wrestling / Columns

The Wrestling Sandwich 01.07.12

January 7, 2012 | Posted by Wes Kirk

I decided to save my own personal views on 2011 and 2012 for this column, in addition to the comments from two weeks ago, which will be in the place of Old School for the time being as a few changes to the format might be coming soon!

Steve made a good point about entertaining wrestling being enough for most of us because if we like what we see or at least have hope for what we see, we’ll not worry about nitpicking every last thing. However, I’m of a different opinion because quite honestly if we do not voice our opinion about what we don’t like, we’ll keep getting it. And WWE was the recipient of quite a lot of dissatisfied people over the course of 2011.

Without going into massive detail, WWE saw a number of problems in the year including dwindling profits, cancelled television shows, angles that started hot and ended up dead in the water, house show attendance troubles, lower than average buyrates for the A and B shows, and the announcement of a new WWE Network and cancellation of the WWE Classics On Demand service shortly before to make room for it. Now, WWE has decided to try and beat the problems by throwing in younger champions the Internet was clamoring for such as Daniel Bryan, Zack Ryder, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Air Boom, and several others who did absolutely nothing for the ratings and nothing for the buyrates. WWE brought back The Rock and saw ratings rise, and then quickly head back down to normal. Rock’s return match only raised the 2011 Survivor Series buys by 60,000! Some people will say that Final Resolution’s “estimated” buyrate (estimated by whom? No official figures have been released because TNA is a privately held company) of 8,000 was a huge laugh and that the company sucks but oddly, TNA had the best year of the two companies.

In 2011, TNA brought forward an improvement in the yearly ratings overall for Impact Wrestling that has topped every year since 2007! RAW and Smackdown, by contrast, have lost ratings since 2007. TNA made new stars such as Gunner and Crimson, made main eventers out of Bully Ray and Beer Money members Roode and Storm, and reignited the careers of Gail Kim, Mickie James, and Winter. The X-Division blows the WWE formula out of the water, in the UK TNA is killing the WWE product, the India project is getting massive good reviews and fan reaction, and overall perception of TNA is slowly rising. Several matches from TNA’s Bound for Glory and Final Resolution got high marks and praise even from hardcore WWE supporters, and the weekly Impact Wrestling show is in no danger of missing its promised numbers to advertising executives like WWE RAW has been lately.

If you think about it, TNA is actually the company that has done the greater of the two. WWE needed a big name from the past to spike their ratings and earn buyrates, while TNA got its highest yearly ratings by molding new talent and raising existing talent to their highest level so far. More and more WWE wrestlers are taking note of TNA as a place to go to not only wrestle and get paid but to have fun doing what they love as well. WWE has seen all of its programming drop and one show end up cancelled, while TNA has seen its highest television rating average of any year since the 2007 move to two hours, even though the material is taped! Buyrates aren’t as good as WWE shows but even with estimates this year vs. estimates last year, overall the company is doing the same or slightly better while WWE is definitely doing worse outside of WrestleMania. WWE stars are getting injured working the ridiculous schedule they are told to do, people are failing Wellness tests, and the WWE Network is being rushed and will likely flop in a year or two after launch. Ultimately, when you compare the two you see that the smaller company may not have the ability now to beat WWE in the ratings but it sure as hell is in better shape with higher morale than the WWE right now and especially if they find out WrestleMania in 2012 does NOT equal a million buys or more. Their current stars aren’t drawing, the mainstream media could give a shit, and people still have the same negative perception of wrestling as during the old bust periods.

So in short, enjoy heckling TNA and laughing at their numbers. It sure as hell beats crying while reading the WWE’s numbers! The stagnation and “Generation Mediocrity” I’ve discussed isn’t going to end anytime soon, the boom/bust cycle is dead, and 2012 will be more of the same only WWE Network has the potential to kill the profitable quarters of the WWE. So what will happen in 2012?

WWE is going to try solution after solution only to realize just how out of touch they really are.
TNA is going to improve and hopefully gain better bookers.
Obama is getting his ass kicked out of office and Congress will be taken over by the GOP.
The world as we know it will end, but only the crappy parts.
All of us will have plenty to be happy about and plenty to complain about.

The only thing that really changes is the date on the calendar. Until people stop acting like a random number means everything changes and starts INITIATING that change themselves, things will always stay the same overall.

Now to the news!

Top Stories of the Week!

1. Weekly Ratings Roundup

TNA Impact – 1.15, 1.5 million viewers (up from last week)
WWE Smackdown – 1.9, 2.8 million viewers (down from last week)
WWE RAW – 3.1, around 4.4 million total viewers – Hour 1 had 4.5 million viewers, Hour 2 had 4.3 million viewers (up from last week, second hour viewers down by around 250,000)

TNA Impact yearly ratings were reported. The year 2011 was the greatest TNA ratings year thus far, with the average now at 1.17! Here are the rating averages since 2007:

2007 – 1.05 rating (expanded to two hours late 2007)
2008 – 1.06 rating
2009 – 1.15 rating
2010 – 1.06 rating / 1.11 rating Thursdays
2011 – 1.17 rating

Unlike WWE RAW and WWE Smackdown, TNA Impact Wrestling has been the only show to actually increase in the ratings year to year since 2007. 2010 saw lower Thursday ratings due to the Monday night switch experiment but also saw the highest hourly rating in Impact history with a 1.7 up against RAW on Jan 4, 2010. RAW has been losing viewers every year and Smackdown had a slight ratings gain compared to 2010 but overall since 2007 it has lost viewers and ratings with that exception. Now TNA has something else they can brag about right here in the United States!

Chris Jericho fans can’t be happy considering the big Y2J reveal and the six-man tag team match featuring some of the top names in the company LOST 250,000 viewers. Trending on Twitter doesn’t mean shit if nobody’s watching, geniuses.

