The MeeThinks Friday FreeThinks: 09.11.09

Posted by John Meehan on 09.11.2009

Pro football is BACK! But what does this mean for wrestling fans?

Howdy, folks. And thanks for tuning in for your regularly scheduled week-end dose of intrawebz' 'rasslin optimism. It's virtually impossible to find something new or particularly insightful to say on the anniversary of the senseless tragedy of eight years ago today, so I hope you'll forgive me a rare moment of unabashed sentimentality and patriotism while I let a quick video do the talking for me before we get into the thick of this week's content.

Feel free to skip it if you'd rather get to the actual wrestling news for the week -- but I just felt I'd be remiss if I didn't mark the occassion with at least a brief moment of reflection:



Let's roll.

The SELL of the week goes to AJ Styles, who competed in not one but TWO fantastic bouts on last week's TNA iMPACT! and proved once again that he is truly deserving of the "Phenomenal" nickname that he bears. Styles performances were top-notch all around, but the sell of the week came when he was whipped into the corner turnbuckle and greeted shortly thereafter by the charging boot of Chris Sabin. Holy hell, did his head bounce around after that one -- practically looked as if the guy had broken his neck. Kudos to AJ on a job well done!

The TELL of the week goes to John Cena. The good doctor of thuganomics might have done a fine job of making Randy Orton look like an ass-kicking champion this week, but Cena's forarms-first "facefirst" RKO plunge onto the seat of a steel chair was pretty much as lame a main event "injury" as you're likely to see on WWE programming. Well, since the last time Randy brutalized an opponent in a show-closing stunt, of course ('sup Triple H? How's the ankle?). And the time before that (howdy, Jeff. That crash pad must have *stung*, eh?). Orton's back to being a badass, alright -- but he's really gotta work out a more effective way of dispatching his challengers.

Savannah - Developmental talent Angela Fong made her debut as a backstage announcer on this week's broadcast of ECW on SyFy. Fong tried out for WWE's Diva Seach in 2007, and was signed to a delopmental contract in February 2008. Since that time, she has been working as a wrestler and ring announcer in Florida Championship Wrestling.

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Rory Fargo - Local talent Rory Fargo made a one-time appearance for WWE in a losing effort against Zack Ryder on this week's episode of ECW on SyFy. He is not believed to have signed a long-term WWE contract at this time. Unfortunately for Fargo, he will probably be best remembered for the "wardrobe malfunction" he suffered toward the end of the contest, which resulted in his genitals being exposed on national television.




Angelina Love - former TNA Knockout Champion Angelina Love (a.k.a. Lauren Williams) has been released from her contract with the promotion due to ongoing work visa issues that prevent her from continued employment in the United States. Williams, a Canadian born performer, has reportedly been dealing with these visa issues for some time now.

See the thing is --

Angelina Love received a visa from WWE when she was signed to a developmental deal with the company in 2004. But that visa expired when she was released by WWE in 2006, and while it was up to her to get a new one, it's kind of hard to track down "independent contractors" when they're working under the radar (just as those day laborers hanging out at a bus station at 6 a.m.) -- and so Angelina managed to find regular work in indy promotions both in the US and in Mexico through 2007, sans visa. Eventually, her performances on the indy and international circuit earned her a "tryout" invitation from TNA in autumn, 2007 (again, still no visa). And when the tryout went well, she was hired as a full time employee by TNA Wrestling and everything seemed to be well on its way back to normal.

Only problem? Angelina Love never got TNA to sign off on a new visa... meaning that she wasn't "legally" working for them (or anyone else for that matter -- at least not as far as the US Government was concerned). And once Dixie Carter caught wind of this little "oversight" and all of the legal headaches it could entail (amazing how these things are allowed to go on for so long without somebody noticing, no?) -- she was left with no choice but to terminate TNA's relationship with Angelina Love at once.

Case closed.

MeeThinks?

