The Wrath of Tito - Kurt Angle = GREAT ECW idea!, RAW thoughts, and more
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 9:44 PM EST
Welcome back to the Wrath of Tito. After a long week, last week, the batteries are recharged and the sarcasm is set to go. Lots of interesting wrestling stuff, as the creating of the ECW brand has certainly produced news. In fact, it gives me easy fodder to talk about for my opening rant.
Lots of speculation as to WHY Kurt Angle is on the ECW brand? For one, it's name value. Let's face it, older ECW wrestlers aren't going to draw in viewers with their battered and banged-up bodies. Kurt Angle will instantly give this new brand credibility, especially in the light that ECW used to bring in shoot fighters for Tazz to wrestle. Yes, ECW was mostly weapon violence or spot after spot after spot after spot, but much of the time, it was the one place where you could see some legitimate wrestling. And people fail to remember that Kurt Angle actually has a built-in storyline heading into ECW. Yes, he was on the WWE team last year on "One Night Stand", but that's not even part of the story.
Real quick... Before Angle even considered the WWE, he actually entertained an offer from Paul Heyman to wrestle in ECW. To check things out, Kurt Angle attended a show, I believe, in late 1996. This was during the VERY heated Raven vs. Sandman feud, where Raven turned Sandman's kid and wife against him. Angle was pretty interested in joining ECW until he saw Raven and Sandman's family crucify the Sandman in what was a highly controversial (yet edgy, original, and ballsy at the time) angle. Angle, probably a man of faith, got disgusted at the angle and his ECW dreams were shattered right there. The storyline is sooooo built-in, it's ridiculous. Angle just has to show up and say he was disgusted in ECW back in 1996 and BOOM, instant heel. ECW fans are going to eat him alive and he could help pack bingo halls with many, many people wanting to get in from the outside.
I'm going to officially state my position... I LIKE this move! If there was one main eventer who could add instantly credibility to ECW without compromising ECW's raw or indy feel, it's Kurt Angle. Angle has been bouncing around from storyline to storyline ever since he lost the title. His time on RAW was wasted and he was basically sent to Smackdown to save face when Batista got injured. If the WWE truly is going to go through with making their rosters like a baseball farm system (RAW as the big league, Smackdown as AAA, ECW as AA, and OVW as single A), then Angle would be truly lost on Smackdown if they are going towards a younger direction. We already saw what happened to Angle when he was on RAW: he was lost in the fold! Now, Angle adds instant celebrity, credibility, and legitimacy to the ECW roster. In addition, the ECW fans will eat him up because Angle is already one of the most respected wrestlers in the industry.
It's a great move. WWE fans will be like "hey, let's see how Kurt Angle does on ECW", and when they tune in, they have the POTENTIAL to get hooked on Paul Heyman's Koolaid, and the rest is history. I wasn't sold on ECW until RAW occurred, and now, I can't wait baby! Especially, if I'm understanding this correctly, if Heyman's mentions of a "new ECW" means that new talent will be introduced instead of being buried in Ohio Valley Wrestling or Deep South Wrestling, as well as the WWE roster. Kurt Angle will be the hook, not the old ECW talent, that puts ECW back on the map officially. And I'm all for the brand as of right now.
And of course, the brand has some hurdles...
Bad talent decisions, potentially. WWE was seriously considering sending a stiff, like Orlando Jordan, to the ECW brand. Instead, they released him (to which TNA will foolishly pick him up, I predict). If they are considering sending stiffs like Orlando down, who's next? Then again, Paul Heymand DID get 911, Bulldozer Brian Lee, and Al Snow over, and people cannot forget what Heyman did for the Big Show in 2002. The Show was finished until he was traded to Smackdown and Heyman instantly put him over as the monster he was supposed to be.
Bad taping decisions. I sincerely hope that the WWE doesn't tape ECW shows after Smackdown. That could KILL the brand, as ECW must be in a small arena setting and fans won't be willing to sit through 3 hours of WWE wrestling (Velocity and Smackdown). Wrestling is great to see live, but after 3 hours, it's tiresome. I understand the WWE's cost issue, but damn it, put it in a small arena with the shoestring production crew that ECW once had. Why not? Lousy production was what ECW was all about!
