one of their members in a singles match and they do not lose credibility. This is a prolonged squash as the Road Dogg
just manages a few token blows. Rating:
½* (3 for 6)
-Paul Bearer
reiterates his promise to be at the King of the Ring and the Undertaker
suddenly shows up and destroys him for the second week in a row. The live feed to Bearer’s home goes out
before we can see the end of the beating.
The Undertaker has a great line before commencing the beating: “Do you think I’ve forgotten where you
live?!?!”
-Edge defeats Jose
via count out at 1:08:
This is Edge’s debut and his entrance has an NWO-feel to
it where a red hue covers the screen.
The debut go as planned, though, as Edge breaks Jose’s neck with a
somersault plancha and prematurely ends the match. Edge would never do that move again as a
result of the incident.
-Kane is shown trashing
his locker room after finding out that the Undertaker has attacked his
father. Mankind tries to restrain him in
the back.
-King of the Ring
First Round Match: Dan Severn beats Owen
Hart via submission to a modified bow and arrow at 2:59:
This match has a nice exchange of maneuvers, but there is
no psychology behind them. Owen’s
attempt to bring a chair into the ring distracts the referee and X-Pac gives
Owen a SICK chair shot to the back of the head that enables Severn to
advance. Owen would requires staples to
close that gash. Severn will face the winner
of the Rock-Triple H first round match at the King of the Ring. The “dream final” of Ken Shamrock and Severn
also stays alive.
-After the
commercial break, the Nation is in the ring and the Rock challenges
D-Generation X to a fight. DX comes out
to engage them, but WWF officials prevent a fight from breaking out.
-King of the Ring
First Round Match: The Rock defeats
Triple H (w/Chyna) with a fisherman’s suplex at 8:08:
This match lacks the heat of their future encounters and
the Rock and Chyna are more over than Triple H is as well. Chyna tries to interfere several times to
give Triple H the match, but the Rock keeps kicking out. What I really like about this match is that
it doesn’t have to end in a finisher, as the Rock gives Triple H a low blow and
uses a move he’s never used before to win.
Rating: **½ (4 for 7)
-After the match,
the Nation and DX brawl as WWF officials flood the ring to break things up.
-Mankind is shown
trying to comfort Kane some more in the locker room.
-After the
commercial break, Mankind is in the ring and the Hell in a Cell lowers as he
cuts a promo against the Undertaker for King of the Ring. He recaps his feud with the Undertaker and
chastises the Undertaker for attacking Paul Bearer the last several weeks. He claims that the Undertaker’s punishment
will be within the cell and not the bars of a prison. A great promo by Foley that put some fire
into a match that was quickly becoming an afterthought on the card. 5 for
8
-Mankind beats “Bad
Ass” Billy Gunn (w/Chyna) with the Mandible Claw at 5:38:
Chyna is forced to go back to the locker room after she
attacks Mankind on the floor, which somehow isn’t enough to draw a
disqualification. This features your usual
Foley spots and is an exciting brawl, where tries to counter Foley’s use of
weapons and aggressive style. However,
that isn’t enough as his piledriver is reversed into a slingshot into the post
and Mankind finishes him off. Rating:
*** (6 for 8)
-Mankind goes back
to the locker room, but can’t find Kane.
-Sable comes out
and welcomes out WWF Champion Steve Austin.
Austin sends Sable to the locker room to give Vince McMahon the
bird. Austin is wearing his cool
baseball jersey shirt and accepts the first blood stipulation at the King of
the Ring. He promises to bring some
cookout food for when Kane sets himself on fire after failing to win his
title. Kane walks out and signals for
“blood” to drop into the middle of the ring and drench Austin. This leads to a crowd chant for Austin to
kick Kane’s ass and that plays us out. 7 for 9
The Final Report Card: There were some twists and turns in this show
mixed with some above average ring work.
We now have new odds stacked against Austin as it will be difficult for
him to make Kane bleed and retain his title and the Undertaker continues his
quest to destroy Paul Bearer. We also
got more of a reason to care about the Hell in a Cell match between the
Undertaker and Mankind, something that the company has been pushing
aggressively the last two weeks since they likely realized that they needed a
greater hook for a show that only had five pre-announced matches.
So our King of the Ring card is as follows:
WWF Championship Match: Steve Austin (Champion) vs. Kane
Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs. Mankind
King of the Ring Finals: TBA vs. TBA
King of the Ring Semi-Final #1: Ken Shamrock vs. Jeff Jarrett
King of the Ring Semi-Final #2: The Rock vs. Dan Severn
Al Snow & Head vs. Too Much
Monday Night War Rating: 4.3 (vs. 4.1 for Nitro)
Show Evaluation: Thumbs Up
Is that 690,000 figure good or bad for WWE?
ReplyDeleteGotta be good.
ReplyDeleteThennnnnnn give Rollins the belt I guess?
ReplyDeleteYeah that's a hit. I figured 400,000 would be good. That number has to be considered out of the park awesome with HHH, Undertaker and Lesnar being the only part timers competing on it.
ReplyDeleteBayless just Meekin'd Meekin! NEW FEUD!
ReplyDeleteGood luck trying to collect that settlement dude.
