Post by andrew8798 on Aug 27, 2014 18:28:08 GMT -5
Regarding fallout of Mysterio’s taped appearance at TripleMania last week, there has been nothing, at least as of press time. Nobody from WWE had contacted Mysterio about anything since May. No phone calls, e-mails, letters (aside from his checks, which are coming regularly). Nobody asked why he did the show, threatened him for doing it, or anything. He also wasn’t asked to appear at the house show in his home city of San Diego on 8/23. WWE legal didn’t contact AAA either. We also haven’t heard of any contact with Del Rio. What’s notable is that Del Rio is booked for a show in Puerto Rico in less than 90 days, and he’s also starting to accept U.S. indie bookings even though WWE told him that he’s not allowed to do so for one year as far as the U.S. goes. Del Rio hasn’t done any media this past week. WWE has also not made any contact or threats to AAA about using Del Rio.
Regarding the network in Canada on Rogers, the reason there are so small archives is because this whole thing was rushed to launch because they have to show improved numbers over the next three months. They hadn’t gotten CRTC approval yet. Rogers is discussing offering the network to other cable systems covering the rest of the country.
Regarding WrestleMania payoffs, we didn’t hear any complaints, but then again, the show ended up doing 690,000 buys on PPV and while substantially less than pre-network numbers, it was still a big number. Batista was asked about Mania payoffs on The LAW when promoting the movie, and kind of dodged the subject saying it wasn’t something he could answer and be politically correct. “From the talent’s perspective, that’s a tough question because I could put myself in a politically incorrect spot. As of this moment, with the WWE Network losing money, I don’t think the talent is benefitting the way they should.”
But it’s the PPV shows going forward where the PPV numbers really fell hard. The key outsiders (Hogan, Rock and Austin), because they weren’t advertised and pushed ahead of time and not in a match, were all given a flat fee as opposed to the usual percentage deal top guys are figured in for. Lesnar also has a guaranteed figure, and Undertaker has his big downside guarantee even though he only works a few shows a year, so it’s kind of understood his big guarantee is his Mania payoff.
RVD is either about to finish up his current run, or did finish it up at the Smackdown tapings on 8/26 with his loss on this week’s show to Rollins being his being written out. RVD has a cyclical agreement where he’ll go for a few months as opposed to having a long-term contract. When both sides are in agreement, he can be brought back for several more months. The deal pretty much guarantees he won’t be pushed hard and his role will largely be putting over new talent.
But it’s the PPV shows going forward where the PPV numbers really fell hard. The key outsiders (Hogan, Rock and Austin), because they weren’t advertised and pushed ahead of time and not in a match, were all given a flat fee as opposed to the usual percentage deal top guys are figured in for. Lesnar also has a guaranteed figure, and Undertaker has his big downside guarantee even though he only works a few shows a year, so it’s kind of understood his big guarantee is his Mania payoff.
RVD is either about to finish up his current run, or did finish it up at the Smackdown tapings on 8/26 with his loss on this week’s show to Rollins being his being written out. RVD has a cyclical agreement where he’ll go for a few months as opposed to having a long-term contract. When both sides are in agreement, he can be brought back for several more months. The deal pretty much guarantees he won’t be pushed hard and his role will largely be putting over new talent.
For those asking about former NFL star Shawne Merriman, who was training to be both a wrestler and an announcer, and had signed a deal around WrestleMania time, he is no longer under contract and has no affiliation with the company.
A new season of “Tough Enough” earmarked for the WWE Network looks like the victim of budget cuts. It was originally scheduled for a July taping, but over the last week, its budget was heavily cut back, and at the last minute, the entire show was scrapped. There was talk of doing it in the fall, but there’s been no talk at all in recent weeks of a time frame or shooting schedule.
Cena was interviewed by Power Magazine this past week and said that he’s got a heel run in him, but says he does what the company tells him to do and that a heel turn will never happen. To me, never doesn’t exist in pro wrestling, because circumstances constantly change. That said, right now, the idea of turning Cena heel would be mind-bogglingly stupid. The key is merchandise. With Bryan and Punk gone, Cena’s merchandise was recently and may still be outselling the entire rest of the roster combined. Heel turns kill merch sales, not to mention ticket sales to kids, which make up a strong percentage of the WWE audience and the Cena shows this year were doing more than $60,000 above the non-Cena shows in ticket sales (and shows without Cena are doing well below the usual levels for house shows in the cities they have been in while Cena shows have not). There is always the chance that Cena will get hotter as a ticket seller with a heel turn. Historically, with the exception of Hogan (whose merch sales were dead when he made the turn), modern era top babyface turns didn’t work unless you have the hotter babyface on the rise (like Austin was with Bret Hart when they did the double turn). Dwayne Johnson turned back-and-forth, but Austin’s turn, no matter how entertaining it was, led to huge drops in attendance, ratings and merch sales and the company never got back to previous levels. WCW attempted turns with Sting and Goldberg were such flops they flipped back every time within a few weeks. If Bryan, or Reigns, or someone, is at the point as champion where they are outdrawing Cena and selling at close to the same level, you could consider a turn, but even then, you still have the issues where Make-a-Wish and other corporate partners who bank on Cena as a spokesperson or face would get upset. But today, with no Punk, no Bryan, and Reigns months from being ready, any suggestion of turning him today is up there with the ill-fated Austin turn. Austin’s turn failed for these reasons. The first was there was no super face to oppose him (the idea was HHH as the face, but then HHH decided against turning and forming a team with Austin, and if you remember that period, HHH was actually positioned equal or even ahead of him when they were together). The other is that there are some talents who bring new people into the game. When those people are faces and turn, and there are only a handful of them in the last 30 years and of them, only Hogan and Lawler (who was successful going back-and-forth) ever did for any length of time and with had success. I would call Hogan’s turn a success because the company did great business for two-and-a-half years, but the long-run of the cool heels killing the faces was not good in the long run. Whether a percentage of the audience boos him, and they do at TV and PPVs and they don’t at house shows, those are already paying customers, many of whom came in before Cena. Of those who came in with Cena, their big favorites were Cena, Mysterio and maybe Batista, and Cena was No. 1 throughout and is the last one left. They are clearly building Reigns and Ambrose for a future, and Wyatt is probably going to be a face at some point as well. When the new characters are at the point they are carrying the ball, and Reigns may already be on track getting there, you absolutely could consider a Cena turn from a wrestling standpoint. But perhaps Make-a-Wish changes the game and it won’t happen even when the storyline time down the line could be right.