The blame on this one falls squarely on the shoulders of one Miss Lauren Williams a.k.a. Angelina Love. Though TNA looks pretty stupid (complicit?) in the matter as a result of their not knowing that they were paying an illegal alien's salary for the better part of two years, the bottom line is that Lauren Williams is the one who accepted their offer for work in the first place, and Lauren Williams is responsible for making sure her paperwork is in order accordingly.

(Don't believe Mee? Go ahead and skip out on next year's income taxes, and then turn around and blame your boss for "not getting their paperwork in order" when Uncle Sam comes-a-knocking at your door).

All this said --

TNA's Knockouts division is now minus one of its top stars, and they will presumably be looking to fill Angelina's spot (heh heh heh) in The Beautiful People with a new rulebreaking lady in the near future. But if I'm TNA? I'd say you make onscreen lemonade out of real life lemons and devise an onscreen angle to help explain the sudden departure of Angelina love.

How's this for an idea:

Scrap the Beautiful People storyline altogether, and have the tremendously attractive (but not-quite "technically skilled") Velvet Sky buddy up with Eric Young and the rest of the World Elite instead. Turn Angelina's departure into an onscreen "worked-shoot," and Velvet arrives by Eric's side as the disaffected American diva who lost her "BFF" thanks to the tyranny of the US Government. Suddenly, she has a built-in reason for getting in bed (no pun intended) with the World Elite. Fans get a fresh, new reason to boo for a well-established character, and the stable looks a whole lot more credible (not to mention attractive) as a result.

But then again (as the old saying goes)...

"This is TNA."




None - in a welcome development, there are no major injuries to report in the past seven days' time.



In this segment, I'll be firing off a handful of micro-commentaries at some of the industry's biggest stars and stories. For those of y'all who aren't familiar with Twitter-style posting, the format is simple:

@Recipient's Name - 140 character message goes here. #MessageTopic

And before you ask: No, these aren't actual tweets.

FAKE TWEETS OF THE WEEK

@Angelina Love - "Visa. It's Everywhere You Want to Be." #NotSoMuch #FalseAdvertising

@Angelina Love - Sorry 'bout your release. We'll miss the T&A in TNA. #ThanksForTheMammories #LeaveTheMammoriesAlone

@Christopher Daniels - Hot Topic called -- they'd like their guyliner back. #EyeMakeup #Emo

@Doug Williams - Chaos Theory? Yes please. #HolyCrap #ThatWasAwesome

@CM Punk - "Charismatic Enabler" = totally sold. Punk's on fire with the one-liners this year. #FixHimSoICanBreakHimAgain

@Matt Hardy - Didn't realize it was ab surgery. Explains the gut. #Apologies #GetWellSoon

@Bob Barker - R.I.P. You will be missed! Wait -- he's ALIVE? #Trending Topics #TweepleAreSheep

@Cody Rhodes - Tholid promo, Cody. Eat 'yer heart out, Jack Thwagger. #RAWisLisps

@Shawn Michaels - I know, Chris Masters' hair plugs are pretty lame, right?! #CowboyHats #PotKettle #NotFoolingAnyone

@Big Show - Khali "stole your moves?" You mean... both of 'em? #CryBaby

@Zack Ryder - Wicked finisher this week, bro. Have you considered changing the move's name? #NutSackAttack




Ooh... speaking of Twitter:

Follow Mee on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
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http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma





The Big Show - WWE's lockerroom erupted in a veritable clash of the titans this week as The Big Show got into a physical altercation with his fellow big man in The Great Khali. Apparently, Show was miffed at Khali for "stealing" moves that he felt should remain exclusive to him by virtue of his status as WWE's resident "Giant," and he sounded off accordingly.

A verbal exchange ensued (no word if Runjin was called in to translate), and Show eventually ended up throwing a punch at The Punjabi Playboy. Khali allegedly blocked the punch (and I quote) "just like you see on television," and Show slipped on a gym bag which allowed Khali to fall on top of him with a hail of punches until the rest of the locker room stepped in to pull the two behemoths apart. Word from the WWE locker room is that the blame for this issue is being placed squarely on Big Show's shoulders, though no official disciplinary actions have yet been taken against him at this time.

