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Submitted by William Martinez on Friday, July 27, 2001 at 11:31 AM EST
- Last night's episode of WWF Smackdown! garnered a 4.9 overnight rating (8 share). The final rating should be out later today. - Here are previews for this week's WWF Raw is War and WWF Sunday Night Heat: Sunday Night Heat MTV Jul 29 7:00pm Series/Sports, 60 Mins. Guest hosts Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler. WWF Raw TNN Jul 30 9:00pm Series/Sports, 60 Mins. Episode #427 The Rock returns... WWF Warzone TNN Jul 30 10:00pm Series/Sports, 65 Mins. Episode #427 But for who? WWF or Alliance? Credit: Yahoo! TV. Robert Fallon pointed this out to us. Robert Fallon sent in the following: 07/26/01 - The Sicilian Shooter Little Guido has updated his commentary: http://little-guido.hypermart.net/commentary9.html Ed McIlvaney sent in the following: The following is from Media Guardian: WWF wrestling, a spectacle closer to pantomime than sport in which 18-stone men in trunks pretend to beat hell out of each other and the occasional scantily-clad female, is to be dropped by Channel 4 amid concern about the "increasingly extreme nature" of the programme. Channel 4 confirmed yesterday that it is to end its contract with the World Wrestling Federation when it expires in December. The decision to drop the American show, which has a global following among children and teenagers, was made because of the increasingly violent fighting scenes and misgivings over its portrayal of women. According to a Channel 4 spokesperson the show had become "increasingly difficult to edit". WWF features an array of manufactured characters "fighting" for supremacy in and out of the ring. Trading on plots that would be familiar to anyone who saw British wrestling in the 1970s, the "competitors" play act, deploying ever more extreme stunts. WWF has expanded the genre outside the ring, weaving elements of soap opera in with the body slams and half Nelsons. These plots have brought concern about the role of women in the shows. Characters with names like Terri, Tori, Trish Stratus and Chyna, collectively known as "divas", are "beaten" by the men or themselves pretend to fight. Props such as chairs and sledgehammers have been used in the show, to the disquiet of some viewers. WWF has also produced a video entitled Divas in Hedonism, featuring the women in bikinis on a Jamaican beach. A spokeswoman for the Independent Television Commission said they had received very few complaints, and those that were upheld concerned violence outside the ring. The programme used to be shown at 4pm on Sundays un til it was moved to a late night slot in May. Concerns have been raised about the effect of the violence on children, but according to research commissioned by the ITC and the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the regular audience understood that the fight scenes are a fabrication and they looked on it as similar to circus or soap opera. The study found that viewers enjoyed following the fortunes of favourite wrestlers and the developments in the underlying plot in much the same way fans of soap opera do. The ITC has upheld three complaints against the show, including one regarding an episode in which a wrestler smashed up a rival's car with a sledgehammer and threatened him with it. Last October, a 42-stone former WWF wrestler touring Britain in a roadshow died at a hotel in Liverpool. Agatupu Rodney Anoei, whose stage name was Yokozuna, died of natural causes. WV: Exclusive Interviews, News, Results, More!
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