Sci-Fi Channel. I'm not going to knock the channel, as you all may know that I'm a HUGE Science Fiction fan. HUGE! Own all of the Star Treks, Star Wars, Matrix's, and any movie involving time travel! Oh, absolutely! But my point to make here is the exposure aspect. How many people actually get this channel? I know that on my basic cable feed, I do not get this channel. However on digital, I do. There's a slight operational pain for me, but I wonder for those who don't have digital, how many will watch? I know one thing, though, and it's that the Sci-Fi channel probably has about the same amount of viewers, if not more, than Spike TV. In addition, the 10 pm timeslot is already better than TNA's 11 pm timeslot. Meaning, ECW already has a leg-up on TNA.
WWE, in general. Will the McMahons give Heyman free reign? Giving him Kurt Angle was a good sign, even though I wouldn't doubt this was a McMahon business decision to use a top WWE guy to draw names. Vince and Stephanie, especially, have long histories of clashing with Heyman and have helped to demote Heyman from various top WWE positions. It's been a severe love-hate relationship between Heyman and the McMahons since 2001 and Heyman is still around just to keep him away from competitors or if he starts up another promotion. WWE must remain independent of ECW for this to even be a remote success. I'm talking 2.0 ratings on Sci-Fi, baby.
There... I'm taking back my words. I'm showing optimism for ECW now. Are you guys proud of me? Had it not been for Kurt Angle, though, I wouldn't care. The Funk-Foley thing is nice, but maybe about 5 years too old... Although, both Foley & Funk should be made full time ECW guys and lend some serious veteran expertise to the brand they helped make famous. In addition, It's really hitting me that this place could really catapult some new talent onto the scene, given that the WWE hasn't created a new star in a while. GO ECW... there, I said it... I'm exited... Leave me alone... Stop writing me "SEE, I TOLD YOU SO" at wrathoftito@yahoo.com.
I'm sure I'll get some good ECW pokes on the "Shawn & Chase" on LVRocks.com on Wednesday at 6:30 EST/3:30 Pacific. ECW is a regular debate topic and I was trashing it heavily a few weeks ago. I'm sure Shawn, the big wrestling fan of the show, will let me know about it. However, he still won't defeat me on the topic of Randy Orton! Whoooooo!!! Anyway, check us out on LVRocks.com on Wednesday at 6:30 EST/3:30 Pacific.
In addition to this call-in show, I have been efforting to get my own show. The events of last week set me back on planning and I'm still playing catch-up on a lot of stuff. I'd like to get that sealed and delivered. Who knows, the lack of 2 hours I have to type this column could be completely replaced by audio? Nah, I'd do both... It's hard to listen to an audio show if you're making your daily trip to the library or computer lab. I'll keep churning out columns until I retire once Wrestlemania 23 is said and done with.
Before I get into other points, I gotta hand it to Black Diamond Wrestling for a good show on Friday night. They brought in Dan "the Beast" Severn who was there to wrestle an excellent technical battle with Nikita Allanov and to sign autographs and get photos. Damn that main event was awesome! Nikita Allanov is known as the "Soviet Shooter" and I would definitely say he's a legitimate badass. He seems to have the appearance of a legit shoot fighter, so fighting Dan Severn, the fans were instantly pumped for the match up. And it delivered, big time. Some of the best technical wrestling that I've ever seen in person. I was frankly amazed at how fluid Severn was in the ring from move to move, as I thought he was a bit stiff during his WWE run. He worked well with Nikita and the crowd ate it up with a spoon! Interesting, too, to see Severn work as a face and try to start up "USA" and "Beast" chants. Great match and my hats off to both guys for an extremely strong indy main event. The event cost $5 to get in... I would have paid $50 to see that good of a match in person.
With Dan Severn being a former UFC fighter, I expected him to be on the tad rough side. Not meaning he'd be a bad guy, but when you're relentless in the Octagon, I don't expect you to be all smiles and extremely nice to fans. Severn was and could be the nicest guy I've met in the wrestling business! Very talkative with fans, as he spoke to me a good 3 minutes or so while signing the 8X10 photo I bought of his and getting a picture with him. Keep in mind that there was a very big line behind me.
The rest of the BDW show was good, as usual. These guys have been putting on great shows together for more than 2 years for BDW and you can't beat the bargain price of $5 to see such quality entertainment. Tri-Chi Fraternity, Jason Cage, Dash Bennett, Brandon X, Justin Idol, among many others whom I did not catch names of. One manager cracked me up, though. He was wearing a full suit & tie with a luchadore mask that somewhat matches Psychosis's old masks. In addition, he had a megaphone with him. He was just harassing wrestlers and fans the entire match and kids had to be held back because they wanted to attack him. I don't know what it was about wearing a suit, a luchadore mask, and speaking out of a megaphone, but it worked! Great show, guys, and some quality ring announcing by Tony Summers, whom the WWE should look into hiring if Viscera plows Lilian Garcia.