2. TNA Impact Wrestling Recap

Quick Results:
1. Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Gail Kim and Madison Rayne retain the belts against Mickie James and Traci Brooks when Gail hits the Eat Defeat on Traci ***
2. Gunner and RVD went to a double countout ***
3. Jesse Sorensen and Zema Ion defeated Austin Aries and Kid Kash when Sorensen hits the Reign of Terror on Aries ***1/4
4. Wild Card Tag Tournament Finals: Samoa Joe and Magnus defeat AJ Styles and Kazarian when Joe pins Styles after a big elbow from Magnus ***
5. Robert Roode, Bully Ray, and Kurt Angle fought Jeff Hardy, Abyss, and James Storm to a no contest when both teams were disqualified for refusing to break up a gigantic fight ***

Best Booking of the Night: TNA Giving a lot of time to the matches

Worst Booking of the Night: No Real Finish in the Main Event

Wow is all I have to say.

I knew this was going to be a good show coming into the event but holy crap did we get some good long matches or what? One thing that consistently impresses me is that the Knockouts get such a large sum of time in their appearances. For example, let us compare the Gail/Madison vs. Mickie/Traci tag match to the Eve/Kelly vs. Bellas tag match on RAW.

TNA Knockouts Tag Time: 10:35
WWE Divas Tag Time: 2:06

Whoever says women’s wrestling doesn’t matter in TNA is full of shit. More importantly than the time, the match was a legitimate three-star match as quality to me comes before quantity.

Impact pretty much covered everything as far as the feud goes for all the individuals involved in Genesis. Roode and Hardy got their time, Bully and Abyss had their time, Storm and Angle had a few good exchanges, the end of the match made the heels look super strong coming into the matches with Angle having Storm in the Ankle Lock, Roode putting the Crossface on Hardy, and Abyss being hung by Bully’s steel chain. The Knockouts really couldn’t have been made to look better than they were, setting the stage for an anticipated Mickie James vs. Gail Kim rematch. They have truly busted their ass the past month haven’t they? Gunner and RVD pulled out a good match and I have high hopes for the rematch as well that I did not before seeing the Impact version, and the tag team champions have a good beef with the challengers for getting into a fight backstage over the titles. It makes the belts look important that people will team together just to hold them rather than use them to put over a singles feud.

Frankly, I’ve made a decision as far as it goes for this month. I usually buy one PPV because I hate having to catch up on DVR’d episodes of Family Guy and American Dad so for the first time since 1989; I will NOT be purchasing the Royal Rumble. Instead, I’m ordering TNA Genesis for the first time and will have a review of the show in next week’s TNA Impact segment! The last couple of years I only paid for the Rumble because of the tradition but that twenty-two year run is finally over. I’m getting more for my money out of TNA, and if you think watching a bunch of mid-carders wrestle in a 30-man match that have no chance to actually win the damn thing is worth $50-$60, more power to you but I sure as hell don’t.

3. Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley to WWE?

Okay everybody else has been making his or her particular feelings about it known so I’m going to chip in with mine. First, the story is that Lesnar is apparently attempting to figure a way around his UFC contract to head back to the WWE at some point in time. Lashley has also indicated interest in returning to the WWE. My opinion?

Randle and I have pretty much the exact same opinion: They should never be signed back.

Brock Lesnar is the single reason so many of the younger kids today never get a quick push towards the world or WWE title because Lesnar is the man who headed into the ring after five months of action to beat The Rock at SummerSlam 2002 to become the youngest Undisputed Champion of all time. He got a huge head, thought he was bigger than the business, and decided to walk out on Wrestlemania weekend in 2004 in which he got booed to hell and back by the crowd along with Goldberg and they both deserved it since they couldn’t have cared less about the people who are fans of the product. While Orton took the title of youngest champion later that year, Lesnar failed to make the cut for the Minnesota Vikings and then entered the UFC shortly afterwards, losing his very first match in 90 seconds to Frank Mir. After some training, he came back and whipped ass and took the title and then got his ass handed to him a second time and he took time out to address serious intestinal issues. Now that he’s gotten over that, he came back to lose again and this time he has decided with the defeat to retire from mixed martial arts. Obviously he doesn’t take not getting his way very well, does he? So what would WWE be getting?

A thirty-five year old Brock Lesnar who has a history of intestinal ailments and problems, who is less than 100% physically, who has just been owned in legitimate competition right before his attempted jump, who has no real motivation outside the money and is married to the woman who tried to sue McMahon for $100 million dollars for sexual harassment, and tons of grudges held by the people around in 2002-2004 that he walked out on. He hates travel and he doesn’t want to work a full-time schedule, so what the hell can Lesnar offer beyond a quick ratings pop? The ratings won’t move much with Lesnar at the top of the card and the wrestlers won’t exactly be thrilled about it either, so what is the point? And with his asking salary, should we even discuss this return at this particular time of economic hardship to pay another seven digit salary for a guy who wants to compete maybe three or four times a year?

Lashley is a different story in that he was never truly over and he basically blew off the business but he never had any charisma or talent whatsoever. Lesnar could bring some good to great matches; Lashley was horrible from day one and never got much better. Donald Trump couldn’t even get the guy over! If they do come back, I think it will be a horrible decision for the WWE in terms of morale in the locker room and also for their coffers, which are not exactly overflowing these days with money. If they come, they come, and if they don’t we’ll all be a lot better off!

4. So Who Are The REAL Pretty Little Liars?

WWE has been touting constantly that RAW is the #1 socially active show on Twitter for weeks, although obviously that claim was simply taken as fact by most of the Unwashed Masses. However, somebody finally got around to doing a little investigation (perhaps they are a Sandwich reader) and found, unsurprisingly, that once again Did You Know was filled with pretty little lies:

“- WWE Raw was the #2 most talked-about show on cable TV last night on social media. The show had an “activity score” of 158,704 for the runner-up spot, trailing ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars that easily won the night with 554,323 mentions. Raw’s approval rating on social media was 69%, which is about average for the show.”

Somehow, I doubt we’ll find that statistic on the Did You Know? segments in the near future.

It would be prudent for WWE to just tell the truth on their little segments. Did you also notice that in the lists of programs WWE shows defeated they forgot a couple? The reason why is those networks do better, and therefore they just threw on whatever networks drew lower overall on Monday night. I don’t have a problem promoting a product, I have an issue when people resort to outright lies.