In a MeeThinks exclusive, we actually have a video reinactment of this event:



In the end, this story appears to be more slight than serious. Khali's job is safe, Show's actions probably won't make an ounce of difference in terms of onscreen fallout, and life will go on as usual. There are three funny points worth noting before we leave this section, however:

1) Hard to imagine Khali picking a fight here, as the guy isn't really known for his "smack"-talking. Heck, he's got a hard enough time with plain old *talking* the way it is.

2) Save for the addition of a Cobra clutch backbreaker and a nasty right hook, the Big Show has effectively been wrestling the exact same match for the better part of the last decade, so there really ain't all that much there to steal. Meanwhile, The Great Khali's "moveset" pretty much consists of a chokehold, a chop, and a claw.

3) Big Show spent his time away from the WWE ring training to be a PROFESSIONAL BOXER.

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WWE Royal Rumble - This week, wrestling fans (and promoters alike) learned a scary possibility that that WWE's Royal Rumble PPV (originally set for Jan. 24, 2009) also just so happened to air opposite one of the NFL conference championship games. Though WWE has traditionally been extremely careful to avoid precisely such incidents, this latest booking snafu arose when the NFL decided to reschedule their annual ProBowl event to the week *prior* to the SuperBowl (when WWE had scheduled their Royal Rumble show accordingly) rather than *after* it -- which threatened to cause a major headache for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Here's why:

For those of y'all unfamiliar with U.S. football (for shame!), the pro bowl is effectively the "WWE Superstars" of the NFL. Talent from every show (team) compete in a "best of the besT" showcase, but it's an off-brand "consolation" prize and there's no gold at stake, so it's typically not the kind of show that draws anywhere near a sizable audience. That's why the NFL decided to move it a week AHEAD of the SuperBowl rather than a week BEHIND it -- because nobody really cares what happens on the show after "the big game" is already in the books.

The NFL conference *championship* games, however, are a pretty big deal. Basically, the entire NFL is divided into two conferences (the NFC and the AFC -- think of them as "RAW" and "Smackdown," respectively) -- and once a year, the best of the best in each conference compete in a playoff tournament for the right to represent their conference at that year's SuperBowl.

(Imagine a show where the entire roster competes to see who is the very best performer on the RAW brand -- and that winner gets to face the "best of Smackdown" tourney champ).

For NFL fans, the conference game is precisely that show.

As such, WWE made the call to bump their PPV back a week so as to avoid going head-to-head with what could be a record-setting NFL audience (playoff games draw tremendous crowds on television). By doing so, the Royal Rumble will now be aired opposite the lower-rated NFL Pro Bowl -- which probably means that more fans will have the opportunity to catch them some WWE as a result.

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WWE TLC Pay Per View - This week, WWE's annual "Armageddon" PPV was scrapped in favor of yet aNOTHER "gimmick-themed" pay per view installment. The latest addition to the WWE calendar, you ask? Why it's a show called...

"WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs."

Immediately, this announcement drew wide criticism from across the board. Many of the 'E's most vocal critics pointed out that there is only so many spots that can be done (safely) in a TLC match, and this latest "all-gimmick" PPV outing (or at the very least, all main-event-matches-will-be-gimmicked) will do little more than expose just how garbage-driven and one-dimensional the TLC match can be.

Since this is the resident hotspot for OPTIMISM around these parts, however, I feel it's only necessary to make a quick distinction:

"You do realize that a TLC pay-per-view lends itself not only to TLC matches but also to individual bouts featuring tables, ladders, and chairs, right?"

When done right, a good old fashioned "tables match" is actually quite a bit of suspenseful fun. Sure, you wouldn't have such a contest for a top-level belt -- but there's certainly nothing wrong with it occupying a spot on the undercard, ya' know. Individuals (or teams) compete to throw their opponent(s) through a table, tension builds as wrestlers come ever closer to crashing through these wooden traps in and around the ring, and fans gasp and cheer accordingly with each new high spot or near-break of the timber.

