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Updated daily from the corner cubicle, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and other items of interest from around wrestling.

Updated Friday, May 23, 2008

I've written this before and I'm sure I'll write it again down the line, but TNA has a chance to make a star out of a homegrown talent after the end of last night's show. It's a common theme in TNA, most recently with Abyss, who took one huge beating from Christian Cage's group last year, then TNA did absolutely nothing with it. As a result, they had to keep repeating the beat downs on Abyss to attempt sympathy for his character. Look where it got him - a padded room.

Next week's show will be one of TNA's most important to-date. I'm not exaggerating like Tenay and West trying to sell a PPV replay. They have a sympathetic babyface in A.J. Styles, who fans have begging for as a more serious character on this show. The comedy b.s. character has run its course and now it's time for TNA to capitalize.

I wrote about this last week in the Cube that TNA needs to find a spark to re-energize the fanbase. Styles is that man. He's charismatic, likeable, and is a heck of a wrestler. Fans were chanting his name (well, his last name) during the Karen-Kurt segment. Fans were chanting his name during the main event. Fans gave a genuine emotional response when Team 3D and Co. beat down Styles after the main event.

TNA has the audience in the palm of their hands. It's apparent to me that Samoa Joe's title run isn't working right now. TNA has botched this from week one by having Kevin Nash overshadow Joe in everything he does. Joe, as TNA champion, was limited on last night's show to picking four men for a PPV match. Yippee!

A.J. Styles represents what TNA had before Joe's title victory. Fans were clamoring for Joe on top, and now that TNA has botched this title run, fans are looking for a fresher babyface star to get behind. Styles is the man after living in the shadow of Kurt, Tomko, and Christian over the last year.

With last night representing the official babyface turn for Styles, I think back to when WWE tried this with Randy Orton in 2004 when he won the World Hvt. Title from Chris Benoit. Triple H and Evolution turned on Orton, setting up fans to cheer for Orton because, well, he got beat up. Problem is fans weren't clamoring for Orton as a babyface at the time. Fans were suddenly forced to like him instead of waiting for the opportunity to like him.

With Styles, it's different. As I noted above, fans were chanting his name throughout the show before the big beating to close the show. Fans had been in Styles's corner for weeks prior to last night. There's momentum leading into Styles's new direction as serious, yet likeable character who will matches.

TNA needs a breath of fresh air on top. Ratings are slumping. No one paid attention to TNA's last PPV. Styles has been held down far too long, setting up the main event run we've been waiting for. The opportunity is there for TNA to really make a homegrown star to counter the clutter of former WWE wrestlers taking up top spots in the company and give TNA fans someone to root for.

***

Updated Thursday, May 22, 2008

Ratings came in for Raw and ECW this week, and on the surface, it doesn't look encouraging. WWE gave away a tremendous amount of content on Raw three days ago, including a PPV-quality match of Chris Jericho vs. Batista and a mega-main event of John Cena & Triple H vs. JBL & Randy Orton.

Ratings declined, though. The main culprit appears to be the hotly-contested NBA playoffs game 7. Playing into that, though, there has been a significant amount of Raw DVR viewing over the last month during the playoffs. Raw is consistently a top-five show in the "time-shifted" ratings that show how many viewers watch Raw on their DVR shortly after the show airs.

Adding in the 500,000 average viewers who "time-shift", Raw is right in line with an acceptable level of viewership. With changes in TV viewing habits for a lot of people - not just wrestling fans - the consumption of TV programming is constantly evolving. For many casual wrestling fans, they'd rather be engrossed in an exciting NBA playoff game, and then pick and choose what they want to watch from Raw, ECW, Smackdown, or Impact.

Readers have emailed me explaining their viewing habits of reading our TV reviews online prior to watching shows on the DVR. A lot of people tell me they can watch ECW in 15 minutes after reading our virtual time reviews to know what's worth watching and what's worth skipping. (Like the Raw Rebound and repeat video packages.)

The challenge for WWE is adjusting to meet the demands of viewers watching live or at least watching the majority of the show while also channel-surfing. WWE tried that approach with the mini-PPV line-up on Raw this past Monday night.

Yet, it never occurred to me that WWE was giving away PPV-quality match-ups. Wade Keller made that point in his report, but as I was watching the show, it simply felt like another stacked WWE TV show. Taking a step back, there was an inter-brand match of Jericho vs. Batista that was right in line with the Jericho vs. Michaels match on the PPV the previous night. There was Cena and Hunter - WrestleMania main eventers - teaming together against two other WrestleMania main eventers.

The problem is that WWE has raised the bar so high with star-studded main events on TV that viewers aren't buying into these matches as big spectacles worth watching over the fourth quarter of a playoffs game. It's the problem WCW ran into when they booked PPV-quality matches on Nitro each and every week until they burned through the "wow!" factor.

I'm going to beat this dead horse, but the solution is WWE building up the mid-card to rotate new stars into TV main events. WWE doesn't need to hit a home run with the TV main event each week, especially when seemingly trying to sell eighteen PPVs in five weeks.