For those doubting the source, you can check it out right here and see for yourself!

5. Sandwich Predictions for WrestleMania Thus Far

Okay, with all the latest information I’m going to try and run this every week until the card is finalized and either I’ll look like a genius or a jackass but at least I’m putting the material out there. Here is what I believe will be on the card:

1. The Rock vs. John Cena
2. WWE Championship: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho (likely with Johnny Ace)
3. World Championship: TBD, involving Daniel Bryan in all likelihood
4. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett in a stipulation match to end their feud
5. IC Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Goldust/Dustin Rhodes
6. Streak Versus Career: Undertaker vs. Kane

I also think at this time Sheamus is at the head of the pack to win the Royal Rumble and will likely be inserted into the title picture with Bryan, Big Show, and Mark Henry. We’ll just have to see!

Smartest Thing of the Week: TNA Food Drive For Charity

A lot has been said about how TNA doesn’t market themselves very well and some of that is right here in my column every week. However, every now and then TNA will do something really good and people won’t even bother making much of a note of it, as you probably have seen with this particular news. TNA has held a charity drive in Westbury, New York for the Rock Can Roll food drive in which one of the donors will receive a Super-Sized Brown Bag Special from Don West and ShopTNA.com, namely the highest donor of the night. Also, that night TNA will be holding a live wrestling event and tickets will be sold which means that not only is TNA helping out a charity by using their brand to raise awareness of the Rock Can Roll food drive and getting their fans to contribute but they are also making income separate from the charity to cover the on the road costs. Of course, in the midst of all the bullshit about how horrible TNA is every week in the columns you probably won’t see this information listed anywhere but right here in the Sandwich!

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Chris Jericho Returns…And Does Nothing!

I know, some of you are already preparing your retorts about me being “duped” into the heel routine Jericho was working which in all probability he probably is. However, I’m one of those people who doesn’t overrate the “no words needed” promos that happen now and then immediately because an Internet favorite performs them. Jericho standing in the ring and getting applause for five minutes while saying pretty much nothing and then leaving was a bit of a letdown as Jericho is well known for his excellent promo skills. In fact, his promo skills were what helped get him noticed by WWE in the first place! He could have gone out, performed a five minute “enjoying the moment” routine and then laced into them on the mic for another few minutes and walked out the top heel in the company. Instead, some believe he’s mocking how immediately on return every wrestler is given a hero’s welcome but I honestly think this could have been executed much better. For an angle promoted over a month, he should at least have said SOMETHING! It wasn’t like it was much of a secret as Jericho was caught in the airport the day of the show, as well. I wanted Undertaker to return, and face Jericho at WrestleMania, and perhaps that is still in the cards. For now, I have to say the armchair bookers got it right and WWE lost a potential classic promo moment here.

Last Week’s Good/Bad/WTF

The Good

“Boy oh boy Wes are you right about liberal non sense in colleges and universities.

I’m not even as right wing as you are and I get into daily with people who are so left that theyre practically delusional.

The only thing is that I’m have 1 more semester before I graduate so i don’t think disagreeing why my teachers/professors has kept me from graduating.

Posted By: Guest#9058 (Guest) on December 24, 2011 at 01:29 AM”

Technically they will try and pass anybody they can, especially if you are of an alternative sexuality or a minority since it makes them look good on paper. It is unfortunate so many kids in college get one opinion only from all their teachers, what do they have to fear if their opinion is really so much better? Competition brings out the best in everybody.

“First thing: More Winter/Katie Lea = me liking this column lol..she is my favorite Diva/knockout. Just natural beauty..no fake huge tits.

I guess you’re right on the cole/lawler thing..and I’m surprised to see you agree on the card subject to change deal.

I’m not sure if Melina was out of it at SS 2007 or not..I mean, she fudged up her entrance and then acted really wierd after it..maybe she was just trying too hard to be..funny? Or maybe she was too loose in the goose from Batista ramming her earlier in the day..whatever..

I did wanna ask you, do you think HHH should end Undertakers streak?

I personally don’t think so. HHH has more..WAYYY more than enough accolades in his career..he doesn’t need this one.

If it ever happened, someone with a lot to gain from doing it, should get the honor..not someone who is already a 12 or 13 time champ “One true destroyer”..

Posted By: Baboon (Guest) on December 24, 2011 at 03:15 AM”

Winter is one of the few women I’d want to be with long-term because she just seems all kinds of awesome.

I do agree when it is a good idea, actually. I think Hardy should have been point blank fired with no chance of return for at least five years to get off the crap, but that’s not my decision. Cole/Lawler was promoted as a main event of WrestleMania and not just a regular match as each hour had its own main event per the usual structuring, along with Cena/Miz, ADR/Edge, and HHH/Undertaker.

Batista probably didn’t do any damage to Melina; steroids have a pretty nasty side effect when it comes to that area of the male anatomy. And judging by how much Batista’s probably been popping and for how long, I think Melina was exposed to the real “Little Jimmy” that night.

OH HELL NO on HHH ending UT’s streak. HHH does not deserve it, and frankly the Streak is the one thing they did manage for the most part to do right except for HHH’s little ego forcing him to be the only one standing at the end of WrestleMania 27 DESPITE submitting to lose the match. I don’t think anybody should end the Streak, Undertaker supposedly is considered almost fully retired now so I guess if anything he’ll get one more match, make it an incredible 20-0 and retire undefeated at WrestleMania. I wouldn’t put him in a long match though, as he seems unable to go the distance he used to due to age and health issues. If he wants to put somebody over, he could do it at Survivor Series where he debuted in 1990.

“Wow, I used to dislike you Wes but you’ve really grown on me. This was probably your best column yet.

Very good explanation about the Christian origin of our country. Unfortunately, Erik will never get it since liberalism seems to be a symptom of brain damage.

For anyone wondering why Wes talks about politics in this column, it’s because 411 pretty much only lets hardcore liberals do columns in the politics section (well, I guess there is one token “conservative” there). This is about the only place on her to he a real conservative viewpoint.