(Hey look, that's a PPV-ready match all by itself right there)

Throw a few extra opponents (or teams) into your standard tables-only match, and you've got yourself a tables elimination contest -- where the only way to win is to be the last competitor (or team) who HASN'T crashed through the wood by the time the final bell has sounded. This is a great vehicle for midcard bouts with multiple challengers (say, for the United States Championship).

(Whaddayaknow -- TWO PPV bouts from tables alone!)

Moving to the "ladders" component of the broadcast, it's become a pretty basic addition to your standard wrestling gimmick match to have two or three guys battling it out with a prize suspended high above the arena floor. In a match where there's a mid-level prize at stake (say, the Intercontinental Championship) or a shot at something even greater in store (say, a number one contender's contract), fans are typically rabid for these types of affairs, which frequently play well to the lighter-weights acrobatic style of assault. I mean seriously now, tell Mee you wouldn't pay good money to see John Morrison versus Dolph Ziggler (or Rey Mysterio) in a straight-up ladder match.

(Yup, that's THREE PPV bouts -- and still nary a proper TLC match in sight).

If WWE *really* wanted to go out on a limb (ladder?) here, they could even throw some wacky multi-man ladder match stip onto the card and give the winner a guaranteed number 30 entrant's spot in the following month's Royal Rumble match. Let's face it, WWE has gone TV-PG for a reason -- and the younger WWE fans are still very much into the whole "order of entry can make or break a Royal Rumble match outcome" schtick (thanks to John Cena and The Undertaker in recent years). As such, a match where the winner gets a guaranteed shot at improving his fast-track to WrestleMania could be an easy sell.

Cheapskate heel steals a victory and the right to coast into the Rumble? Instapush going into WrestleMania.

BOOM baby -- thats FOUR pay-per-view matches without a TLC.

Toss in a "chairs only" PPV bout between the company's resident big men (think Kane vs. Khali, but better), and fans of the "hardcore" style get to watch two veritable giants go swinging for the fences in an undercard homerun derby or sorts. Sure it's likely to be short and brutal (perhaps in more ways than one), but its a nice dovetail to the smashmouth style that so many of WWE's "giants" are known for, and that makes it a perfectly acceptable addition to an entirely TLC-themed show.

What's that? FIVE different table, ladder and chair matches -- each one unique and each one independently marketable -- before you even get to the bona-fide "TLC" gimmicked main events.

Suddenly, this actually sounds like a pretty decent PPV idea after all.



This is normally the spot where I'd wax philosophical about the onscreen developments of the past seven days. But given the fact that a much BIGGER development is on the very near horizon, I figure now is as good a time as any to include the following feature instead.

Monday Night Wars to Resume Through December
WWE RAW to air head-to-head with Monday Night Football for 16 weeks

Ahh, fall...

The kids are back in school. Monday Night Football kicks off next week. And WWE's flagship broadcast will soon be taking its annual drubbing in the ratings war. And to the collective surprise of absolutely no one, this will invariably send armchair bookers the world over into a "sky is falling" frenzy as they desperately attempt to claim first dibs in their annual routine of predicting WWE's demise.

Heck -- the exact same thing happened last September (and the September before that, and the September before that, and...) -- and fans were blaming everyone from Chris Jericho to Rey Mysterio to Kane. And this year, the ratings will likely suffer yet again, and the blame game will surely fall at the feet of John Cena, Randy Orton, and TV-PG.

Gotta' love tradition, eh?