All you need is RAW...
I felt compelled to discuss some points here about Monday Night RAW, so I created a separate section. Why? Because I can!
Ladies and gentlemen, KANE is back. Yet another bad storyline for Glenn Jacobs, the man behind the original gimmick and the unmasked Kane. While the Kane impersonator did a great job looking like Kane, the fact still remains that the WWE just recycled the 1994 two-Undertakers storyline. Here we go again.... Seriously, is there anybody out there who has had more screwy booking than Glenn Jacobs? He's a very talented big man, but look what's happened? First, he was a fighting Dentist named Isaac Yankem, DDS, and that was a joke. Then, he was FAKE DIESEL. Nothing says "my career is over" like that gimmick. Kane was redeeming at first and the defeat of Austin was huge to me in 1998. Then, he lost the title back to Austin and instantly lost a lot of main event credibility. The stuff with Paul Bearer being his father, the relationship with Tori, ridiculously unmasked, Necrophilia/Katie Vick, the whole Shane storyline, the whole Lita storyline of raping her and then forcing her to get married, setting Jim Ross on fire, the many Undertaker feuds, and now this. Recycled 1994 crap. Jacobs is extremely talented for his height and should be pushed as a legitimate badass main eventer to contend with. Instead, he's a joke and the WWE has instantly trashed Kane's potential to even squeeze popularity out of "See No Evil". Gee, you'd figure that See No Evil would get more wrestling fans in the theaters if the WWE made you care about Kane.
The Spirit Squad is absolutely great. There's no gimmick better these days, as it was extremely fun to see them laying into Triple H. In fact, Triple H actually worked will with Kenny, who is potentially the next big WWE superstar if cards are played right. He's clearly the top guy from the Squad and is quickly making a name for himself. HHH won with a little help from a hidden jackhammer, to which Vince McMahon announced that HHH will join the "Mr. McMahon's KISS MY ASS Club" next week on RAW. For the love of Christ, just pull the trigger on the Degeneration X gimmick already! I'm just sick of hearing the hype or the anticipation of this gimmick born out of 1997. I can seriously feel for sports reporters who had to keep talking about Barry Bonds through his slow 3 week campaign to hit 2 homeruns to pass up Babe Ruth. Just form DX already so marks can shut the hell up!
I absolutely loved the women's tag match between Beth Phoenix/Torrie Wilson vs. Victoria/Candice Michelle... The addition of Beth Phoenix (great name) is a welcome entry into that division that clearly needed a new face. In addition, she's talented as well as being hot. I do gotta say this... Mickie James is HOT. Something crazy about her that just seems appealing to me as a wrestling fan. She has that look as if she actually enjoys her job as well as just looking insane at every waking moment. She has that crazy chick appeal that the redhead had in Wedding Crashers. WWE needs to find more Mickie James characters!
Edge is your #1 contender... Good match and a good win for Edge. That's something Edge always lacks and that's quality wins as a main eventer. Sure, his big wins against Guerrero, Angle, and Foley were something, but he just defeated the Big Show. After the ECW show, I believe that the WWE will be more serious with pushing Edge as World Champion. The rated R superstar gimmick seems to have caught on and now it's time to see if he can hold the belt and be a drawing champion for a longer period of time.
How long will it take Johnny Nitro to get released from the WWE now that he's on RAW as a singles wrestler? With Mercury foolishly getting caught by the drug policy, I figure the former tag champs will be out of the WWE in no time.
Let me think here... I already covered ECW above... on to other wrestling items.
~APPLE DUMPLINGS~
-Time to defend my boy... When I read that Chris Masters was suspended for failing the WWE's drug policy, I immediately checked message boards throughout the internet. What did I see? "Oh, it must be steroids." Innocent until proven guilty. For all I know, Chris Masters could be shooting heroin! Don't be quick to judge, because if there's anybody in the WWE who gets a free pass for steroid use, it's a guy named the "Masterpiece", whose gimmick is to be enormous in muscular size. If I were a betting man, I'm guessing Masters got caught up in pain killers. To me, at least recently, he always seemed like he had a dopey look on his face while he was out in the ring. But that's just judging and making assumptions... again, for all I know, he could be shooting heroin. Until it's officially released, nobody can say for sure what Masters got suspended for. But don't assume that just because a guy has a large muscle mass that he failed a drug test for Steroids. After all, Barry Bonds has passed his 2003, 2004, 2005, and assumed to be 2006 drug tests and look at all of the criticisms fired his way.