Keep up the good work and I’ll keep clicking each week.

Posted By: Chris (Guest) on December 24, 2011 at 08:46 AM”

Hey Chris, thank you very much for the kind comments and glad I was able to help you change your opinion!

You nailed it, Chris, about the politics. The management believe a section of Leftists is the way to go and that is why about five people write for the whole section and they get about ten visitors posting fifty messages altogether on any blog. If they had actual conservatives battling the writers currently there, it would end as it did when FOX entered the cable TV picture and the conservatives would eventually win big time. By how badly I destroyed my opponent in the FoF, I have no doubt I’ll be kept away from the nanny-state squad for a long time to come.

“What I find funniest of all is the amount of people who post comments to the effect of “wes kirk sucks” or “wes kirk is stupid” yet offer no explanation as to why they feel this way. He’s probably the only columnist on this site who even remotely gets the subject matter he’s talking about. It’s sad to see it go over the heads of so many here, but then its not a surprise either.

Posted By: True Fan (Guest) on December 24, 2011 at 12:10 PM”

The reason behind it is that polysyllabic words in general are way above their threshold of learning. For them to be able to put together a factual, reasoned analysis of how much my column sucks is something the liberal mind cannot master, along with reality and running solvent government programs.

The Bad

“I’m just so happy that Little Wesley admitted he isn’t even bright enough to…y’know…have the capability to read.

I never once “challenged” your wrestling knowledge, that was just your knee-jerk reaction to somebody impugning your delicate ego.

How about-instead of lashing out at anybody who criticises your sad excuse for a column-you prove them wrong by writing a decent one that isn’t the usual HURR DURR LOLOL U SO MAD TROLLFACE REPUBLICANISM garbage?

Considering that you’re not even sharp enough to figure out who raised the briefcase at KotR ’99 without it being spelled out to you, I shouldn’t be surprised that rationality isn’t your forte.

Also, acting as if babby’s wasn’t deliberate (you spend enough time copying other people’s basic trolling, you’d think you’d have heard of an old Yahoo! Answers meme) and being genuinely oblivious to what teetotaler means: Hell, you mistook an obvious noun for a verb!

By the way, Merry Xmas! Maybe you’ll get the gift of being able to write a quality column: as that would surely be a Christmas miracle!

Posted By: Ice Dagger (Guest) on December 24, 2011 at 05:12 AM”

For somebody who can’t write a quality column you sure do come to read and reply on it all the time…

Here is the exact quote you used in the Wrestling Sandwich from the very last November issue:

“I wonder how much of “column” that Wesley would have if he didn’t devote so much of its content to political garbage and addressing the comments section.

But that would mean he’d have to actually write about WRESTLING and we all know that he doesn’t know too much about that…

Posted By: Ice Dagger (Guest) on November 27, 2011 at 09:48 PM”

So you never challenged my wrestling knowledge or how much I know about wrestling? I guess this was a trick of the light then?

Now, you are proven to be a liar. And as I said in the other reply to you whatever you do with your father, teetowhatever or not is between you, your father, and the federal government of whatever third-world hellhole you live in that probably only exists thanks to donations from the United States.

As for a quality column my friend, if you think you can do better submit your sample to Larry and we’ll find out if you have what it takes to work here. You already chickened out of one challenge, why not two?

“I have to take issue with a few things that you wrote about in this week’s column and the first two are related to the WWE Network. First being the WWE Network and them having people clamor for the network. Now while I get why people are thinking this will fail given Vince’s track record with other things, I personally don’t think it will be as bad as some people are saying. As I understand it, Dish Network and Comcast are already on board with this. Dish Network will have it on the same price level as what you get for the NFL Network, NBATV, NFL Redzone, etc. Comcast also has a vested interest in the network as I understand it. If I’m wrong about any of this, I’ll admit it. But from people I’ve talked to that is my understanding as far as who will carry it as of right now.

Now as far as programming my guess is that at the start it will be mainly wrestling programming and that they will eventually branch off into the “non-wrestling” programming. I mean, look at the History Channel for example. Compared to say 10 or 12 years ago how much of their programming now is still history related? The History Channel probably realized that they would have to eventually expand into non-history related programming if they were going to be able to survive long term. The WWE Network can make the same move but they first have to have an audience willing to want the network at first. And in the beginnings of the WWE Network that is going to be wrestling fans.

The third thing I have to take issue with you is on the RAW ratings. I know that the raw ratings haven’t been great here recently but you also have to remember that from early September through late December they are competing with the Monday Night Football game every week. While Raw will have its ratings for this example let’s say somewhere between a 2.8 and a 3.3, Monday night football will get an 8.0 rating for even a terrible game like Ravens-Jaguars. I’m sure that even in wrestling’s highest points it wasn’t drawing that high of ratings that MNF gets. And sure part of the reason for the ratings being low now is partially because of the product. But I’d argue that MNF has more to do with it at least this time of year. In my opinion, the WWE can really hold their own in the ratings a couple different time frames during the year and that is Early January through late March and late June through early September. From early April through the middle of June the WWE has to contend with the end of the Final Four, the beginning of the MLB season, and the NBA playoffs. And then from early September through late December they have to compete with MNF (which I already mentioned) as well as the MLB playoffs.

Posted By: The Hodge (Guest) on December 24, 2011 at 01:58 AM”

You really should consider getting a job in the WWE Public Relations department, you know. They would pay you big money to go around saying these things to the people asking why the ratings have been in a steady decline for nine years.

Vince’s track record with other things is abysmal, and an actual television network I have serious questions and reservations about him running as Classics On Demand has lost profit in the last three years and will consist of mostly the same material as the network. I believe that there will be some demand among the providers to add this as a paid network, but my question is the longevity of the network once people realize it is just the WWE’s current product with some stuff they could look up on YouTube for free. The problem is, their press release said they will have access to 45 million households and it is not a guarantee every household is going to purchase a wrestling network, especially with the economy in the condition it is still in and 2011 the worst year in housing in recorded history.