ReplyDeletecome again
ReplyDeleteAlso - out of curiousity, why is the 667k for the network such a bad number? They were getting half of PPV buys, and they were selling about 150-200k per ppv. So if they get 1/3 as much money from 4 times as many people and throw the added cost of maintenance and sprinkling in old material - how is that a flop? That sounds wildly successful for an online "channel" that just plays wrestling.
ReplyDeleteSpectacularly good all things considered. With the network launch i don't think they could have done much better.
ReplyDeleteHas it ever been confirmed that Abdullah the Butcher has Hep C? If so, wouldn't a lot more wrestlers have contracted it from him considering how much blood he's spilled on other guys?
ReplyDeleteSo, when do payouts go out to the boys for Mania?
ReplyDeleteMost of the numbers regarding potential money loss for the network this year figure in a complete elimination of the 82 or so million dollars the WWE made in PPV revenue in 2013.
ReplyDeleteNow even with the network it's clear their 2014 PPV numbers will still contribute a nice chunk of change (For probably the final time) So if WWE pulls in say 30-40 million in PPV money this year along with the network dollars they'll be doing okay.
Once the Network goes international and they hit 1.5 million+ subscribers they'll be rolling in dough. But the importance of Keeping those Sub numbers high can't be overstated enough. If they fall below 1 million subs over the span of a complete 2015 for example then they'll lose a ton of dough.
I think he was ordered or something to take a test but didn't show up.
ReplyDeleteI am sick of WM part-timers.
ReplyDeleteHow?
ReplyDeleteSo, Bryan is a draw....
ReplyDeleteThey'll lose subs no matter what but if they deliver good stuff for Summerslam and NOC instead of the weaksauce that was Extreme Rules and Payback they'll be able to do it. I think Money In The Bank and Summerslam are usually hot so they should be able to keep at least 550-600. Especially with it being such a good deal.
ReplyDeleteDish and DirecTV look stupid, there is obviously an audience for PPV with Mania doing numbers like they did in 2010 even with the Network available and oddities in the PPV market like Bellator being a sleeper hit. The network is a great viewing option for cord cutters and people looking to save a buck but it looks like they haven't got people fully converted - not sure why satellite dropped them since a lot of their customers don't get the bandwidth for HD streaming.
I really wish DB would just take a real extended break. Heal up really well and go on another killer run. The way he wrestles, he's not going to last forever. Although he is skilled enough to transition into an easier style (and make it work) when his body starts breaking down.
ReplyDeleteWhat payouts are you speaking of?
ReplyDeleteNah, it'll probably be Orton or Cena.
ReplyDeleteThe returning Bluetista!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely they should.. strike while the iron is hot and it fits perfectly with the story.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely should be either of those guys.
ReplyDeleteIf that ends up happening, would you have ever expected this guy to be a World Champion when the Shield first formed? WOW
ReplyDeletehe won the lawsuit but won't see a dime of the settlement
ReplyDeletemostly b/c abby will be sticking all of them in his forehead grooves
that's what she said
ReplyDeleteLooking back at this show, who would have thought Kane would be more or less the last one left still as an in-ring wrestler this far removed? I know Triple H has wrestled some matches, but he is entrenched in the running of the company now, so he really doesn't count. But I always figured Kane to be a short shelf life gimmick, and one day would be reborn as another character or just let go when the novelty wore out.
ReplyDeleteNo to him as well. If Bryan is hurt and they get a new champion by June, it would look ridiculous for Batista to win the belt.
ReplyDeleteHHH would look like a complete chump loser.
I was convinced that this was Kane's final appearance on Raw at the time, i mean who would end Stone Cold's world title reign after only 91 days?
ReplyDeleteIf Bryan ends up not wrestling at MITB, he's gonna look like shit. Not saying this in a "they're trying to bury Daniel Bryan" way, just in the sense that they should have figured this out sooner. He's been refusing to vacate the title for over a month now. If next week he comes out and says "yeah actually I still can't wrestle at MITB", well then the fans are deservedly gonna shit all over him.
ReplyDeletei always imagine abby's scars to be like cracks in a shell, where if you pried them apart his head would just crack open
ReplyDeleteThey might wanna take it easy on those MitB qualifying matches right about now. If Bryan is going to drop the belt, Orton, Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose are all going to have to be in that match.
ReplyDeleteGood for Devon Nicholson. Abby has 30 days to file an appeal, I hope he doesn't and finally tells the truth. Although I doubt he will. Everybody seems to think Abby doesn't have the cash but he runs two successful restaurants in Atlanta and has for years. If he doesn't have the actual cash, he certainly has assets.
ReplyDeleteHoly fuck. That buyrate is huge.
ReplyDeletehe certainly has ass
ReplyDeleteThat also.
ReplyDeleteWow, that broken neck was scary. No one realized it, so while Jose is kicking around unsupervised on the floor trying to get feeling back, the ref is just counting to ten. If that happened today, the internet would go nuts.
ReplyDeleteHe posted a thread just after Meekin did to steal Meekin's thunder. The other day, Meekin was posting threads to steal Bayless's thunder.
ReplyDeleteAgain, like I said in the Live Thread, just have Bryan come out for his match with Kane and end it in record time with a running knee that knocks Kane and the stretcher over the finish line.