At this stage, the working idea for Prince Devitt’s name is Fergal, which is his real first name. Given that WWE wants to own rights to people’s names and give them names they can’t take elsewhere if they leave, I’m guessing that name changes before he hits the main roster.
Ambrose will be filming full-time through 9/20, which means if there are no delays, he may make his return doing a run-in at Night of Champions or on Raw the next day.
WWE is clamping down somewhat on foreign network subscriptions. One reader, from the U.K., who signed up as soon as it was launched, was canceled by WWE. He, like many, used a U.S. address to subscribe, but in paying by Paypal, it had his real address. WWE took the subscription up until recently. Others in the U.K. having used false addresses are not having any problems.
WWE is clamping down somewhat on foreign network subscriptions. One reader, from the U.K., who signed up as soon as it was launched, was canceled by WWE. He, like many, used a U.S. address to subscribe, but in paying by Paypal, it had his real address. WWE took the subscription up until recently. Others in the U.K. having used false addresses are not having any problems.
Regarding the portrayal of Cena on Raw this week, that was all written and put together by Vince McMahon. My feeling on the final segment, where Cena laid out all three members of the Wyatts with Attitude Adjustments is that it was the right idea for a great segment, but it should have aired on either 9/8, or preferably 9/15. Cena should have at least sold the beating from SummerSlam on this week’s show, and started a build for a comeback story instead of him being back with no repercussions from the first match. You’ve got Swagger with taped ribs for week from less of a beating while you are trying to have Michaels tell people Cena should retire due to this horrific beating, and he’s fine, not a scratch, and not selling a thing. It would have been better to save Lesnar vs. Cena for perhaps Survivor Series, but they had no other face ready to headline and it’s the renewal month, so the September show is more important than the November show. Given that, he still could have sold the beating, vowed he was training harder than ever and would be at his best ever, while Heyman and Lesnar laughed off the idea of him being competition based on the first match. Then, in his first match back, either 9/8 or 9/15, they could have had Heyman at ringside (or Lesnar if it’s a show he’s booked on), shocked while Cena runs wild with the idea Cena really has recovered and is throwing around top heels. McMahon felt that after the one-sided match (which they never should have done in hindsight, since the follow-up was so lame and it was rendered as if it might as well have never happened), that the Cena fans would lose faith in him unless he made an immediate statement.
There were a number of other changes. The package with Lesnar and Heyman that they played was originally earmarked for the 9/1 show, not the 8/25 show.
Also, Rusev vs. Swagger was not on the original Raw script as the plan was to put Cesaro vs. Swagger for the U.S title shot, which Cesaro would win, with the same Dallas follow-up.
There were a number of other changes. The package with Lesnar and Heyman that they played was originally earmarked for the 9/1 show, not the 8/25 show.
Also, Rusev vs. Swagger was not on the original Raw script as the plan was to put Cesaro vs. Swagger for the U.S title shot, which Cesaro would win, with the same Dallas follow-up.
Colter wasn’t written out after the Rusev kick. He’s injured, which we’re told he said is from the kick being stiff but there’s also a story he was injured outside the ring as well.
Ryback is taking time off for injuries, writing “Going away for a while to get some stuff fixed. Have not been myself for quite some time.” He then deleted his tweet. He suffered what was described as a lower body injury that is still being evaluated, but is not expected to be out of action for a significant length of time.
Solomon Crowe, the former Sami Callihan, has been turned from heel to face in NXT. He dropped the hacker gimmick which HHH hated. He’s now trying to emphasize wrestling skills.
With Shaun Ricker, apparently one of his issues was he went on a tear re-tweeting people who would say that he should be on television. I don’t know if that was the specific thing that got him axed since they were making cuts anyway, but when he was cut, I was told that he had potential but it was specifically brought up that he got himself in hot water with his Twitter. Crowe this past week was doing the same thing. Advice to those in NXT. Never write anything on Twitter that could even be remotely construed as being critical of decision makers in the company, unless it is complete storyline, and even then, don’t do it with being cleared.
With Shaun Ricker, apparently one of his issues was he went on a tear re-tweeting people who would say that he should be on television. I don’t know if that was the specific thing that got him axed since they were making cuts anyway, but when he was cut, I was told that he had potential but it was specifically brought up that he got himself in hot water with his Twitter. Crowe this past week was doing the same thing. Advice to those in NXT. Never write anything on Twitter that could even be remotely construed as being critical of decision makers in the company, unless it is complete storyline, and even then, don’t do it with being cleared.
-WON