The History Channel has a lot over the WWE that you haven’t taken into account: It has been around a lot longer than the WWE network will be, and already has contracts and commitments that were agreed to a long time ago. WWE Network will be launching against thousands of other channels available to subscribers, and History had to totally change its programming to survive. If WWE didn’t show wrestling, why would I watch this network? More importantly, why would I pay $10 a month or around that figure to see a network I can get with my usual cable package? WWE needs to offer something people want to see and keep viewing and do this every single day. With Classics on Demand having lost profit the last three years, the number of subscribers to this network might surprise the WWE and not in a good way.

When Nitro and RAW competed against each other in the year 2000, both companies together were able to score a combined 12 for some time, although that was basically the total viewership. There is nothing today in wrestling that can compete with Monday Night Football, whereas in the late 90’s football was getting hammered by WCW and WWF. The problem is, while you point out how WWE can handle a couple of months out of the year no problem when it is faced with competition the WWE drops and loses viewers. The top shows on the air right now also run against NFL, NBA, MLB, and so on but you don’t see them needing excuses. If WWE can’t interest viewers to watch the product, no amount of blame games and excuses will save them. Remember, a long time ago WWF and WCW had over ten million people watching wrestling on Monday nights regularly! However, thank you for presenting a reasoned analysis of why the WWE is suffering at certain times, I appreciate the research you put into that argument.

The WTF

“Hey Wes, you jackass.. You have yourself shitted on the company you worship by mentioning the changes you would make to TNA..!! Basically proves the present product is dogshit..

Posted By: HBK (Guest) on December 25, 2011 at 12:47 PM”

Alright, now this actually was echoed by some other poster who was yakking about how stupid a money back guarantee would be but I forgot his name so I didn’t bother looking back in the section.

The whole point of my Money Back Guarantee on PPV is to assure the viewer they would never end up seeing a match that ended with a bullshit finish and then make sure no matter what the booking team always found a way to end the last match of the PPV with a true finish, clean or dirty. It does not matter if the heel cheats and wins, or if the face overcomes and wins, but the point is not to let the audience leave pissed off that the match just “ends” with no real conclusion as sometimes companies like to do. When you hear the bell and that so-and-so wins as a result of a countout or disqualification it pisses off the fans to no end, especially the ones who paid to go to the event in the first place. You don’t have to blow-off a feud every month; just have a match with an ending of some sort. In the older days, it wasn’t unheard of for the heel to use the ropes or tights to win the match with a lot of controversy leading to a rematch, or somebody unseen by the referee use a weapon so their guy wins the match, and then a rematch with a stipulation is added to finish things the right way. I consider DQ/CO finishes in any main event the lazy booker’s crutch because usually it is just big egos saying they don’t want to job.

There is no business anywhere in the world that is perfect and cannot be improved. My five suggestions for TNA is not to imply the company is shit at all, but that there are better options that can improve the service. NO COMPANY has a 100% satisfaction rating, anywhere in the free world. What I added were my personal beliefs as to what TNA could do, nothing else. The roster themselves are the best part of the company and when your wrestlers can talk and wrestle, that’s really what most people need. A few incompetent staff members being gone is a good thing, TNA can only grow from that. EVERY wrestling company will have people suggesting changes to it for their own good; nothing is infallible in the eyes of the consumer. This is what keeps people from being complacent and constantly changing to improve their performance in the eyes of the customers that pay for their product.

Unfortunately, you obviously don’t know a damned thing about business and it shows.

Take 5

Wrestler To Watch: Chris Jericho

Whether you enjoyed the promo or you hated it, the fact is Chris Jericho is back in the news and getting people talking once again. Although Jericho is a terrific promo man and we didn’t get to hear him begin his crusade against CM Punk which is likely in the future for WrestleMania, he did get a hero’s welcome and seemed to be quite smug in receiving the applause which could indicate he’s going to go on at length about it next week to bash the fans. It has been said for a while by Jericho himself he’d like to stay heel the remainder of his career and frankly, that’s where he does his best work. One way he can definitely start the feud with CM Punk would be to mention how Punk gets limousines to and from arenas and first class airline tickets now that he’s making the WWE money and how he’s a hypocrite for looking out for himself. It would, as Jericho usually includes, an element of truth to what he says to keep him as a strong heel with a good point regardless if you agree with it. Whether it is the Punker ending up facing off with Y2J or somebody he hasn’t worked with yet, we can all agree that once again RAW…IS…JERICHO!

Promo of the Week: Michael McGuillicutty Loses NXT Season 2

I’ve been showing you guys some promos that illustrate both do’s and don’ts in promo etiquette to keep the crowd interested in what you have to say. In this particular case, as you will soon see, Michael McGuillicutty should have followed the advice of DON’T KEEP SPEAKING IF YOU FORGOT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY! In this case he just made himself look a lot worse by being so frazzled and you can check that out right here below. The top three were in the ring and McGuillicutty just found out Kaval is the winner of Season 2 and decides to go live with his thoughts, which were less than perfect…

Babe To Watch: AJ Lee

She’s one of the most over Divas with the IWC despite rarely having any television time, which is a bit of a shame as she can sell like few women on the roster today. AJ is willing to have a physical match and she can give a lot more in the ring than most of the Barbie dolls that are her opponents, but since she isn’t considered “model hot” she’s basically used as a jobber and an underdog that gets buried more often than not. When she does compete in the ring she usually lights up the crowd and can go like few women wrestlers, so perhaps she’ll consider TNA in the future! Here’s a weird YouTube tribute somebody created for her with a song completely in Spanish!

Match of the Week To Watch: Four Doinks vs. Team Bam Bam

A commenter suggested one of the classic “so horrible you have to watch it” matches from years past was the Four Doinks against Team Bam Bam in 1993. When you think about it, not a lot of very good matches happened in 1993 and many believe that year’s WrestleMania IX to be the worst WrestleMania of all time. This particular match here was simply so chaotic and stupid it defies all description so I’m going to have to ask you to just view this and decide for yourself if this was the absolute worst elimination match you’ve ever seen in your life. I know which way I voted!