Speaking of tradition, though -- last year, we took a look at the MNF schedule and sized up just what games, exactly, might prove particularly difficult (or easy) on the RAW rating. The goal was to size up the competition and set realistic, POSITIVE expectations for the season so as not to get ourselves all worked up when each new rating came through. To do so, I put my wrestling fanaticism and my football fanboy knowledge to work, and here's how we fared in the end:

Date of Broadcast	Game	Prediction of RAW Rating	Actual RAW Rating	Prediction Right/Wrong?
Sept. 22	New York Jets at San Diego	"Expect Raw's Rating to rebound significantly."	UP to 3.1 from 2.6	Correct
Sept. 29	Baltimore at Pittsburgh	"Not particularly attractive to non-East Coasters."	STATIC at 3.1 from 3.1	Correct
Oct. 6	Minnesota at New Orleans	"WWE should be able to ride some solid momentum."	DOWN to 3.0 from 3.1	Incorrect
Oct. 13	New York Giants at Cleveland	"Don't expect this game to draw anywhere near the Dallas/Philly numbers."	UP to 3.1 from 3.0	Correct
Oct. 20	Denver at New England	"The next big hurdle... This one is going to hurt WWE's fanbase for sure."	DOWN to 2.9 from 3.1	Correct
Oct. 27	Indianapolis at Tennesee	"Another tough night of competition."	STATIC at 2.9 from 2.9	Correct
Nov. 3	Pittsburgh at Washington	"All eyes in Washington will be directed elsewhere than football."	UP to 3.0 from 2.9	Correct
Nov. 10	San Franciso at Arizona	"A weak MNF game should translate to bigger numbers for RAW."	UP to 3.1 from 3.0	Correct
Nov. 17	San Franciso at Arizona	"One of these teams will probably be well beyond any hope of clinching their division."	DOWN to 2.9 from 3.1	Incorrect (though I was dead-on about the playoff thing)
Nov. 24	Green Bay at New Orleans	"Expect a nice RAW rating."	UP to 3.3 from 2.9	Correct
Dec. 1	Jacksonville at Houston	"Jacksonville will win and sports fans know it, which should make tuning into RAW a no-brainer."	UP to 3.4 from 3.3	Correct
Dec. 8	Tampa Bay at Carolina	"Either team could be fighting for their postseason. Expect RAW to take a hit."	DOWN to 3.2 from 3.4	Correct
Dec. 15	Cleveland at Philadelphia	"If there's even so much as a shadow of a doubt that the Eagles will miss the playoffs, this game will draw solid numbers."	UP to 3.3 from 3.2	Incorrect (though again, dead-on about the playoff implications)
Dec. 22	Green Bay at Chicago	"I'd fully expect at least one of these teams (if not both) to be well removed from all talk of postseason play by Week 16"	DOWN to 3.2 from 3.3	Incorrect (but once more, totally nailed the playoff picture)

Overall verdict? Going into last year's schedule, I predicted that six games would see ratings increases from the previous week's broadcast, four would see ratings drops, and four could go either way. In the end? The winners won and the losers lost, as predicted, and the remaining games were split evenly -- putting the final numbers at 7 weeks of increases, 5 weeks of decreases, and 2 weeks where the ratings stayed put.

In other words -- seems like I know what I'm talking about here (here that tooting sound? Yup, that's my own horn). And setting a realistic schedule of expectations can do wonders for your perspective (and your santity) as the season wears on down the line.

Added bonus -- for your convenience, I've color-coded each week's matchup according to their relative threat to WWE's viewership. Games in RED mean that RAW's rating should drop, while games in BLUE pose little threat (which means RAW's ratings should rise on those weeks). And finally, games in BLACK are still "toss-ups," for the time-being -- meaning that the audience can go either way on that night, depending on any number of compounding variables as outlined below.

WEEK 1 (Sept. 14): Buffalo at New England (7 p.m.) | San Diego at Oakland (10 p.m.)
It's opening week, AND the NFL has scheduled a double-header. As such, RAW's in for some serious competition -- particularly from the first of the two NFL showdowns (I mean seriously now -- Oakland?). RAW's rating will take a hit, but the second half of the show will probably draw bigger numbers than the first half thanks to the Buffalo/New England game wrapping at 10 p.m.

WEEK 2 (Sept. 21): Indianapolis at Miami
Will it be a "great" week for RAW? Not a chance. But will it be a "good" one? You betcha. The previous week's doubleheader will take the rating down substantially, but a week removed from the NFL kickoff should give WWE enough breathing room for an uptick here.

