CALDWELL'S TAKE THE CORNER CUBE TUESDAY: WWE near the top of Yahoo search list Dec 4, 2007 - 4:30:27 PM

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Updated throughout the day, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and issues from around wrestling.

Updated Tuesday, December 4 (last update: 4:30 p.m.)

Yahoo released its most-searched-for list for 2007, and WWE ranks second behind Britney Spears. Gives substance to the theory that everyone stops to look at the car wreck. Also, rather ironic considering the first show of 2007 featured John Cena vs. Kevin Federline.

WWE consistently stayed in the top-searched items throughout the year, while peaking for Chris Benoit news coverage this summer. I'd like to see an all-time list for the most-searched for term in the history of the Internet since Britney and WWE have been right at the top throughout the Internet explosion dating back about 10 years.

Which reminds me, whatever happened to Cindy Margolis - the formerly most downloaded woman on the Internet? Or, was that Sunny?

***

10:50 a.m. If it so pleases the court, The Cube finds WWE and TNA both guilty this morning - guilty of insulting the audience and customers, respectively, the last two nights. On Raw last night, Ric Flair was neither seen nor heard from. He simply disappeared one week after he was the centerpiece of Raw and created a sense of excitement for a journey to keep his career alive.

The crowd last night wasn't into the show after the Mr. Kennedy spoof segment. It seemed to me that at least a strong portion of the audience was waiting for Flair, especially after how much hype he received last week. Once it became quite obvious Flair was MIA, they tuned out. After all, this was Flair country.

A simple explanation would have sufficed. He's resting after a hard-fought match with Orton. He'll be on Smackdown next week. Mr. McMahon sent him to Hogan's house for marital counseling. Anything. Instead, they left the live audience hanging and they disappointed the folks sitting at home who tuned in for Week 2 of Flair's journey. Pretending like the Top Story from last week's show never happened is simply bad business.

On the other side of the coin is TNA. On a PPV where they knew Rhino wouldn't be available for an advertised match and Scott Hall probably would not make the advertised main event, they went one step further and delivered a finish less than a non-finish to the briefcase match. No winners. No losers. Just a monumental waste of 15 minutes. That's inexcusable.

There should never ever be a point on any pay event where a company tells the audience to tune into the free show to find out the result of a match, especially when there actually was something on the line in the form of one wrestler going home without a job.

It's one thing if there's a controversial finish at the end of a PPV with a winner, but no clear finish, which TNA has done before. It's another thing if they just finish a match, everyone heads to the back, and there is no announced decision. That's insulting to the customer.

TNA has produced decent-to-good PPVs during the second-half of 2007, but that goodwill was lost on Sunday. Little things add up. Telling the audience to tune into the free show to find out the result of any match on a $30 show is bad business.

Updated Monday, December 3 (last update: 6:30 p.m.)

WWE.com previews tonight's Raw with a note that Chris Jericho will kick off the show. Well, at least he won't have to follow Ric Flair, as they're still in Flair Country tonight. I'm curious to see how the crowd reacts to Jericho. The honeymoon is over, but I would expect that "hey, look, it's a big name!" pop from the audience to start the show. WWE is obviously committed to Jericho for one main event - against Randy Orton at Armageddon PPV - but after that, it's up in the air.

Jeff Hardy has one of those matches scheduled tonight where you expect him to get tossed around the building, as Snitsky is the opponent tonight. A few months ago, I would have predicted a clean loss for Hardy in a non-title match since he's Teflon. I'm not anticipating a clean finish to this, but Hardy isn't losing.

I've been a fan of Mr. Kennedy's recent in-ring work, so I get put to the test when Kennedy runs the gauntlet against former Shawn Michaels opponents. Maybe this will include Scott Hall returning to WWE after getting food poisoning on the road to North Charleston. Who knows.

And, of course, there's the Ric Flair program in Week 2 on the road to Mania. (Cheap plug: check out this week's Question of the Week and drop your thoughts!) WWE.com doesn't show Flair scheduled for a match, but I'm sure there will be more of Flair and McMahon carrying out their disagreement.

Oh, and Santino Marella. 'Nuff said.

***

4:10 p.m. As we collect and report more details on Samoa Joe's promo at the PPV last night and the circumstances surrounding the main event, I have mixed feelings on Joe's promo. To paraphrase Dave Wills, Joe said what needed to be said. TNA is a company that brings in big names, and time and again they get burned. Rikishi was the latest before Hall. You'd think after touching that hot stove so many times, TNA would learn a lesson.

But, was a live PPV the time and the place for Joe to go off on the company signing the paychecks? This is where I'm mixed. For starters, it exposes TNA as a rudderless ship on PPV television - that a wrestler can take a mic and go into business for himself without anyone stopping him. That doesn't help the company at all, especially when said company was already setting up the audience for disappointment by bringing in Eric Young as Hall's replacement. Young is a fine wrestler in his mid-card role, but trying to play the audience for fools was a mistake.

On the other hand, something needed to be said about this company's hiring and promoting policy. Joe is a very emotional and passionate man when it comes to his job and the sport of pro wrestling. He saw the audience being wronged by yet another TNA hire, and he called the company out on it. Some fans might see that as a wrestler actually caring about the audience and having their thoughts in mind. Some fans might see that as a selfish wrestler distracting and taking away from the wrestling to follow in the main event.

We've reported that Joe issued an apology backstage before tonight's TV tapings. The only thing he could possibly apologize for is going into business for himself and potentially hurting the company. He should never have to apologize for what he said, though. Because that's what needed to be said.

***

12:00 p.m. TNA presented a very skippable PPV last night. And if you were expecting anything otherwise, then you weren't paying attention to the TV build up. At one point watching Impact, I stopped and tried to figure out exactly what TNA was trying to do with that show. The only thing they were doing was a basic police procedural-style program with Christian, Angle, and A.J. that built toward a six-man tag match on the TV show that had zero bearing on the PPV.

It would be one thing if the PPV could sell itself, but there was nothing on the line except the Women's Title. And let's settle the following issue about the Women's division. Amazing Kong is the baddest mofo on that roster. Period. End of discussion. Put her on the next PPV against Kurt Angle for the Heavyweight Title and you have a PPV worth ordering.

And why is Kong over like mad after destroying the cute, lovable babyface Gail Kim? Because it's a basic storyline that tugged at the emotions of the audience and got people fired up. Either they're fired up because they saw Kong as the biggest badass on the roster or they're fired up because they saw a vicious heel doing vicious things to Gail, the ref, and the cast of thousands from the Women's division.

Contrast that with the big story that TNA wants you to talk about. They want you to be debating whether Joe's promo was a shoot or a work. How much was a work? How much was a shoot? Was Kevin Nash genuinely upset or just playing a role?

Bottom line is that the crowd didn't react to the promo, Eric Young, or the main event. Why? Well, for starters, it was the end of a lackluster, uneventful, let's-get-this-over-with PPV that was thrown off by Scott Hall's no-show. They couldn't even deliver a finish to the briefcase match, that's how bad this was. But, I digress.

Today's fans simply want to be entertained. You want a good show with believable characters in believable conflicts having good matches. You don't want to revisit the work/shoot b.s. from the dying days of WCW.

Now, if they turn Joe's promo into a storyline that gets the younger stars over with a mass audience, it's one thing. But, it has to be done in an entertaining, believable fashion that doesn't include a bunch of insider jargon and worked shoot promos that no one wants to hear on a TV show or PPV when they just want straight pro wrestling theater.

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