ReplyDeleteBoom, problem solved.
You just have Kane destroy him on a Raw before MitB. He declares he's ready, but then Kane comes out, beats the ever-loving piss out of him and that's it, he can't wrestle at the pay-per-view.
ReplyDeleteIt makes zero sense for cable & satellite operators to cut the WWE PPV's off.
ReplyDeleteIt costs them nothing or near to it to run those shows and they're essentially pure profit even at a vastly reduced buyrate.
Now a year or 2 from now? Sure PPV will be D-E-A-D but clearly we're not there yet.
667,000/6 (Takes 6 network subs to equal one regular $59.99 PPV buy) =
ReplyDelete801,166 total adjusted buys. Not exactly as much as the past couple years.
So, WrestleMania XXX will count as about 1.357 million buys, when you combine, which would probably make it the largest Mania "buyrate" of the modern era, right? Hey, look at that, Evolution is a draw!
ReplyDeleteIf Bryan can't wrestle at Money in the Bank, I would be shocked - SHOCKED - if Rollins doesn't get the belt in the MitB match. Like someone else said, it would fit perfectly with the current storyline.
We're talking more like 5 to 10 years although it's waning. Look what Mayweather does.
ReplyDeleteAlso - this is assuming that all these people would buy Payback, Extreme Rules, etc... The only PPVs I'm likely to buy during the year are Rumble, Mania, and maybe Summerslam and MITB.
That's what I would do. Keep rolling with the new generation of guys, keep the New Evolution storyline going and set up a potential Rollins-Bryan match somewhere down the line.
ReplyDeleteAh, we've seen Kane destroy Bryan so many times now (he even did it again after they announced Bryan's injury)--- it officially crosses over from sympathy heat to comedy if it happens AGAIN.
ReplyDeleteThey're playing with fire now. By dragging this out and not having Bryan vacate the title off the initial injury, they've boxed themselves into a corner where Bryan looks like a pussy and a heel if he doesn't fight now. The impact of the initial injury announcement has been totally diluted by what they've done the last month in keeping Bryan around.
lol people the other day were saying that Meekin was posting his reviews right after a popular thread (i.e. a PPV chat thread, or RAW chat) so he could steal views.
ReplyDeleteUFC & Boxing are completely different animals. There will always be a market for a big fight show. I'm talking strictly WWE PPV's especially once the network is available worldwide.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the restaurant, and I've seen neither. If he leases the buildings, and all of his equipment is old and beat up, which is extremely common, then there may not be a lot of equity in the restaurants.
ReplyDeleteThere is still going to be a market for big wrestling matches. Wrestling and boxing built the PPV market.
ReplyDeleteIf he's not medically cleared for physical contact after neck surgery why in the world would a publicly traded company send Daniel Bryan out for even a short match?
ReplyDeleteExcept each subscription actually nets $60 per, not $10. Yeah they get the next 5 PPVs, but those 667,000 people weren't gonna order those 5 PPVs.
ReplyDeleteBasically, the 666,000 divided by 6 isn't applicable at all in figuring out an equivalent Mania buyrate to years past.
I agree. They should have just stripped him and been done with it.
ReplyDeleteLimited value in court ordered payments.
ReplyDeleteOh, they're absolutely playing with fire. But having Kane destroy D-Bry ONE LAST TIME is world's better than Bryan coming out to admit, "Yep, can't wrestle, sorry."
ReplyDeleteHave him fight Kane on Raw two weeks before the show, make him look somewhat strong, but he can't overcome the neck injury and Kane beats him down. Announce the following week, on the go-home show, that Bryan has been physically incapacitated, doctors won't clear him to wrestle and Stephanie has obtained the WWE Unified World Heavyweight International Big Gold Belts.
OR! Use this as an opportunity. Because Bryan will not hand over the championships, Stephanie had a new unified championship commissioned.
There are ways they can go that don't hurt Bryan.
Of course there's a market, it's now called the WWE Network.
ReplyDeleteOnce it rolls out worldwide, the PPV market for the WWE will be a strictly niche part of the business on par with the profit the WWE Magazine pulls in.
Then if you want to use that logic, count the WM buys then consider all the other PPV's as FREE.
ReplyDeleteYup. If he no-shows MITB, fans are gonna start turning on the guy. The way things have been booked since his injury haven't exactly made him look too good.
ReplyDeleteAll numbers from @mookieghana's WhatCulture article (http://whatculture.com/wwe/wwe-wrestlemania-30-buys-shocking-implications-network.php):
ReplyDeleteNot really: considering that includes 350-400k domestic US PPVs, it's 300k-350k non-US, which had averaged 540k-600k (440-500k international + 100k Canada) for the last 3 years. I don't necessarily believe the cited survey suggesting ~20% of Network subscribers(about 125k) are illegal (i.e. non-US), but it still seems a large drop even if some of the non-US fans who previously bought WM have illegal Network subscriptions.
But they did everything they could to let people know they could get Mania for $10 with a commitment to $50 more for PPV until Summerslam instead of the usual $70. There's obviously still a huge market of people who can't network or don't know how to network.
ReplyDeleteYup if they start qualifying Big E & Rusev they're going to look pretty stupid in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteDoes Abdullah have that kind of cash?
