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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 Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Some people can get through ECW TV in 15 minutes. Some people don't even bother to spend 15 minutes on ECW. So, as a public service to those of you who picked Spurs vs. Lakers tonight, here's what you need to know from ECW TV.

- Mike Adamle is improving, but he's still not there. The past few weeks of ECW TV have been so lifeless and listless that Adamle was able to sleepwalk through repeat matches and endless video packages. Suddenly, there was excitement and action and drama and suspense and counters and reversals in the C.M. Punk vs. Chavo Guerrero match.

Adamle failed at this exercise in calling a match where the wrestlers raised the bar. Instead, he became a mere spectator while the action passed him by. Adamle has survived six weeks while showing very noticeable signs of improvement, but for the once-every-two-weeks ECW TV match that surpasses two stars, Adamle isn't ready for prime time just yet. Maybe next month.

- Big Show eats smaller ECW wrestlers for dinner.

- A little hard-way blood raises the excitement level a tad more. There was a little more fire in Kofi Kingston's eyes this week. Maybe that translated into being over-aggressive when he potatoed Mike Knox in the eye with a forearm smash. If this were baseball, that would cost him a few hundred bucks in kangaroo court.

But, for purposes of creating a more-dramatic TV moment, Kofi stepped up. The post-match brawl with Shelton Benjamin was well-done, and Knox getting the final word left Kofi hungry for another chance to prove himself next week. Smart TV writing, aided by the sight of blood.

- The WWE tag team champions of The Miz & John Morrison should have a permanent seat at the commentary position when they're not defending the tag titles. Simply tossing them into a handicap match against Kane did nothing for nobody. (Excuse the double negative, but it's doubly negative when the tag champs are booked in these handicap situations.)

The main event handicap match was a mere bridge to the post-match house-cleaning from Big Show to set up the giant vs. giant stare down, but Miz & Morrison had no business being thrown under the bridge. WWE's idea of protecting the mid-card is giving them a "Slam of the Week" lead-in intro, which is why people tune out in the middle of Raw, ECW, and Smackdown when the wrestlers who have the stain of unimportance appear on TV.

***

Updated Monday, May 26, 2008

So, Vince McMahon decided the best way to spice up the flagship show on Monday night was to commit to a long-term investment in building up a solid mid-card, develop some new personalities to rotate into main event PPV matches, and deliver quality wrestling content featuring the younger stars who hope to be at the level of Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho one day.

What's that? You're saying I was watching the wrong show? Oops.

As it turns out, WWE announced to the world they have reached a desperation point where not only will they have a Draft Lottery in four weeks to muddy the brand split even more, but they'll also give away money with an idea they haven't even thought through yet. As Vince said, he needs to think through the logistics of how to buy ratings.

I'm picturing the In Your House PPV house giveaway meets Wheel of Fortune's wheel watchers program. Maybe during each week's throwaway tag team match, there will be a secret code revealed on the screen and the first person to log-on to WWE.com, sit through a 30-second ad for Jack in the Box, and enter the secret code will win an opportunity to enter a raffle for said sum of money.

Hopefully WWE has given preliminary thought as to how the weekly giveaway to encourage more consistent viewership will trickle down into increasing revenue for their business segments. How will the giveaway sell a PPV? How will it sell house show tickets? How will it sell merchandise on WWE's website?

Based on how this week's Raw ended, WWE hasn't thought through the sell-a-PPV part. Fewer people watch the opening segment of Raw than the final segment of Raw, and the opening segment contained the best hard-sell of the entire show.

The rest of the show was TV storyline-heavy with WWE booking a PPV re-match from just eight days ago to remind potential customers that whatever they pay $40 for this coming Sunday will probably be repeated on free TV shortly thereafter.

And the final segment had nothing to do with selling a PPV. After the announcers ran down a PPV card with matches based on how much these men hate each other, all of the wrestlers appeared on stage to send a not-to-subtle message to viewers that these people really don't hate each other that much.

At the end of the day, McMahon's announcement was a classic case of desperation. When the wrestling business has pulled out every trick in the book to pop ratings and drum up interest in the product, the only hope is to over-promise and hope the audience doesn't mind or quickly forgets when you under deliver.

McMahon's announcement was best accentuated by Sign Guy, who simply looked befuddled and bewildered. For the viewing audience, there was probably a significant amount of eye-rolling at yet another "first-time-ever" announcement that was more sizzle than steak.

We'll see how this plays out, but this reeks of yet another example of WWE unwilling to stay patient with an underdeveloped mid-card to fill in those important third and sixth quarter hour slots to keep viewers tuned into the show.

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