WEEK 3 (Sept. 28): Carolina at Dallas
It's the Panthers, it's Cowboys, and it's Monday Night Football. Though Tony Romo is easily the single most overrated player in the NFL (win a game after November and THEN we'll talk, pal) -- the hype machine and a big-time NFC rivalry will simply be too much for RAW to take this early in the season. Expect RAW's rating to suffer accordingly, which could be trouble for the last big go-home show before Hell in a Cell.

WEEK 4 (Oct. 5):Green Bay at Minnesota
Brett Favre is taking the field against his old team, and fans will be there in droves to watch this storied division rivalry from the 8:30 p.m. kickoff as a result. This means RAW should still be feeling the MNF effects when it goes live at 9 p.m. But can a single player convince a nation to stick around for a full three hours when the two onfield teams are mediocre at best? Not likely, and WWE's numbers will probably rebound throughout the show as a result.

WEEK 5 (Oct. 12): New York Jets at Miami
An AFC East division rivalry should be plenty of invitation for fans to keep a close eye on this week's MNF broadcast. Whether or not this week's RAW rating will increase, however, has a lot more to do with the previous week's rating than anything else. Expect a better RAW rating than the 9 o'clock quarter hour from Oct. 5 -- but all bets are off on how strongly the overall score can rebound from the 11 p.m. Nielsen from one week prior.

WEEK 6 (Oct. 19): Denver at San Diego
West coast football on Monday night? No thanks. The NFL has had some real trouble attracting nationwide audiences when both teams hail from the Pacific time zone in the past, and I can't see an also-ran clash in week six doing much to change that. RAW's rating will probably hold steady here, if not improve.

WEEK 7 (Oct. 26): Philadelphia at Washington
Remember what I said about West Coast football being a ratings stinker? Scratch that completely when talking about teams hailing from the East Coast, and double-scratch that when talking about teams in the NFC East. The 'Skins won't be great this year, but this is the nation's first shot at seeing Michael Vick on Monday Nights in a 'Birds uniform. Whether this is the night after Bragging Rights or not, Halloween week ain't looking pretty for WWE.

WEEK 8 (Nov. 2): Atlanta at New Orleans
Last year I said that "the majority of Americans (and George Bush) just don't seem to care about New Orleans unless it's under water," and the ratings throughout the season seem to bear that out. Week 8 marks WWE's best chance to regain some of those much-needed fans they would have lost in October.

WEEK 9 (Nov. 9): Pittsburgh at Denver
Pittsburgh fans are notoriously loyal, but Denver can't seem to draw a dime with a nationwide audience ever since John Elway hung up his famed #7. The regional appeal is there for this MNF matchup, but the coast-to-coast support of the "WWE Universe" should be more than enough to buoy RAW through a solid rating on November 9.

WEEK 10 (Nov. 16): Baltimore at Cleveland
The bad blood between these teams is well-documented, but the heyday of the "revenge" feud between the Brownies and their gridiron predecessors has long since come and gone. Against a "midcard" NFL showdown like this, the go-home show for Survivor Series should register another strong showing for Monday Night RAW.

WEEK 11 (Nov. 23): Tennessee at Houston
The AFC South may not have the nationwide appeal of such storied divisions at the NFC East, but the Titans/Texans showdown in Week 11 could end up posing a threat to the RAW rating nonetheless. After three weeks of lackluster MNF matchups, *ONE* of these NFL games are bound to turn into a surprisingly close contest, and RAW is bound to see a ratings dip sooner or later as a result. It may not be this particular game or this week, but there's really no way RAW manages a four-week run of weekly ratings increases without some disruption from the NFL.

WEEK 12 (Nov. 30): New England at New Orleans
The Patriots are the John Cena of the NFL -- you either love 'em or you hate 'em, but they are really, really good at what they do. And people will pay good money to watch them do it as a result. Even if it's just a nation of haters tuning in to watch Tom Brady get his clock cleaned, Monday Night Football should see a solid rating here for their efforts -- which is bad news for Monday Night RAW.