ReplyDeleteRegardless of how Network affected US, drop in non-US buys is an issue.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with them planning to launch WWE Network worldwide.
ReplyDeleteThey don't net $60. They would have significant overhead on all of their brand new infrastructure and staff internally, and then I believe certain distribution methods get a cut too, but I could be wrong on that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe during his training, Shawn should have taught him how to lose a smile.
ReplyDeleteHe owns to restaurants!?!? That's shocking to me. Usually even a successful place is just paying to keep the doors open but of course this defendant could just take the business.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't care if Rollins has to job in 2 years, time to put the belt on him now!
ReplyDeleteYep. Figure out NOW if Bryan is realistically going to wrestle, and reshuffle the ladder match to make it as star-studded as possible if he can't go.
ReplyDeleteAnd if Rusev wins.....
ReplyDeleteHe will appeal. No way will he pay that kind of civil suit out of pocket without appealing it. He may have insurance for it though - who knows.
ReplyDeleteThen I hope the stock falls to 25 cents a share.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's have a tournament to see who gets the 7 other spots.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way MLB gets a piece of the pie anywhere near as big as PPV carriers got.
ReplyDeleteBoD Daily Update posted late in the afternoon?? So close to the posting of the Network/hangout thread?
ReplyDeleteShenanigans. This angle calls for.....an attorney and a cease and desist letter.
No idea but New Jack's Shoot Interview from 2012 when he showed his blood work papers while challenging Abby to show his was phenominal
ReplyDeleteCan anyone imagine how good a Rollins/Bryan WWE title feud would be?
ReplyDeleteIF that happens, then at some point, Bryan has to absolutely annihilate Kane once and for all. You just can't keep letting one dude mangle the champ over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for you to post it, since you are stealing my gimmicks
ReplyDeleteCare to post this week's Powers of Pain shoot interview recap while you are at it?
There's no way yet to really know what's going on with ppv buys and the wwe yet but at least Daniel Bryan will get a good pay day for that show. IMO thats a good thing. Who knows what kind of checks those guys will be getting from here on out.
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to go that would hurt him less, but no matter how you slice it: Bryan getting beat down and incapacitated AGAIN by Kane (a guy that the fans honestly don't take very seriously) makes him look like shit. Sure there are degrees of how big the shit is and how badly it smells, but it's still shit.
ReplyDeleteKane's beaten down Bryan a billion times. Bryan putting up a good effort and getting beat up AGAIN and having to give up the title after just sitting on it for 2 months makes him look weak and kinda heelish.
If there was any doubt that Bryan could go at MITB, they should have stripped him of the belt immediately. At least fans were sympathetic to the real initial injury at this point. But now it's just two months of Bryan jerking the fans around and losing another fight. He looks like shit.
New Jack and Abdullah have beef?
ReplyDeleteRight, but neither is saying "those 667,000 people wouldn't have ordered those 5 PPVs, so they all spent the $60 for 'Mania"
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have ordered WM either, if I didn't have it on the network. I'm sure a good portion of Network subscribers wouldn't have, either.
Yep, Abdullah The Butcher House Of Ribs (and Chinese food for whatever reason) in Atlanta. Rated three stars on Yelp.
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it but we really will have to wait for several more months of shows to know how this is going.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Punk left was that he kept asking about the payoffs going forward and never got an answer.
ReplyDeleteA lot of top guys are pissed for that reason and the other guys have nowhere to go. NXT will provide the WWE cheap labor for years to come as there are no other promotions producing stars because they basically created a monopoly on wrestling.
Wait are you fucking with me?
ReplyDeleteIt annoys me that they even presented the POSSIBILITY that Kane and Bryan could fight at the PPV if Bryan isn't healthy, but I don't think another beatdown hurts as much as you seem to think it will.
ReplyDeleteThey have been very clear that Bryan has a BROKEN FREAKING NECK. And they've been building Kane up more and more. They two situations even things out, I think.
Do wrestlers carry personal liability?
ReplyDeleteEither way, I think it would be a challenge to find an insurer that would pay out on something like that. But maybe there's some kind of specialty product, who knows.
Not having international movie star The Rock definitely hurts their overseas sales compared to the last few years.
ReplyDeleteThat would be great.
ReplyDeleteOmg he's not! Wow yeah that place looks interesting...
ReplyDeleteHe's not going to win. No one even knows who he is.
ReplyDeleteRollins is viewed as HHH's boy right now. THat's perfect.
I wonder how many of the traditional buys are network subscribers hedging their bets on a bad stream?
ReplyDeleteNot sure why, I don't think they have ever wrestled each other. Then again, who knows why New Jack says any of the things he says. His Twitter is pretty hilarious though.
ReplyDeleteHere is the trailer for that shoot
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rfvideo.com/shootwithnewjack2012.aspx
I'm not saying that, but I'm saying the 667,000 divided by 6 logic is BS.
ReplyDeleteBasically this is a whole new model. You're not gonna ever get a true 1:1 comparison in the Mania buyrates from this year to years' past with the Network in play. You can't make a blanket statement like "Wrestlemania got exactly this many buys."