I thought they had a golden opportunity on ECW two nights ago do exactly that with Kofi vs. Shelton instead of booking yet another "been here, done that" main event tag match. It would have given the show a unique feel and changed up the faces in the main slots.

WWE needs to find more fresh faces to rotate into main event slots on Raw. It would give the show a more "special" feel, establish the importance of the mid-card, and effectively lower the bar to where next time WWE books Hunter & Cena vs. Orton & JBL, people really pay attention instead of simply overlooking it as just another TV main event.

***

Updated Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The other shoe dropped quicker than I expected on William Regal news. One thing I've learned covering wrestling is that when something unusual occurs on TV or a promotion goes a completely different direction seemingly out of nowhere, there usually is a pretty darn good reason for it.

I scratched my head when Jeff Hardy randomly lost the Intercontinental Title to Chris Jericho three months ago. A few days later, Hardy was suspended 60 days. Last night, Regal's GM program was completely dropped after WWE seemed to find the right tone with his power-tripping character. This morning, we find out he's been suspended 60 days.

Reading the tea leaves is secondary, though, to Regal and Hardy's health in these cases. Hardy has made his comeback, and I certainly hope he's physically and mentally recouped after the suspension and the loss of his home. After watching the Hardys DVD to see Jeff's story, including footage of his imag-i-nation world in North Carolina, I saw how much that whole area meant to him. That's a very trying situation for anyone.

Regal's history of drug and substance abuse is well-documented. His book details his near-death experiences before the "happy ending" of cleaning himself up. Regal said in interviews over the past few years that he's been living clean and that it is possible for wrestlers to survive in the business without the need of painkillers, steroids, etc.

Without knowing the "what and why" on Regal's suspension at this time, I can't speculate on what specifically led to his second violation of the Wellness Policy. We do know that Regal wanted more of an opportunity to be a major player in the ring. He told the U.K. Sun earlier this month that he was practically driving Vince McMahon crazy trying to convince him that he could be a significant contributor in the ring.

The pressure of trying to live up to his own advertising might have cooked him. Hopefully he can write a better ending and get some help from WWE to handle whatever issues led to his second suspension. After all, that's what the Wellness Policy is there for.

***

Updated Monday, May 19, 2008

Last night's WWE Judgment Day PPV will probably be remembered for three things. One will be the crowd response to Vickie Guerrero. Omaha was simply not going to allow Vickie to make her inevitable announcement. The other will be Beth Phoenix's double backbreaker. You think you've seen every possible move in a wrestling match, then Beth comes up with that spot.

The third will be Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho. The psychology of how this match came together was one of the highlights of TV the previous three weeks. But, it wasn't just Jericho's sarcastic award presentation, Michaels's superkick in the tag match, or Michaels's superkick on Jericho.

Batista teasing that he would attack Michaels at Judgment Day effectively lowered expectations. Instead of people anticipating a show-stealing classic, expectations were set at maybe ten minutes of great wrestling, then a run-in. The threat of Batista interfering might have cost WWE some buys, but as the match developed, and then ultimately finished with a clean victory, the match exceeded expectations.

It's not surprising to see Shawn Michaels in the top match of the show. He had arguably the top match at WrestleMania against Ric Flair. He's had arguably the best 14-month run of any wrestler in the business, dating back to last year's WrestleMania. Michaels is simply the best right now.

What makes him the best right now isn't workrate or flashy moves. What makes him the best now is how he can apply a TV storyline to a PPV match. WWE's wrestling formula is quite simple on paper, but difficult in execution, or else everyone would be at Michaels's level.

One of the key points during the match that exemplifies the point was Michaels slapping Jericho hard across the mouth. Michaels backed up and smiled, knowing he infuriated Jericho. Michaels didn't need to follow up with three suplexes and a powerbomb to get the point across. He simply let his facial expressions and body language tell the story of him being confident he could get away with a cheap shot and still come out with the upper hand.

By match end, Michaels was still one step ahead with the counter to the counter to the counter, resulting in a roll up for a win. But, that wasn't the end. Michaels had to keep Jericho strong, even after they had a four-star match that will be remembered more for how great it was rather than who actually won.

Michaels gave Jericho the position of control. The psychology was that Michaels didn't know if Jericho was going to repay his deceit with deceit. Jericho didn't repay with evil, but Michaels's guilt after deceiving Jericho and Batista left him with no choice but to be cautious.

Let's not forget Jericho in this equation. His "Second Coming" push hasn't set the world on fire, and he's lingered as a tweener character for the past two months. On this PPV, though, Jericho put himself in a position to succeed, and he forced WWE to give him a second look as a serious top tier player.

Three weeks ago, Mr. Kennedy seemed like the right choice for a babyface push on top of the card. Three weeks later, he was nowhere to be found on the PPV. Jericho still has a smarmy edge to him that will keep him a tweener, but putting in an outstanding performance against Michaels will over a portion of the audience.

As Jim Ross said, we could watch Michaels vs. Jericho every day of the week. With another PPV in two weeks, we might just get that quick turnaround on a re-match. And chances are they'll find another way to equal or top themselves with only two editions of Raw to write the next chapter of the story.

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