Dave called Mondays Raw funny as hell and that the return was just as over, with HHH and Shawn, as DX, refreshed, but Dave also questions how long it can last.
Dave brings up a point hes mentioned a number of times before, that when he first saw the DX entrance on Raw he knew WCW were in trouble.
The internal reaction to the show was that it was a success, but there is a lot of skepticism as to how far it can go, with the general feeling that revivals like this work for the first few weeks but then it fades fast. Dave mentioned it brings a reminder of redoing the Freebirds in 1990 which was a big introduction and some funny interviews, but after that was just a midcard act.
One reaction, though, was consistent; with HHH turning 38 next month and Shawn turning 41 (hell have turned 41 by the time you read this), by all logic they are too old for the roles they are playing. Dave says they need a hot program, which would likely build to a match with the McMahons at Summerslam and then move on after that. (my note: Dave is wrong on the ages and birthdays of Shawn and Hunter. Hunter will be 37 next month, not 38. He was born 7/27/69. Shawn will not be 41 until next month, not this as of the time we read this. He was born 7/22/65.)
One insider said that Shawn isnt comfortable with his new role, as he feels people will see it as a contradiction of what hes been preaching the past few years. That was played into when HHH brought out cheerleaders to take their tops off, but first put a blindfold on Shawn.
The show was written specifically for HHH to get all the funny lines and Shawn just to react to them.
Dave said that the Raw was close to the type of Raw that put it on the map as something other than Monday Night Wrestling.
Dave felt it was great TV for numbers, which he wrote before getting the rating.
Dave said what killed this type of television was advertisers pulling out, which isnt going to happen today, as WWE doesnt have the enemies it used to.
Dave also thinks they went through so much material in one night that they may burn out.
Talking about the return to MSG, Dave says WWE cant make the profit they can running at MSG than they can at either Nassau Coliseum or the Continental Airlines Arena, and he thinks it was the fact they have a live Raw on that date as the reason they wanted to run Manhattan.
Vince was furious about the negative reaction to the debut ECW show. During the agents meeting, Vinces reaction over the first TV show was that he didnt realize that the ECW brand was tainted, and that the Hammerstein crowds werent an indication of where the overall popularity of ECW really stood. Vince now feels that they cant build from that base crowd and now have to build using the WWE audience.
Paul Heyman pushed for more creative control on the second show, and because of the reaction to the first show, they mostly went with his script. He booked the long tag main event of RVD/Angle vs. Edge/Orton to carry the show, and he put Mike Hettinga (Mike Knox) on the show to get him a role quickly, as Heyman is a big a fan of his. The idea is for Knox to get a big rub right away from having the super hot girlfriend.
From the meeting, its felt Vince as already written off the original audience coming back to be built on.
Sabus attitude, which caused some initial worry, has been considered excellent since coming in. It is possible he realizes that this is his last chance to make good money so hes changes his attitude. The original idea was for him to get an early push because he was an ECW name with nothing planned long-term. His work with Cena has been much better than anticipated, and Sabu has also clicked with the main talent that is willing to work with him and treat him as main event wrestler. Sabu is also considered the top new player.
Dave says its amazing that, when looking back, the two guys who caused Jim Cornette to go ballistic and then get fired, Kevin Fertig and John Carelli, both get their careers saved by Heyman.
Shelly Martinez was originally going to be Paul Burchills valet but that idea got scrapped. Her tarot card reader gimmick is a concession to Sci-Fi.
At one point, Tim Arson (The Zombie) was also going to be The Cook, as spoof on The Food Network, as a character for Sandman to come out and cane.
The 7/4 taping at the old ECW Arena was moved to the Wachovia Center, which hosts a four-hour plus Raw/Smackdown taping the night before. The ECW show will have one hour of dark matches and then a live one-hour show. The only vague reason given was that it would cost too much to upgrade the ECW Arena to do a good quality taping, and it would save money to move to the Wachovia Center. Dave thinks they will load up the Raw show and shoot a big angle as well, but questions how much walk-up business theyll do the next night when they come back to the same building. Dave thinks they could do enough to turn people away at the ECW Arena, which they could trumpet on TV, but that same crowd at the Wachovia Center wont look good on TV. Dave speculates it could be that with the Raw guys working ECW, they dont want to make them look cheap by working in an Indy looking building.
More on the firings of Dustin Runnels and Mikey Batts; Dustin missed the 6/12 Raw due to a court appearance to do with his ex. At that show, it was decided to fire him, as it was assumed he missed the date for the same reason almost everyone else misses shows. Runnels said he attempted to call the office ahead of time, and when they found out why he really missed the show the heat was then for not telling them ahead of time. Runnels was desperate to keep his job, to the point where he even said he would work for free for a month, but Vince made the call to fire him. With Batts, its stranger. The official reason was that he wasnt improving enough, wasnt dedicated and his size. However, the whispers are that it has do to with other things. When then newest Venus Swimwear models (one of whom debuted on ECW) were brought into OVW, talent relations gave word that nobody was to mess with them. Nobody could figure that one out, given that every woman who shows up in wrestling hooks up with someone, and nothing was said about the other women who have come to OVW. The problem came when at least two guys hooked up with the new women, and on 6/10 word came down that somebody was going to be made an example of. Then Batts was let go. That isnt the official reason, but people are putting the timing down to it being the real reason.
Why that sort of thing gets heat for one person but not for another is the idea that if you are a star then its expected for you to get a hot girlfriend, but if youre not a star then its frowned upon, more so if its felt youre flaunting it.
Instead of WWE getting preempted for the US open this year, Raw will air from 2300 to 0100 on 8/28 and probably the next week as well.
The Miz will host the Diva Search this year,
Dave liked JBL commentating on Smackdown, but thinks he talks too much and can get repetitive. Dave also thinks his ant-foreigner and anti-gay tirades will get old fast, and brings up that JBL was anti-foreigner with Sylvan, who is Canadian but JBL called him French, but wasnt anti-foreigner with Regal or Finlay. Dave said he hopes JBL is not a one-trick pony, but for the first time out JBL was great.
Dave thinks Regal and Finlay should be the tag champions, and that they could be the best tag team in the company in a long time.
Said you could tell that JBLs commentary on Matt Hardy was managements opinion of Hardy, and that it was 14:00 of non-stop he cried on the internet about losing his girl. Dave also said that Hardy is not getting a push no matter how much the crowd pops for him and that management just wont push him.
Vito is now wearing his dress at the airport and on planes.
There was talk of Justin Credible forming a new Impact Players tag team with a new partner, but it was first mentioned a few weeks ago and hasnt been mentioned again since.