Its very true and I wouldnt be suprised if anyone got stiffed on Extreme Rules and Payback but at least they had like 700k real buys to pay Bryan with.
ReplyDeleteSo hypothetically, if half the Network subscribers would've bought WM sans Network existence, the show does over a million buys. With one third, it does ~910000 buys, which is still comparable to WM25/26. Still overall pretty good, although now it doesn't mean as much given the fact that regardless of any buyrate the company is in some deep shit.
ReplyDeleteThe WWE has figured a way to make a ton of profit by using cheap labor then having nowhere for them to go afterwards.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm stealing any of your gimmicks, it's the one where I post a show recap and no one comments on it.
ReplyDeleteHe's not physically cleared to do in-ring action. Jesus fuck, what's with you guys and wanting this to happen to a guy who can't do anything?
ReplyDeleteFor the short term the 400k buys is a good thing but what's alarming if you're the wwe is thats 400k people who didn't want the network. Also its a problem with the two big satellites dropping all ppv after mania. It all just depends what happens between march and December. I'd like to know how the shows from ER to summerslam do at least.
ReplyDeleteNah, its just that no one wants to read your old ECW recaps.
ReplyDeleteFine, then do something else where we cut backstage and see Bryan laying in a heap, Kane standing over him. Follow the rest of what I described below.
ReplyDeleteKane got his ass handed to him by John Cena last night. Other than jobbers like Kofi Kingston, the only main eventer that Kane is a threat to IS Daniel Bryan.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bryan first came out and said he had the neck injury, it was impactful. People felt bad and bought the severity.
But when Bryan hangs around another few months, walking around in a neck brace and not giving up his title DESPITE not fighting, the sympathy goes away. He's acting like a heel. If he doesn't fight at MITB--- no matter what Kane does to him--- he comes off heelish.
And I'm not saying the fans all turn on Bryan or "fuck he's buried!" But guarantee his popularity takes a major hit.
Anything other than defending the title at this point and he looks like a pussy heel.
Yeah they could go the old hbk/DX route.
ReplyDeleteIf Bryan gets cleared by doctors to take a beat down like that than I don't see why they just wouldn't do the match?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's true. I think Bryan has established himself enough as a face that he gets through that. Hell, the dynamic of a face is completely different than it used to be (Sheamus bullying, Cena in general).
ReplyDeleteOld school? Yeah, you're probably right. The new WWE? Not so much.
Right, he's either getting cleared for action or he's not. There's no "he's cleared enough to take a chokeslam beatdown but not enough for a 8-minute match." WWE doesn't seem to make those medical distinctions anymore. It's cleared or not.
ReplyDeleteSo then if he's not cleared, are we doing the "Oh look Bryan was found on teh floor in the back with a kane mask next to him" option? They did that (Kane dragging a limp Bryan onto the stage) the night they announced the injury! Doing it again would just be a comedy bit.
I dunno, either school Bryan comes off terrible. Get through that? Sure, again I'm not saying it turns Bryan heel. But he looks like shit and his popularity takes a major hit.
ReplyDeleteI mean honestly, this bullshit has already started chipping away at his popularity. I know its Chicago but that random "CM Punk" chant while Bryan was speaking Sunday was obviously the fans losing their patience with him.
Another suggestion for the Bryan angle. He remains defiant. He doesn't give up the titles, but he can't wrestle, so Stephanie strips him of the title, making the MitB match winner the new champ. She also suspends Bryan for an unspecified amount of time. Bryan walks away with the physical belts, but Stephanie has a new version of the WWE Title (screw Big Goldy). And that's the title that Rollins carries when he wins MitB.
ReplyDeleteSo now, we redo the Shawn Michaels-Razor Ramon IC Title match angle from WMX once Bryan is medically cleared. Bryan has his titles and the support of the fans. Rollins has the new title, and the support of the Authority. FIGHT!
I wouldn't have expected him to be first at it but I've always thought all three were great talents that had the potential to hold the belt.
ReplyDeleteYeah and HBK was a heel in that scenario, because its a heel move.
ReplyDeletePunk did it and he was a face.
ReplyDeleteTough way to start a career for Edge, by ending someone else's.
ReplyDeleteClearly the office didn't blame him though as he got to team with Sable at her peak overness at Summerslam in his first program.
Kane getting beaten down by Cena last night was dumb. I mean, one man has shaky credibility and is your number one contender, and the other has nothing going on and is teflon. Kane should have left Cena laying.
ReplyDeleteThe Chicago fans chanting for CM Punk was obviously the Chicago fans being Chicago fans and calling for their "hero" when the main villain (Stephanie) was in the ring.
ReplyDeleteI'll believe it when the YES! chants go away completely, and not a second beforehand.
So, you don't like my scenario, then?
ReplyDeletePunk won the title in his hometown from the ultimate symbol of corporate stoogery, after giving an impassioned promo that every single fan loved... and then he came back a week later and defended the title.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the same as Bryan refusing to defend the title, getting beat up constantly, and looking weak on the mic.
Not as a way of keeping Daniel Bryan a strong face, no.
ReplyDeleteHey, I guess now we know why Seth Rollins had to leave Ring of HONOR so abruptly--because HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY!!!