-WWE hiked up the Pay Per View price of ECW: One Night Stand 2 from $35 to $39.95. I suspect that this will be an across the board increase on WWE Pay Per Views, so fans must not fret about the WWE only targeting their precious ECW. It's been a short while since the WWE increased prices and maybe they believe that fan price elasticities of demand (or how one is responsive to a price change) are low and it's a good time to hike rates for an added revenue. Plus, since the move to USA, WWE's audience has grown slightly. I do believe I'm viewing this Pay Per View in some way or fashion the night of the event, so expect a review or my thoughts next week. I hope.
-Kane's "See No Evil" did $3,437,537, and doing some math, this was only a 25% decrease from the previous weekend. For a movie with bad reviews, limited amount of screens, and no movie stars, that's pretty good in my mind. If this movie had an $8 million budget, then this movie has made a profit with $9,400,956 (though other reports suggest a $15 million price tag). However, the WWE couldn't boast that See No Evil had a better per-screen average this weekend than Mission Impossible 3, as MI3 did $2,916 to SNE's $2,707. X-Men 3 absolutely cleaned up this week's box office, raking in an incredible $123 million. Damn that was a good movie! Recommended! Da Vinci Code and Over the Hedge both plowed their way to good 2nd week showings and significantly higher per-screen averages. Needless to say, there wasn't an increased demand to see See No Evil during a high volume weekend at the theaters, but it still pulled in almost $3.5 million for being such a low publicized and low budgeted film compared to the others. Mission Impossible 3 will be LUCK if it makes budget in the theaters, for instance, whereas See No Evil will actually be profitable in the theaters if you desire that Tom Cruise bashing analysis.
-Reports suggest that there will be NO DRAFT LOTTERY this year. I agree. It's not needed. The WWE is very interesting right now, whereas the Draft Lottery was the only interesting thing to happen to the WWE until Summerslam arrived. It was used as an excuse to strike up interest, and let's face it, it didn't always work. The WWE is averaging a 4.0 rating on USA Networks, whereas RAW was averaging a 3.8 on Spike TV. The WWE is actually quite profitable with the stock price hovering around $18, cost cutting measures are paying off on profit margins, and revenue, all around, seems to be up. Since 2004, I believe the WWE has put a better emphasis on booking instead of booking HHH vs. former WCW stiff from 2003's campaign. Smackdown's ratings might suck, but who seriously cares about Smackdown or what's on the UPN/CW network? The real money is made from RAW and the publicity that show generates for the WWE.
By the way, that's TWICE I've busted out the Microsoft Excel for this column. If you want sound non-wrestling advice from your good pal, Mr. Tito, it's to LEARN how to use Microsoft Excel. Oh, absolutely. Almost every job in business requires you to maneuver through this software and knowing it will give you an edge heading into a job interview. If you already know how to use Excel, put it on your resume! In addition, good knowledge of Excel could actually get you a job that you might not be normally qualified for. The employers will say "he knows Excel, we'll teach him the rest". I'm dead serious on this advice!!!
-I love Bill Goldberg... say what you want about his wrestling ability, but you gotta respect his attitude. He came into wrestling wanting to get paid and he's consistent, to this day! He made the WWE pony up back in 2003 and he refuses to join NWA-TNA until they showed him the money. Some say it's ego. So what if it is? Everybody thinks rationally and Goldberg wants to take deals that will make himself better off in the long-run. If TNA is so desperate for his starpower, then they'll pony up for his services. You saw what happened with Sting, as TNA gave him a sweet deal and limited dates. With Goldberg, he doesn't need TNA, just as he didn't need the WWE in 2003. He's taken care of for the rest of his life from his twice negotiated WCW deals and he doesn't need to put his body on the line in a wrestling ring. If you want Goldberg, come and get him. If not, he won't care as he's laughing it up how much he's suckered promoters into giving him the dollar amount he desires to bounce around in a ring.
If I were the WWE, I'd put out a Bill Goldberg DVD and give him the Warrior treatment to maximize revenues from the 2003-2004 contract...
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