Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #198 August 30th, 1999 The Opening Word: Last week saw two new wrestling shows debut on the national scene, and while they didn't exactly go in opposite directions, they certainly struck off in divergent paths regarding their success. The WWF's Smackdown was a good show, delivering some okay wrestling action, better wrestling storylines, yet managing well to showcase the WWF to a new audience. The ratings weren't stellar, but they were very strong--good enough to put the UPN network in fourth place in the overnight ratings, and draw the largest young male audience of any show on Thursday night. Smackdown did so well that they dropped WCW's Thunder on TBS to its lowest rating ever. Smackdown was, by every quantifiable measure, a success. Not doing quite as well was ECW's new show on the Nashville Network. Expectations were high for the show, and several goals were set forth for the show to accomplish. Judging by the ratings, they fell a bit short. The show earned a 0.9 rating, which--on the plus side--more than doubled recent Friday night ratings for TNN. On the down side, that's less than half what TNN was hoping it'd get (and reportedly the number based on the ad revenue they've sold for the show). The show itself, in my opinion, was a real mixed bag. It started strong, featuring an excellent Rob Van Dam/Jerry Lynn match from the recent Hardcore Heaven PPV. After that, though, the show went downhill fast. Next up was an awful Taz/Rhino squash match, which made Taz look like a guy with little wrestling ability and one catchphrase which the fans have memorized. All Taz did was punch, kick, and do a few suplexes, while unrealistically no-selling the offense of the twice-as-large Rhino. I personally think Taz is the most overpushed wrestler in ECW history (and in perhaps all of wrestling history), but I know he's better than what we saw in this match. While I'm sure some new viewers may have been impressed by his gimmick, anyone who's watched wrestling for a long time and saw Taz for the first time couldn't have been too impressed. The show then got really bad, with an embarrassing Impact Players promo, Spike Dudley squashing a 600 pound guy, and clips of the other ECW wrestlers set to a Kid Rock tune. The show ended with Taz doing his usual "win if you can, survive if I let you!" promo (though it's obviously not considered "the usual" to a new viewer). Throughout the show they dropped the names and pictures of bigger name wrestlers who have come and gone in ECW: Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Raven, Konnan, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Sid, etc. I'm sure that the intention was to give the promotion the rub from WCW and the WWF. I'm also sure at least one fan out there was thinking "if ECW is so great, why did all these guys LEAVE IT?" (If I had to choose between ECW, where Steve Austin USED TO BE, and the WWF, where he CURRENTLY IS ... I think you can finish that train of thought.) Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, and perhaps the show did make an impact on new viewers, but compared to the current syndicated ECW show, this one sucked (and I don't think ANYONE can disagree with that). But that's not what this show was about. It wasn't meant to appeal to the existing ECW viewers. It was meant to introduce new viewers to the promotion. So, did it succeed? The early ratings suggest no, BUT ... it is way to early to make the final call in that regard. This is something that will have to be given several weeks. Will last week's show be enough to get viewers to tune into new programming this week? That's the real question, and one which last week's ratings can't answer. All I can say is it had better be a better show than last week. It seems to me that as long as ECW had to prepare for this show they could have come up with something that would not only attract new viewers, but also appeal to ECW's existing fans. In any event, ECW can at least say they are on nationwide cable now, and the opportunity is theirs to capitalize upon. In ECW's defense I will note that any low ratings they may have gotten probably has a lot to do with TNN's poor promotion of the show. I didn't see a single commercial for it last week. On UPN, meanwhile, I couldn't flip past the channel without seeing a Smackdown! commercial. [Ratings info courtesy 1Wrestling.com.] The