ReplyDeleteSure they do, but 1986 Championship Wrestling recaps put them to sleep. I lied when I said I liked your old Tony Garea avatar.
ReplyDeleteBryan should give up the titles (if he can't go) with the proviso that he's the automatic no.1 contender when he returns.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't really a sloppy move by Edge- he did the plancha right. Jose just wasn't in the right position. Or maybe Edge did screw up and land too close to Jose. I can't tell from the video- the camera's too far away.
ReplyDeleteWhatever logical holes might appear, the thought of a major Rollins/Bryan Ladder Match doesn't not appeal to me.
ReplyDeleteWho said anything about keeping Bryan a face? If the fans continue to cheer for him, that's just grand. Otherwise, just go with the best story.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, that was probably the point of that White Knighting Cena promo last night, to make sure he has that first shot when he gets back to action.
ReplyDeleteIt might not appeal to Bryan's healing neck, though... His doctor might like it.
ReplyDeleteHeyooo!
ReplyDeleteThey did it while Bryan was talking and about to make some joke about Stephanie.
ReplyDeleteStephanie had to step in and acknowledge it because Bryan was looking silly. Bryan was talking and getting treated like a Kofi vs Curtis Axel match out there. That's not exactly a positive referendum on how mega over Bryan was at the moment.
It is not BS. If they are going to count the $9.99 as equal buys to $59.99 or $39.99 then that itself is BS.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think saying "Chicago crowd" explains a whole bunch there.
ReplyDelete"Because I have a **** like a baby's leg, that's why"
ReplyDeleteWow
What the difference between a man and a low down dirty back stabbing conniving sniveling spineless good-for-nothing worthless trash traitor coward sellout?
ReplyDeleteOne of them has a set of testicles and the other one is Seth Rollins.
Because doing things that undercut the guy who was the #1 face in the company makes for a shitty story.
ReplyDeleteThey should do things that make their faces look like faces and their heels look like heels. Obviously fans can correct them if they don't agree, but it's bad storytelling to book things "just cause" and not focus on face/heel dynamics.
Kid can suck it up, that's why they make ice.
ReplyDeleteThe Jay Briscoe v Adam Cole feud! Hell yes!
ReplyDeletenearly 700 000 even with the network in place? that's gotta be good right?
ReplyDeleteTheir ROH matches were incredible. I think they were hitting 4 1/2 stars every time.
ReplyDeleteYour "divide by 6 and there's the buyrate" formula is complete bullshit in terms of saying here's a number that compares to previous years.
ReplyDeleteThat's my point, you can't make direct 1 to 1 comparisons between events anymore and say "oh Wrestlemania would have had such and such buys this year." The only thing that's really comparable is the total revenue of PPV plus Network money this year vs what PPV revenue was in years past.
I like the scenario where Bryan hides the titles and then HHH and Stephanie have to solve a series of puzzles, each more complicated than the next, in order to find it. But then, when they come to the end of the trail, they find out it leads to their own hearts, because that's where the real championships were all along.
ReplyDeleteI think it's brilliant that we're talking about there being a realistic chance of Seth Rollins, WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Who'd have thunk it?
ReplyDeleteExplains something sure, but that doesn't mean you can deny Bryan was less over there than he has been in awhile.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't chant CM Punk during the Shield match, or Cena/Bray. Hell, they didn't chant it THAT MUCH at all after the Heyman opening. It's very telling that Bryan was getting the "we're ignoring this bullshit and chanting something unrelated" treatment. He wouldn't have gotten that a few months ago.
He was getting it because fans aren't as into what he's doing right now (champion who refuses to fight or give up the title) and weren't psyched about listening to him.
Outside of the Chicago crowd, which again, I say, "Because Chicago," his reactions are still strong. I don't think fans are turning on him, most people are happy to see the guy on the top of the card.
ReplyDeleteI doubt you'll be happy with any scenario WWE presents, because you wanted them to go in another direction. They didn't do that, so now we're following the story as it plays out. Bryan is defiantly going against the company's top heel. Unfortunately, right now, that's Stephanie. She's going to win this round, necessitating a Bryan comeback story. It's enough to keep me interested.
Why is my formula complete BS? From a math standpoint, it makes perfect sense. 1 regular PPV buy is $59.99 for Mania. That is the equivalent to 6 WWE Network subs for the month.
ReplyDeleteIf they are going to count the 667,000 buys in addition to traditional PPV buys as "total buys" when they send out their financial information, then you can expect them to be in some big trouble legally. For the non-Mania month's PPV's, one traditional PPV buy would be the equivalent to 4 WWE Network subs. This is even less for the months that they have two PPV's where one traditional PPV buy would equal 2 WWE Network subs.
It is simple math, really. WWE won't report the exact numbers, but you can figure them out with simple arithmetic.
People across the web have been inspired by those reviews, something that you cannot say for yourself
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wrestlecrap.com/icfyt/it-came-from-youtube-tremble-in-fear-at-martial-arts-master-judo-joe/
all fantasy booking sucks, including this, but here I go:
ReplyDeleteBryan isn't ready by MitB, just go ahead and have Rollins be all Rollins like and win the title. Go big all the way. let him feud with Ambrose, then Reigns, then a returning DBry (or in whatever order you would like).