Mystery Section to Watch: The CHIKARA Special Move!

Invented by Mike Quackenbush, this particular hold is a combination of a stranglehold gamma and an ankle lock with one hand bound for good measure. As you can clearly see, you have to be flexible to receive it or you could end up in a world of hurt for real and it looks painful enough to get a good crowd reaction. This can be used as a pinning move or a submission move, since it will accomplish either as if the person does not give up they will not be able to take the pain for a long period of time and simply will take the fall. Excellent innovation as usual by Quackenbush here!

The Good, The Bad, and The… WTF?

The Good

“Some people argue that as fans without any financial stake in the companies, ratings and buyrates shouldn’t matter. The only thing that should matter is our entertainment. If a particular show was a lot of fun, that’s great. If it was terribly boring, then that’s when we should really voice our disdain instead of reserving it for when Raw pulls in a rating smaller than 3.0.

Then there are some — and I include myself in this camp — that believe ratings and buyrates are inherently important to our enjoyment of wrestling. Without either, there simply wouldn’t be anything to enjoy on the scale we’ve become accustomed to for over 20 years.

Raw has consistently come in the top 20 highest rated cable programs for the past year. During its boom years in the late 1990s, it had a stranglehold on a top five spot, often clinching number one. Since Monday Night Football’s move to ESPN, the WWE has relinquished its monopoly on the top but Raw isn’t only facing competition from the NFL.

Reality shows — cheap to produce and easy to trot out — almost have cable television on lock. Even the drama-free shows like Storage Wars or Pawn Stars rack in millions of viewers proving that you don’t need a washed up ’80s rapper surrounded by a gaggle of hussies with names like Boot Scoot and Phanta-C to pull in an audience.

Without ratings, the USA Network could decide renewing their contract with Vince McMahon doesn’t make financial sense. It seems odd to consider that but I think a lot of fans are simply assuming that the WWE will always be around at 9pm ET. That hasn’t always been the case and it might not be in the future.

PPV buyrates also matter. The dwindling number in their “B-show” PPVs — anything other than the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series — have given McMahon and company incentive to move them to the soon-to-be (?) launched WWE Network beginning in April. While likely to still be available on PPV, those shows will be used to draw viewers into the company’s new broadcast medium.

Posted By: Guest#7077 (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 12:17 AM”

I think this was a particularly well-written response and deserved a spot here.

WWE and the USA network have a very long history with each other. TNT used to air in 1984 on USA along with Prime Time Wrestling and mention was made of the USA network specifically on both shows. Prime Time would eventually go on to Monday nights and be revamped into the show we now know as Monday Night RAW. However, long relationships can sometimes be ended very quickly if one side believes they are getting, pardon the pun, a raw deal.

Entertaining television is the end goal they strive to produce and what we aspire to have every week. When I watch a show that had very little thought put into it, or anything interesting whatsoever, I tend to get less interested in anything the company does. RAW, and Nitro, were once the top show on Mondays but things have changed considerably and mentioned enough in other columns to not require being repeated here. McMahon’s product is treading dangerously close to the level where advertisers might become upset that RAW is being presented to the fans on their dollar and not gaining the ratings level promised to them, which is a very likely situation if the current ratings trend continues. If RAW gets canned by USA obviously the first option is the WWE Network to put it on, but that has its own peril as the network by no means has a guaranteed future.

I disagree about the WWE Network gaining viewers, however. I believe it will appeal to the smaller fan base that pretty much buy anything WWE puts out and within three to six months the Network will have lost all their casual fans and be pulling in the red, so it might get axed within the year. It all really depends on exactly what this channel has to offer and what McMahon will allow to get in the way of his pride. Hopefully we’ll find out if they can survive financially because if this Network does fail spectacularly they may end up running in the red if they keep the experiment going too long.

“The fat chick looks like some of these internet dweebs/wes kirk haters girlfriends/ oh wait they have to hit puberty first

Posted By: Guest#0435 (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 12:25 AM”

Actually I have it on good authority that particular one is Dagger’s main squeeze. Holy food bill Batman!

“I wish Cook was in this column every week but since I know that isn’t going to happen I figured I’d say why I wish he was. Wes is a good writer with opposing viewpoints that even if I don’t agree with are fun to read and think about. His major flaw, and the reason I sometimes skip this column, is that he takes those viewpoints and himself way too seriously. Unless it is about the issues of drug abuse and earlier deaths that still plague wrestling or about the inspirational stories that are the counterpoint to those ;a wrestling column should be light in tone. Wes shares this flaw with Aaron Frame but is no where near as bad about it as Frame is. Still when Cook is around things are less serious in tone and Wes even seems less serious. So Wes if you are looking to improve in the new year please look at your writing with Steve and in the staff written articles and then look at your writing by yourself and try to find a middle ground. Thank you and all the other 411 writers for writing columns this year. People tend to be ungrateful for all the free work you guys and gal do and I want to assure you that although I criticize I am not one of those people.

Posted By: gpjunk (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 02:18 AM”

I posted this because I think it is a pretty interesting analysis of how Cook and I work as a team as well as the basic tone of so many articles.

The one problem is that sometimes we have to cover material that is just simply not fun or interesting. I didn’t want to have to write an obituary for Randy Savage in 2011, and I did not enjoy having to tell people that watched Victory Road to get their six-month credit from TNA due to the horrible main event debacle. We have to be serious about some things, and that’s unavoidable. GP thinks I take myself too seriously and some of my views and I understand and respect his opinion, although obviously I disagree most of the time. However, your advice about having less seriousness is definitely welcomed and I do want to add some more humor besides WWE’s UK ratings to the column…ka-ching! Appreciate the criticism, thank you for writing in!

“Great write up! I like the collaboration.

Just a few quick notes before new years:
Brock’s not going to WWE. He’ll find yet another sport to fail at, like tennis. If he DOES show up, it’ll stink on ice, much like the Kevin Nash revival.

Are we supposed to fear Kane now that he’s wearing a mask again and talks like Cody Rhodes now?