difference between ECW on TNN and Smackdown reminds me of the recent debuts of Shane Douglas in WCW and Chris Jericho in the WWF. Douglas' WCW debut was terribly mediocre. Still, many fans defended it, saying it was a good sign of things to come. In other words, it wasn't good, but it had promise for the future. (Yeah ... right.) Then Chris Jericho debuted in the WWF and showed EVERYONE how a wrestling debut should be done. Forget the future, the debut itself was awesome. Left in the wake of Smackdown is the WWF's Sunday Night Heat, which has now become a recap show like Live Wire and Superstars. While it clearly no longer holds "must see" status, the WWF is doing the most with the format to make it an interesting show to watch. This week they featured the "Hell in the Cell" match from King of the Ring 1998 between Mankind and the Undertaker. Of note was new interview footage getting the reactions of Mick Foley, the Undertaker, the Big Bossman, D-Lo Brown, Road Dogg and the Hardy Boyz. Lots of it walked the line between staying in character and breaking kayfabe. It's not the kind of thing one has to go out of their way to watch, but if you do happen to catch it, you may be highly entertained. I expected the ratings to take a good tumble, but probably not that far down as one would think. If you're in a mind to choose, skip Live Wire and Superstars, and watch Heat. RAW is delayed by a few hours this week because of U.S. Open tennis on USA. Nitro is live, as always, with a few matches set up on last week's Nitro and Thunder. So, without further ado ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours+. Location: Uniondale, New York. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - STEVEN REGAL/DAVID TAYLOR vs. DISORDERLY CONDUCT Uhh ... we miss something? The British wrestlers are stepping into the ring as the show starts. Ignore the match in the ring as Schiavone hypes tonight's show. And of course, here comes Sid. Stomp, smash, toss, snarl, Sid is now 75-0. Schiavone says "Sid has been keeping his own count--a count we obviously have to go with!" Whoever's doing Sid's signs misspells "millennium" for the second week in a row (referee Charles Robinson is again out to hold them up). Sid talks to the squirrels, then, because the fans won't stop booing, he powerbombs Disorderly Conduct again. Berlyn will be on tonight's show. Taped footage shows Lodi and Lenny arriving at the arena via taxi and almost being denied access by security. I think the fans there are supposed to be significant, but I'm doing my best to ignore them. Like last week I'm typing this up live as the show airs. With RAW being delayed I may be able to do the entire show without having to watch it again on tape. HALLELUJAH! - "Last Week" video package, followed by the usual opening stuff. - Nitro Girls. Schiavone compares Sid's "winning streak" to that of Goldberg, noting that when Goldberg was 75-0, he won the U.S. Title from Raven. Before tonight's show, one of the lesser rumors floating around was that WCW was thinking of having Chris Benoit lose the U.S. belt to Sid. Schiavone's comments here had to drive a chill up the spine of anyone who heard the rumor. Demon will be on tonight's show. - "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews Lex Luger. He repeats his reservations regarding Hulk Hogan. Luger says he has absolute proof that Hogan is a "con man", and will produce it later in the show. The crowd boos Luger. A black Mercedes surrounded by security pulls into the building. Berlyn, accompanied by his interpreter, has arrived. Schiavone says we know he can speak english, but refuses to do so. (How would we know that, Tony? Isn't this an all new athlete we've never seen before?) I have to tip my hat to anyone with the balls to wear a mohawk fifteen years after they went out of style. - LASH LEROUX vs. SCOTTY RIGGS Q: When's Sid coming out? A: About two minutes into the match. Oops--it's actually El Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse. Vampiro tells Riggs "you owe me!" Riggs gets the pin, then has a staredown with Vampiro. Are they going to claim he ran Raven out of WCW? (I assume you all know by now that Raven left WCW and has returned to ECW.) - The Revolution hit the ring for an interview. Shane Douglas tries to whip up the crowd, but the crowd steadfastly refuses to participate. With Douglas calling each member, in turn, the "real