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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 Thursday, June 12, 2008

What a terrible week to be a referee. Between allegations against NBA officials of fixing playoffs games a few years ago and this week's edition of Impact, it's not a good time to be sporting the zebra shirts. Unfortunately, TNA booking their referees to be idiots is my takeaway from what was an overall very good edition of Impact.

The first two matches on Impact set a great pace for the rest of the show. Joe vs. Kaz was a very good opener compared to what we usually see from TNA in the first 15 minutes of the show. The Guns vs. Team Japan tag match was exactly what the marquee says: total non-stop action in the context of two ultra-athletic teams playing a game of "can you top this?"

The common item in those two matches was the action being the focal point of the match. Also, Gail vs. Velvet's top story was the action between the competitors. In the other matches on the show, besides the forgettable Dutt vs. Creed deal, the focus was on referee incompetence. One match is OK. Two matches is pushing it. Three matches is utterly annoying, especially in the main event. And especially when said main event featured referee incompetence throughout the match.

TNA effectively used the referee incompetence in the first instance when Storm & Roode felt squeezed by the ref, then took out their frustrations on LAX. It was a memorable beating, but it will only matter if LAX follows up in a memorable way to get their revenge. Based on TNA's track record, I wouldn't bet money on that happening, though.

But, if TNA was set on using the ref as a means to get heat on the heels in the tag match situation, they couldn't keep playing the same card. By the time the main event rolled around, it was just lazy booking to insult the intelligence of the viewer.

Otherwise, this was a very strong show. The X Cup debut was handled well, although we could use more background on the wrestlers. I know about Alex Koslov from watching him grow as a wrestler in Los Angeles, but Joe Viewer has no idea what's going on with this guy. A fifteen-second video package on the World X Cup wrestlers would be a nice touch to give the tournament some personality.

***

Updated Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Raw on Monday night averaged a 3.0 rating, which wasn't exactly the return on a $1.0 million investment Vince McMahon was looking for. Yet, it makes sense and shouldn't be surprising.

First off, who wants to watch grandpa McMahon slowly dial a number on a phone? That's channel-changing television right there. But, it's not the main answer.

As I wrote last week, there are two over-riding factors in play. One is increased DVR viewing. Anywhere between 300,000 and 500,000 viewers are watching Raw after it airs live. At the beginning of the year, Raw was consistent at 5 million viewers. Taking into consideration the recent DVR numbers from May 12 and 19, Raw is slightly below the 5.0 million level.

What we don't know is how much of the DVR'ing was because of the NBA playoffs, which is directly tied to Raw's demographic. A scenario is that regular Raw viewers have been opting to record Raw, watch the playoff game, and then check out Raw shortly thereafter.

With no playoff game two nights ago, we'll have to wait a few weeks for the DVR viewing of Raw to determine if the combined live and DVR viewing remains close to the 5.0 million mark. If not, then concern over the product comes into play.

The concern with the product goes to the second overall theme, which hasn't changed from last week. The huggable, lovable WWE product does not play well on Monday nights. WWE's audience isn't buying a ticket or tuning into Raw to be told how much WWE loves kids or how lives are being changed by McMahon's charitable money giveaway.

Don't get me wrong, part of WWE's corporate responsibility as a publicly-traded company is reaching out to the community and giving back to others. At least, I'm of that belief, whereas some business folks would say WWE's only responsibility is to making more money for its shareholders. But, that's another topic for another day.

On Monday nights, Raw needs to be Raw. Vince McMahon needs to have an air of authority to him. Heels need to be kept strong. Babyfaces need something to challenge for. It's nice to get the feel-good ending to a few matches on each show, but those moments aren't going to feel good if the heels have no credibility.

WWE is intent on being more media-friendly, explaining to the audience that they aren't bullies to the bullied and don't take advantage of the disadvantaged. But, that's what the press conferences are for. That's what the corporate website is for. That's what the shareholder meetings are for.

Joe Raw viewer wants a product he or she can invest emotions in and get excited for. Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho's segment was pitch-perfect. Two star wrestlers, a smartly-developed program, a prominent position on the show, and a newsworthy development in the ring.

More of HBK vs. Jericho and less of McMahon turning the audience into charity cases will help retain viewers. Week 1 of McMoney doesn't appear to be a success right off the top, but if WWE continues the giveaway, they need to enhance the product so regular viewers don't start looking for something better to do with their time on Monday nights.

***

Updated Monday, June 9, 2008

Last night's PPV was just an OK show in my estimation. There was some good, some bad, and some just plain all right. But, for one of TNA's signature PPVs of the year, "just all right" wasn't the ideal takeaway after the show ended. Comparative to WWE, last night's PPV was equivalent to the Royal Rumble, considering TNA books the King of the Mountain gimmick match every year on this show.

One of the key issues on the show was the crowd being hot early, then slowly fading away as the matches dragged and the over-the-top gimmick segments fell flat. The blame doesn't fall on the crowd, however. It's a two-part problem related to TNA's writing.

The first part was obvious in the Team 3D vs. LAX match. The crowd wanted the Dudleys from WWE and ECW. What they got was the watered-down TNA version called Team 3D.

It's a central theme to this company that instead of creating new personas for familiar wrestlers, TNA simply plays off the past without much added to the present. We're starting to see that with Booker T in his heel role. It was great two weeks ago when Booker had a unique edge to his character. Slowly, but surely, we're seeing the addition of some King Booker mannerisms that became very played out at the end of his WWE run.

The other theme was the classic WCW issue of the audience not reacting during a match because they were waiting for the run-in. It was like every main event on Nitro where the fans facing the hard camera had their heads turned toward the entrance ramp to see who would be interfering, rather than focusing on the action in the ring.

On this PPV, the run-ins started in the opening match when Rhaka Khan interfered at 13:00 in 16-minute match. It continued all the way to the semi-main event when everyone was waiting for Karen Angle to interfere, which happened at 22:00 of 23-minute match.

If fans are conditioned to wait for the run-in, they're not going to care about what happens before the run-in. As a result, these 16, 13, 23, and 20 minute matches tended to drag on the PPV because the seed was planted that the first-half action wouldn't matter or factor into the result of the match.

The solution isn't necessarily sprinkling in a surprise finish at 2:00 in a decently-advertised match. The solution is simply having a winner and having a loser in the majority of PPV matches. One guy was better than the other guy this night.

But, when the writers have to justify their position in the company by creating elaborate storylines culminating with storyline-heavy PPV matches, we get the Slammiversary PPV. It's the formula PPV - a slew of swerve finishes featuring the crowd-killing stream of run-ins at the end of highly-competitive matches. TNA could have done better than just delivering an OK show on a signature PPV.

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