Political rant: all you democrats bitching over us becoming the minority in America in a few years, ever stop to think maybe it’s because of all the abortions Americans get at the drop of a dime?

Also, we trusted Obama with the keys to our car and he totaled it. Yet he wants to borrow them again next year??

I see great things for TNA in 2012. The steady build is consistent and a few tweaks here and there will only make it better.

And playing the role of Snookie this year at WM: an out of shape Shaq! can’t wait for this debacle (/sarcasm)

Be safe everyone. If you drink too much, call a cab. They’re free on new years eve.

And behalf if everyone here in 411, thank you Wes for an always entertaining look at wrestling.
I’ve never seen a bigger collection of bitter trolls than the commenters on this column. But they keep coming back, and that makes them fans.

Have a great new years, Wes!

Posted By: Spencer Mallard (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 06:58 AM”

Glad you liked it, it was fun talking with Steve again and planning out the column but right now we’re at the point in our careers where it makes more sense to do a column alone and visit the other now and again. I am, however, open to having Terra Callaway or Buggy as a co-writer as they have a more favorable opinion of TNA than most of the men writing for the site. Plus, I could make them do all the hard work!

I think Brock will try to come back but it appears he doesn’t understand how contracts work. He might show up anyway, get WWE sued, and end up being released over it and leave a court battle WWE won’t be able to win. Sounds about right for the Next Big Waste.

Kane at least has gotten some of his older edge back, but not enough. I’d also not have minded if he didn’t talk for a few months and just killed people randomly like in 1997. This is their attempt at molding the Kane that worked with the diluted version and not really getting anything very good.

When it comes to abortions, it should simply be only in the cases of rape, incest, and/or the birth causing death to the mother and/or baby. You should not take a human life because you aren’t ready to give up your party night. As far as Obama goes, he’s thrown so many people under the bus he’s running out and soon that bus has its target on him in favor of the 45th President of the United States in November. At least he’ll have a good idea what it feels like when he gets thrown under it!

I think TNA is going to get bigger and better this year… the ratings have been the best ever since 2007’s debut on Spike and unlike WWE are on an upward trend. That’s very damn good as WWE cannot make that claim in the United States or the UK and advertisers skittish about the number RAW is getting close to might choose TNA even though it will have a more limited audience since the numbers are showing improvement constantly.

Shaq vs. Big Show will be fun ONLY if Show knocks the overrated piece of crap out legit in the first second. Otherwise, it will stink up the place just like Cole/Lawler did last year.

Thanks Spencer for the kind words and the advice, and even if transportation isn’t free don’t risk your life and the life of others and drive drunk. If you kill somebody, you can make excuses all you want but that guilt will be with you forever.

As far as the trolls go, they are just pissed off that they have to sing “Na Na Na Na (Hey Hey Hey Goodbye)” to Obama in November and the fact they couldn’t get rid of me even with forty of them espousing that old petition. They couldn’t raise one cent between forty people, man. That’s just sad.

“Once again a great read and thanks to Mr. Kirk and Mr. Cook for telling it like it is while rising above the pathetic attempts at trolling that populate the Comments section here.

“How bout those final resolution buyrates? I need an excuse for those man. I do wes. Please comfort me with lies and ridiculous excuses.”

In response to this, please show me one shred of proof that they are what you think they are and I’ll listen to you. Until then stop coming here for no reason other than to satisfy some twisted desire to feel important by bashing the work of others.

Good day sirs, I look forward to the next collaboration and of course next week’s column from Wes.

Posted By: True Fan (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 12:40 PM”

Thank you sir and have an excellent week!

The Bad

“As much as you might not like people citing the bad raw ratings on things such as Monday Night Football, it has a lot more of an impact than you’re really willing to give credit for. Monday Night Football will always kill RAW in the ratings for one simple reason. The general sports fan on the street is going to be more willing to watch Monday Night Football than wrestling. Even if it’s not a great game (i.e., Rams-Seahawks or Ravens-Jags from this past season), Monday Night Football’s ratings will still be probably close to twice the rating that raw gets it. Now does the product have partially to do with it? Probably. But even if the product was great, Monday Night Football would still kill them because more people nowadays would want to watch football rather than wrestling. As I pointed out in the comments section last week, the only times that WWE can make any real headway in the ratings is from Early January-late March and Late June-Early September. Virtually any other time of year the WWE will have stiff competition to go up against.

And let’s be honest here, unless Vince had real competition (and whether you want to admit or not, TNA is not real competition at this moment and may never be unless some changes are made among the people in charge), the WWE ratings, while not where they should be and probably could be, will stay virtually the same. Unless Vince has another company that he sees as competition, the current WWE product will stay the way it is.

Posted By: The Hodge (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 02:23 AM”

This isn’t really a “bad” comment, for the record. Let me talk about these two items one at a time:

Firstly, we always knew football had an impact on the WWE rating. As a matter of fact, a lot of shows have impact on the WWE ratings throughout the year and not just football. The problem is, other networks also have to air shows that same night and against those same shows and they seem to be doing decently for themselves and not losing the viewers they have with RAW. If the product on WWE was great I disagree, I think more people would tune in and more people would want to see what happens next i.e. when Rock returned the ratings spiked to a yearly high! Then McMahon drops the ball and people tune right back out. The Road to Wrestlemania right now is the best time for ratings to rise as you pointed out and the “summer bounce” as well but the fact is, during those times they are still drawing less than they did the years earlier. My chart in the Factor edition of the Sandwich is proof that it is more than just a “time of the year” thing but that the ratings drop is constant, just not always as bad.

TNA is not real competition to the WWE mainly due to the network in my view, Hodge. SpikeTV can be seen in 95 million homes yet only around one and a half million people tune in to their top rated show which IS Impact Wrestling. Think about that number, and now remember WWE’s press release quoted the figure of 45 million people having access to the WWE network. While WWE will draw higher ratings than TNA right now, SpikeTV is the main problem because it is not in the Top 25 cable networks most weeks. As I said several issues ago, they need to switch networks pronto. Once we remove the bookers in charge and give those guys more time to use their talents, we’ll see some positive changes because competition brings out the best in companies. Thank you for writing in!