deal", Chris Benoit gets the loudest reaction--which isn't saying much. This was ugly. - Nitro Girls. We're roughly forty-five minutes into the show and there's been maybe four minutes of wrestling. There's no RAW to compete against, so what are they saving it for? - LODI (w/ Lenny) vs. KAZ HAYASHI Lenny has decorated the Cruiserweight Title belt with a pink ribbon and tassels. WCW borrows the WWF's "Millennium Countdown Clock" idea to plug the arrival of their latest video game, "Mayhem". Some nice action here, though of course everyone is watching the aisle for Sid to come in. Doesn't happen, though, as the ref takes a bump, Lenny replaces Lodi, and Kaz pins Lenny instead. The Brothers plead their case to the groggy ref, to no avail. - "Mean" Gene interviews Hulk Hogan, who easily gets the loudest pop of the show thus far. Hogan talks, says little of note. Don't switch to tennis--Andre Agassi is coming out! No, wait, switch to tennis--Andre Agassi is coming out! Ah, do whatever you want. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - LA PARKA/BLITZKRIEG vs. EDDIE GUERRERO/REY MYSTERIO, JR. The WRESTLING fan in me says "yeah!" The experienced WCW viewer in me asks: * Will Mysterio get screwed because of his affiliation with Konan? * Whatever happened to Blitzkrieg, who has almost disappeared lately? * When is Sid coming out? Vampiro and the ICP come out to heckle Guerrero and Mysterio. An entertaining squash, as Guerrero pins Blitzkrieg with the Frog Splash. - Some wretched old woman butchers "O Fortuna", signaling the arrival of Berlyn and his entourage. One of the dark-suited security men frisk Okerlund. Berlyn launches into a speech, which is translated by his blonde interpreter (whose name sounds like "Off Luchadore"). Buff Bagwell is the first American wrestler he will destroy. Damn, this gimmick was old thirty years ago! "Evil Foreigner out to destroy the American Way of Life" (with a little "Evil Rich Man" thrown in). They drop a lot of comments about us knowing his past, and him being here before, so that we who know he's Alex Wright won't feel as insulted. - Remember that Hogan/Sting rematch they teased last week? Looks like they'll be saving it for the Fall Brawl PPV, and not tonight as most wrestling fans assumed. I guess that means the Goldberg/Diamond Dallas Page match is tonight's main event. - Lex Luger comes out long enough to babble something about Hulk Hogan being evil. Seriously, this lasts about 30 seconds before they go to another commercial. - KENNY KAOS/PRINCE IAUKEA vs. THE WEST TEXAS REDNECKS Any team other than the Rednecks and I'd have expected a Sid run-in. Squash. Harlem Heat run in and tussle with Kendall and Barry. Booker T. scores a pin somehow, and then the two are hogtied when Bobby Duncum and Curt Hennig come in. - Lex Luger is back out with his evidence, which he presents to Sting. The "evidence" in question turns out to be a photo of Hogan, in NWO Black & White garb, standing next to a white Hummer. HOGAN'S THE HUMMER DRIVER! Or perhaps not, as Hogan quickly comes out to refute the claim, saying that photo means nothing. Tempers flare, and security fills the ring to prevent a brawl. Somewhere in all this DDP runs in and punches Hogan in the back of the head. Why? Who knows. This angle is as old as the hills, but WCW is doing it very well. - VAN HAMMER vs. BUFF BAGWELL Buff with the Blockbuster. Berlyn's entourage comes out to take notes during the match. Footage of the white Hummer crashing into Kevin Nash's limo. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - "MEAN" MIKE ENOS vs. EVAN KARAGIAS You know what one of WCW's biggest problems is? Guys like these two aren't on Nitro each week. You have to watch all of WCW's shows to see them with regularity, and even then they disappear for stretches, and often come out in successive matches with different looks or entrance themes. There's no consistency. Fans don't get a chance to develop a like or dislike for the wrestlers. This is true of so many of WCW's undercarders. It's not so bad when you use them against the more established stars, but when you do a match like this and put two of them together, well, that's just death for the viewers. Vampiro and the ICP have replaced Sid as the match killers this week, as they come out and attack Mike Enos (while the ref isn't looking). Riggs gets the pin. Vampiro then tells Karagias he owes him. Maybe this isn't just