The thing I don't like about this "umm either he'll defend it at the ppv or not, we don't know yet" booking is its the kind if last second fly by the seat of your pants stuff the wwe always struggles with. I kind of think he'll work the show since the wwe is doing this but that's just me guessing.
ReplyDeleteThey need 1.4 million subscribers to equal the amount of ppv revenue they were getting before and cover most network overhead. So its only half. Maybe more people will sign up but it could also be one of those things where everyone who got it is the full market. 400k people just buying mania shows that maybe there's a large chunk of wm viewers that just don't want the network and would rather make a one off purchase. Could say, well if people keep also buying the ppvs thats even more money, which is true but dish and direct TV dropped wrestling ppvs after mania and several cable companies are probably following suit when they can. Its just too soon to tell but not even having half the subs after mania 30 isn't a good sign.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm saying is it's bullshit because it's a completely different model and price structure, so you can't make event-to-event comparisons.
ReplyDeleteLet's take Mania this year. They sold 690k on regular PPV and another 667k Network subscriptions, right? So if the Network didn't exist and only regular PPV was the option, how many people of that 667k would have ordered Mania for the $60 price tag. Your math says 110k would have. That's just an assumption. Maybe more would have, maybe a lot more. You don't know, so you can't just say "801,166 total adjusted buys. Not exactly as much as the past couple years." That's a total bullshit equation.
So again, the year to year "buyrate" comparisons are out the window now. They're pushing 6-month subscriptions at a new price. Announcing and comparing revenues year to year is what matters. Saying that Wrestlemania got 800k buys this year is in fact a bullshit statement.
Not a complete BS equation. It is math. If you can't understand that, then I don't know what else to tell you.
ReplyDeleteI'm not talking about total revenue for the event, I'm just talking about how this year's buyrate should be broken down properly.
I think he works it too. Again, I just can't imagine they'd chance making Bryan look as bad as he would if he gives up the title at this point.
ReplyDeleteinb4 a giant paragraph
ReplyDelete"667k divided by 6" is absolutely not a way to compare this year's buyrate to last year's Mania buyrate.
ReplyDeleteYou were trying to make 1:1 comparisons between the buyrates, and your formula doesn't do that. It just doesn't at all.
I'm not trying to get into an argument of whether the Network is a good idea or not. Fuck that, we've had that. I'm just strictly looking at comparing Mania buyrate year to year. This doesn't do that.
Ur formula is bullshit. Short enuff 4 u?
ReplyDeleteMore like your comprehension is bullshit. Deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI made a 1:1 comparison on WHAT WAS ACTUALLY PURCHASED FROM THIS YEAR'S MANIA. Not "oh well you have to count those that would've bought it if there was no Network." No. I went off the pure numbers. Statistics. $59.99 is the price of a REGULAR PPV purchase for Mania...is it not? $9.99 is the price of a Network PPV purchase for Mania? Correct?
ReplyDeleteI understand 667/6! But that doesn't allow you to say that 800k people would have ordered this year's show, meanwhile a million people ordered last year's show. It's not the same. I know you want it to be but it's not.
ReplyDeleteNope, not correct. I don't know how else to explain how fucking dense you are.
ReplyDeleteIs the heat you two have a shoot?
ReplyDeleteMan I just thought Austin was gonna too Kane's mask off and whack him with a chair. Oops.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you ask Paul Meekin if we're shooting?
ReplyDeleteIt's depressing.
ReplyDeleteI think they should keep Rollins out of the ring for the next few weeks other than qualifying for the MITB. I fear the next three weeks will feature eight matches between Raw and Smackdown with Rollins taking on Ambrose or Reigns either singles or tag. Keep him out of the ring, just promos and really play up the new corporate aspect. If played right, this turn will be pretty big.
ReplyDeleteLike anyone would really be mad at each other over something petty on a wrestling bl-
ReplyDeleteIs the heat you two have a shoot?
Let's look at it this way: there's no company in the world that would announce sales for a product using the formula you presented. If Apple sold a million iphones last year at $400 each, and then this year they lowered the prices to $100 each and sold 2 million phones, your logic would dictate that Apple announced that this year they sold 500k phones. But no that makes ZERO SENSE.
ReplyDeleteThey'd announce the revenue year to year (400 million vs 200 million phones) and the units sold year to year (1 million vs 2 millions). They wouldn't announce fake units sold numbers adjusted for price changes.
And that's not taking into account that Network buys are a subscription service that affects revenue for the next 6 months.
Which is to say again, your formula of comparing this year's buyrate to last year's is in fact... BULLSHIT. Saying Wrestlemania's buyrate this year was actually 800k isn't a real statement.
Surely money in the bank will have cena, Caesaro, sheamus, rvd, Barrett, adr, Wyatt and rusev? Id have Wyatt or caesro win it, and start the cena/rusev feud.
ReplyDeleteSurely the other main match (other than Kane v Bryan hopefully) is reigns/Ambrose v Rollins/Orton.
Jesus you're on fire tonight.
ReplyDeleteThen he needs to be more defiant than just "no I don't want to hand you these... but I also won't wrestle." Bryan should demand to wrestle Kane, have Vince or Stephanie tell him he's not allowed and then strip him of the title, and then Bryan proceeds to beat the shit out of Vince/Kane/HHH/Maddox/whoever with chairs and flying knees.