WEEK 13 (Dec. 7): Baltimore at Green Bay
Week twelve will see the Ravens take on the Packers in a game that will likely have some serious playoff implications for one team or the other (if not both). As a result, it'll draw a sizable audience -- but nowhere near the crowd who spent the previous week watching Brady ball in the Superdome. RAW's rating should benefit accordingly.

WEEK 14 (Dec. 14): Arizona at San Francisco
It's the day after WWE's "TLC" pay-per-view, which means that we could be seeing some end-of-the-year surprises to start the Road to the Royal Rumble off on a strong foot and close out 2009 with a bang. They've got a full six weeks to do it in, mind you -- which means they probably won't bust out all of the big surprises just yet. But it's not like the NFL is giving them much in the way of competition with this week's game anyhow, and that means there should be plenty of folks watching RAW on the night after TLC as a result.

WEEK 15 (Dec. 21): New York Giants at Washington
By all logical indicators at this stage of the season, the Redskins should be pretty much OUT of all talk of postseason play come week fifteen. The G-Men, however, could easily be scrapping for a division championship, and that could draw a crowd of fans and detractors alike out of sheer "spoiler" factor alone. The game probably won't make a lick of difference for the 'Skins postseason hopes, but it'll do a number on RAW's rating nonetheless.

WEEK 16 (Dec. 28): Minnesota at Chicago
It's always better to burn out than fade away. Sadly, somebody forgot to give this memo to the NFL scheduling team -- because neither of these franchises look like anything close to playoff bound in 2009. If this is indeed Brett Favre's (latest) "LAST GAME," then it'll probably end up with respectable numbers by night's end. Failing that, it seems headed for a FlexScheduling swap-out or a big night for WWE.

Bottom line?

2 "black" weeks will likely be split either way, depending on how the NFL season develops.

5 "red" weeks indicate that RAW will see ratings take a one-off tumble every three weeks or so, and...

9 "blue" weeks mean RAW might actually hold the bulk of their audience for the better part of the 2009 NFL season.



This week's random 'rasslin reference comes from the hallowed halls of the United States congress, which seemed to more closely resemble a WWE Smackdown! taping than a well-reasoned discussion on the need for American healthcare reform. On Wednesday night, President Obama told a national audience of his latest plans to overhaul the US healthcare system. The Republicans -- not surprisingly -- were less than thrilled with this proposal. Many of them even went as far as to don handmade signs (yup, like the kind you'd bring to Monday Night RAW) criticizing the President's proposal. And when THAT didn't work, Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) pulled the old "Stone Cold Special" and decided to shout down the President with a boo-inducing cheer of "YOU LIE!"

Take a look...



Well, if you thought "WHAT?!" was bad ("WHAT!?") -- just imagine how annoying it would be if the "TNAtion" or the "WWE Universe" jumped onboard the Joe Wilson bandwagon and decided to call shenanigans on their favorite performers mid-promo. I can see it now...

CM Punk: "Straight edge means I'm better than you!"
Crowd: "YOU LIE!"


Kurt Angle: "Oh it's real. It's damned real."
Crowd: "YOU LIE!"


Hernandez: "Blah blah blah, te gusta o NO!"
Crowd: "¡TU MIENTES!
Tenay (indignantly, on commentary): "Tu mientes?!"
Tazz (on commentary): "Did they just say 'two minutes?'"

Vince Russo (backstage): "'TWO minutes,' eh? Say, that gives me a GREAT idea..."



Vince Russo (rubbing his hands together with an evil grin): "Heh heh heh. Bigger, badder, and a full minute FASTER than ever before!"


Don't laugh -- Umaga's no-compete clause expired this week.

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And With That, I'm Outta' Here

That does it for Mee this week. Thanks again for tuning in, and be sure to enjoy the first "un"official weekend of autumn as the NFL returns this Sunday. I'll be back in seven, but until then, have a great weekend, enjoy Breaking Point, good luck in your fantasy leagues (GO PATS GO!), and always stay positive.

- Meehan

The National Domestic Violence Hotline : [phone]-SAFE.