about Raven. The KISS Demon then comes out on the ramp and challenges Vampiro, "not here ... not this time," to little crowd reaction. - BRIAN KNOBBS/HUGH MORRUS (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. DEAN MALENKO/SHANE DOUGLAS Lots of "hardcore" action here as the match strays from the ring. The ref eventually throws it all out. Eh. - "Mean" Gene interviews Hogan ... again. He says he'll prove Luger is a liar next week. He then turns his attention to DDP, challenging him to a match. Hogan calls out Goldberg, and asks if he can take his place in tonight's main event. Goldberg counters by offering Hogan a spot as his partner in a handicap match against the Triad. Goldberg agrees. DDP, Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow come out to seal the deal. Nice of WCW to trash BOTH the big matches they promised for this week. - DISCO INFERNO vs. RICK STEINER Disco tells us he's a superstar and entertainer and such. Steiner then comes out and kicks his ass. Pin, following a bulldog, then a post-match beating. Saturn comes out to make the save. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. JERRY FLYNN (w/ Jimmy Hart) Benoit makes short work of Flynn, prompting Jimmy Hart to send the other members of the First Family in. That brings out the rest of the Revolution, who send Hart's scrubs packing. Benoit then takes the mic and throws out a challenge to Sid, our next U.S. Champion. This Thursday on Thunder, next Monday on Nitro, the PPV ... I won't even hazard a guess as to when this match is supposed to take place. - HULK HOGAN/GOLDBERG vs. THE TRIAD Feel good ending to the show as Hogan pins Bigelow (DDP does manage to hit Goldberg with a chair, to no avail). Cut to the back, where Sting is intent on checking out Hogan's dressing room. "Is Hogan in there?" he asks, apparently unaware that Hogan is in the ring at this moment. Blowing by the guard he kicks open the door, only to see Randy Savage with Gorgeous George on his lap. Oh, the humanity! (Hey, how come there's already a cameraman waiting inside the room to film Sting's reaction?) The sound goes out and we stare at Sting's sad clown face for a good long moment. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: It seems like WCW has two objectives: 1) raise up their sagging ratings, and 2) revive their plummeting PPV buyrates. The theory going into this show was that WCW would put on a strong card, so as to impress all those RAW viewers they had all to themselves. Looking at the show we got, I can't see how WCW could possibly claim they accomplished that first goal. The second goal they may have gone a ways towards reaching, as everything we saw this week involving Luger, Hogan and Sting built up to their big PPV rematch. The rest, though, was junk. Tired angles and short, pointless matches ... not exactly putting your best game face on. A number of things here and there built upon possible PPV matches (such as Vampiro vs. Demon), but nothing definite came about. I suppose the WCW faithful will say they're saving it for next week when they need to hook the audience for the following week, when RAW returns to its regular schedule. I wonder, then, what their excuse will be if/when next's week's show sucks (and the week after that, and the week after that ... ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live (2 Hour Tape Delay). Length: Two Hours+. Location: Boston, Massachusetts. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - The Rock is understandably upset given what Shawn Michaels and Triple H did to him last week. He gives Triple H five seconds to come out and face him. The crowd counts down, but no one comes out. The Rock heads to the back, where he's jumped by Triple H, Chyna and Shane McMahon. Mankind makes the save. Shane McMahon leads the Mean Streets Posse to the ring. He announces tonight's matches, including a match between the Rock and Triple H, providing the Rock can first beat the Undertaker in a "No Holds Barred" match. Also Mankind must face the entire Posse by himself. - MEAN STREETS POSSE vs. MANKIND Mankind has this match won ten ways from Tuesday, but special referee Shane McMahon keeps screwing him over. Shane eventually orders the ring announcer (who declares Mankind the winner) to name the Posse the winner. Had Mankind won he would have gotten a shot at Triple H tonight. Comments from the Undertaker, re: shoving a soup bone down