“Steve Cook, can you please explain what people who read this site did to you? I don’t know how you could let this pathetic person keep writing columns and act like his life is actually worth a damn. Is Wes Kirk really Cook’s way of venting out at the people reading this column? You are one of my favorite writers here, but Wes Kirk doesn’t deserve to have a column. I’m not TNA bashing because I enjoy TNA and WWE because I’m a WRESTLING fan. Wes obviously doesn’t like wrestling, because if he sees anything with WWE on it, he just assumes it sucks. There have been plenty of crappy things in both companies. I want columns from people who enjoy WRESTLING, not what Wes brings. Frie brings up a good point, but of course Wes thinks his comment was horrible. Of course, it doesn’t matter what I say, because this horrible column will be here week after week, and we have Steve Cook to thank. So Steve, thanks for the great columns this year, and have a Happy New Year. And Wes, well to put it simply, please quit because you are FUCKING terrible.

Posted By: Guest#1410 (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 03:18 AM”

Nice to see you still reading and leaving comments, Frie. Hello, IP check!

“Dumbest Thing of the Week: Blaming NFL And Other Shows For RAW’s Shit Ratings

===

well, TNA blaims Jersey Shore and NBA (which, combined, don’t have the same amount of viewers of the NFL), so why can’t people blaim the NFL and Two and a Half Men’s most watched season when RAW is the subject?

BESIDES, A 6.0 RATING IN 1999 (YEARLY AVERAGE) EQUALS 5 MILLION VIEWERS, WHICH IN 2011 REPRESENT A 3.3 RATING. SINCE RAW’S AVERAGE THIS YEAR WAS 3.2, IT AIN’T THA BAD AFTER ALL

Posted By: Guest#7885 (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 10:57 AM”

TNA doesn’t blame anybody for their ratings; they actually have improved over the last five years as the press release last week stated. Yes, TNA ratings are going up on average while WWE Raw and Smackdown are going down the last five years. Facts are your friends!

And just a teeny bit of help with the ratings… A 6.0 in 1999 was 6 million viewers, as one Nielsen point was one million viewers in the old system. Also please note that while WWF drew a 6.0 in 1999, Nitro was also there getting around a 4.0 and thus another four million people added to the mixture.

The average ratings are in and with several weeks under a 3, the 2011 average for RAW is a 3.21 with an estimated 4.4 million viewers. Smackdown came in with a 1.95 for the year and around 2.7 million viewers. In 2010, RAW received a 3.28 for RAW for the year average. Smackdown is awaiting the final show of the year rating for a full tally as of this writing. The only show improving since 2007 is TNA Impact Wrestling. Sucks for you!

“Cabana was in the WWE, you moron.

Posted By: Law (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 03:55 PM”

Scotty Goldman was in WWE and used primarily as a jobber. Colt Cabana has tried to return but wasn’t given a very warm reception by the WWE despite being one of CM Punk’s best friends and having a lot of charisma too. Cabana, as himself, is not welcome in the WWE and the fact they are taking signs with his name on them away shows the company really is a bunch of pricks for not even letting the DESIRE to have him signed be shown on national television. Colt Cabana, as himself, was never in the WWE so my statement remains true.

“I’m very disappointed Wes. I thought our feud was way better than the ones you mentioned.

At least you could have mentioned me as Frame’s lead henchman.

Posted By: Ronnie (Guest) on January 01, 2012 at 01:21 AM”

…This was my bad, actually, not yours. The truth was that you were indeed the lead henchman and it was a good feud! So, this comment isn’t the bad one folks, I’m bad for having forgotten to add Ronnie to the year-end list. Sorry man, year end awards sometimes leave some good stuff behind.

“>Seems if he can afford this he can afford to pay the hard-working people who handled his roof. So much for the role model!

UMMMM…..we had a roofing company fix the roof on our house and after doing so we checked it out before writing the check and it turns out they didn’t do the job we hired them to do. Maybe you ought to wait till we find out the whole story before you jump on your “cena hate” bandwagon. Just a suggestion.

Posted By: REALITY (Guest) on January 01, 2012 at 10:47 PM”

I actually agree with you that things need to be explained a bit further before I pick sides, but one problem is that I am an opinion columnist and I’m here to offer opinions on current events. I actually do not hate John Cena but if it is revealed that he has decided not to pay those men because he wasn’t happy with the work or another lame reason then my respect for him will disappear. The fact is, Cena has not denied this situation or spoken about the job the men did on his mansion so if they did a terrible job, we haven’t found out about it. I’d prefer to hear John Cena address the situation and if his answer is something along the lines of “They didn’t get paid because they didn’t do a good enough job in my view” then he should have his check garnished until they are paid in full. To be clear, I do not hate John Cena but in his role right now he has to watch everything he does because the eyes of the media are on him as the face of WWE.

The WTF

“lol @ Little Wesley making a pithy mention of me, but not actually directly addressing my comments.

It’s almost as if he couldn’t think of a comeback!

Posted By: Ice Dagger (Guest) on December 31, 2011 at 11:25 PM”

Pithy according to the dictionary is brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression. Thank you for the compliment.

As far as the comeback goes, what exactly do you want me to come back with, Icey? You said you didn’t disparage my writing skills and wrestling knowledge, and then I posted your exact quote from the column that proved you did. I issued a challenge for a trivia contest one-on-one, you never accepted. Frankly put, with me up 2-0 what do I have to prove? Your comments are basically the same as everybody else who thinks I suck yet still tune in every week to see what I have to say and respond to it the exact same way as the week before. If I really did suck you wouldn’t read and respond, so cut the crap. I obviously used your previous comment as a joke since I figured you were drunk or somehow mentally constipated (thanks, Del Rio!) when you wrote it and thought I’d give you a break.

By the way, you do realize a dagger made out of ice would just completely shatter if it hit a rock or metallic surface right? If you miss with it, you’d be in deep shit.