ReplyDeleteBryan admitting he can't wrestle or getting laid out AGAIN by Kane makes him look shitty and weak, and like this past month was a giant waste of the fans' time. Bryan needs to do SOMETHING cool and proactive after how weak he's looked since the injury. Another beatdown/injury-angle would be a disaster.
Lana brought Vince Jr, Jr back to life in his office.
ReplyDeleteGoing into this PPV, the unanimous internet buzz was:
ReplyDelete"So yeah, Taker is injured. This HITC is going to suck, BIG-TIME. What a waste, remember how good HBK/Taker was? I just hope it's quick."
I also believed 100% that Austin was going over somehow.
It's out of spite that they would do it... to send a message to the UFC and other PPV providers.
ReplyDeleteThe longer Ambrose and Reigns have to wait to get their hands on Rollins, the better.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny that the Rock was considered the favorite. I felt that Shamrock was the clear favorite. I felt the same about Billy Gunn in 1999, but people say they were shocked that he ended up winning.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The Authority should use all their dirty tricks to keep them off him for a while. The Authority and the crowd will know that Shield can destroy him so they should be held off as much as possible. The heat will be huge.
ReplyDeleteI thought Severn would "accidently" cost Shamrock the final to the Rock, then team with Shamrock at Fully Loaded, turn on him, and they'd do the big Severn/Shamrock match at SummerSlam.
ReplyDeleteA lot of wrestlers used to take out life/disability/injury insurance with Lloyds of London but Lloyds stopped issuing policies because some wrestlers would suffer "career ending injuries", collect on their policy and then go back to wrestling. Curt Henning is one example of people who did this. Bret Hart, Flair, Rick Rude and Animal all have/have had Lloyds policies.
ReplyDeleteI would think that it would be very difficult for a wrestler to get any kind of liability or life insurance (aside from term life). The underwriters would get a good laugh at their applications.
I really like the idea of Rollins as World Champion. . . just not right now. He is going to be putting in work getting his new heel persona over. This includes switching up styles (although I guess heels can't cheat anymore), new attire, new theme music, new hair etc. He needs at least a few months to build this before getting the belt. Hot shotting the World Championship onto him is something TNA would do, it would be really, really bush league booking. I guess the alternative is pulling the trigger on Cesaro, bringing Brock back, or going back to the same old shit (Cena, Big Show, Orton).
ReplyDeleteCena will be in MITB and he'll win. Because.....WWE.
ReplyDelete1999... Gunn was the only option in the entire Elite 8 other than Big Show, who didn't need it.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've read Edge's book but I think he said the guys backstage weren't hard on him for it.
ReplyDeleteCheck the replay for the best camera angle. Jose moves his head to the left and it gets trapped under Edge's knee, instead of keeping his head centered and taking the back bump/cushioning Edge's landing.
ReplyDeleteBecause Cena/Bryan III is something I would like to see.
ReplyDeleteA Winner Is You
ReplyDeleteTotally. More than any storyline that we can debate, the Network is a true long term development. Sure there's different benchmarks along the way, but this is something that'll take a year or more before we start to really have a feel for longterm prospects.
ReplyDeleteWyatt could win it...
ReplyDeleteYeah, they have good chemistry.
ReplyDeleteThat's Big Gold Championships, buddy.
ReplyDeleteAnd he's only really a threat to broken-neck Daniel Bryan.
ReplyDeleteThose geniuses really thought Bryan would recover that quickly?
ReplyDeleteThey have a few weeks before the PPV, it's not like it's this Sunday. Plenty of time for him to slick his hair and throw a suit on.
ReplyDelete667,000 people did not watch 30 on the network.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the early sub #'s and the temperature taken of overall interest in the wwe by the new TV deal isn't a great sign but on the other hand the product is really good and the monthly ppv for 10 bucks has to be of some interest to a weekly audience of 4 million fans. Plus it seems illogical for 400k to buy mania instead of the network. think it could still go as far as being a complete game changer for all media or fuck up so bad as to put the wwe in a bad spot.
ReplyDeleteUnlike where, IMO, its easy to forecast the wwe fucking up a storyline because you know how bad the creative people are. But with this move they have a quality product and a weekly audience. We just have to wait and see what happens. Stuff like the ER and Payback buyrates and the next set of #'s from the subscribers they announce next quarter should give us at least a little more of the picture to speculate on but even then it will be hard to tell.
Where did they watch it?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they would run this angle unless they think Bryan can work mitb.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't. Not every single network subscriber watched 30.
ReplyDeleteFor a wrestling fan, mania has that Superbowl feel so I wouldn't be suprised if most of them did. I wouldn't be suprised if you're right about the other ppvs (but they probably still get watched in the average "DVR window" time frame) but wm is different.
ReplyDeleteOut of the entire DX, would it be safe to say that HHH was the least over?
ReplyDeleteI really liked this Rock character over what he became the next year and beyond.
Is it crazy that I'm actually hoping Bryan stays out a little longer so we don't get Kane/Bryan? Or is that just putting off the inevitable another few weeks?
ReplyDelete