the Rock's neck. - THE UNDERTAKER (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. THE ROCK The Undertaker, continuing his "tough love" (and buying time to let a torn groin muscle to heal) makes the Big Show wrestle in his place. The Big Show takes some good bumps in this one. Down on the floor the Rock decides to get into the Undertaker's face, flooring him with a blow. The Big Show then grabs the Rock and chokeslams him through the announce table! Triple H comes out and stomps on the Rock, but finds himself in the grasp of the Undertaker. Mankind then runs out, so the Tag Team Champs pound on him. No title shot for the Rock, meaning ... umm ... no main event tonight? Michael Cole tries to get comments backstage from Al Snow, but they are distracted by moaning coming from behind the interview set. - The Bossman, in the ring, promises he'll give Pepper back to Al Snow this Thursday on Smackdown. The Rock isn't too happy about the beating he's taken tonight. - Smackdown clip of Chris Jericho putting the Road Dogg out of commission. This is the point where I call it a night writing this live as the show airs. Nitro really took something out of me, and RAW, while okay thus far, hasn't exactly been spectacular enough to keep me going. Let's put this sucker off until ... ... now. I'm back. - X-PAC vs. TAKA MICHINOKU (w/ Sho Funaki) As awesome as this match could be, I'm not stupid enough to set my sights too high for it. It was good, but not long enough to amount to much. X-Pac with the X-Factor, which he also uses on Funaki. Michael Cole gets a word with him following the match. X-Pac is just happy to get a win again, and his confidence now somewhat restored, he looks forward to battling the heavyweights again. A couple tag teams backstage are upset that they've been left out of a big tag team match coming up. - EDGE/CHRISTIAN vs. HARDY BOYZ vs. ACOLYTES vs. BOB & CRASH HOLLY I thought for a minute that the WWF might make up for their one big mistake at SummerSlam in not putting Edge and Christian over in the "Tag Team Turmoil" match. Nope. This one is just a big slobberknocker, made worse by run-ins from Midian & Viscera, Droz & Prince Albert, and Stevie Richards & the Blue Meanie. The ref throws the whole shebang out. The WWF is sure lucky that someone--this time the Rock--always decides to take a walk just as they're going to commercial. And *how do* the sound and light guys know to play the proper entrances when people run in suddenly? I have a theory: the WWF employs a group of "spotters", whose only job is to rove the hallways, keeping an eye on backstage fights, and the whereabouts of the bigger stars. That way, when one of these "spotters" sees Steve Austin running towards the curtain, cue the ***KEE-RASH!*** and Titan-Tron video. Yeah, that explains it. See, wrestling *is* real! The mark-ish illusion is maintained. Now, if only I can come up with a theory as to how WCW's magic cameramen happen to be in places they shouldn't be. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - The Rock is back out to challenge the Undertaker and Big Show to shove their heads sideways up each others' candy asses. Mankind then comes out and suggests the two team up, and take on the evil pair. The Rock agrees, so long as Mankind stops cribbing his material. Here comes Meat and Terri Runnels, out to compete in the next match. The Rock has a moments with Terri on the ramp where he makes her think he'll take her to the Smackdown Hotel, but in reality he's kicking her to the curb. (And this guy's our hero?!) Still no idea what the next match is, and I doubt we'll ever find out, as a "GTV" clip plays on the Titan-Tron. Seems that heavy moaning we heard during the Al Snow interview backstage was Meat going at it with Marianna, girlfriend of Chaz. Terri chews out Meat, Marianna is out to express her dismay, Chaz attacks Meat, and Terri attacks Marianna. I'm down with all this, though I hope the feud will be relegated to Smackdown. Miss Kitty chases off Debra's inept makeup girl. - JEFF JARRETT/MARK HENRY (w/ Debra & Miss Kitty) vs. D-LO BROWN/MR. ASS Chyna comes out to sit in on color commentary. The possibility of Chyna winning the Intercontinental Title from Jarrett at the next PPV is pushed. The match is about what we'd expect, with Chyna getting involved and accidentally knocking out Billy Gunn (she was aiming for Jarrett). Jarrett covers for the pin. Either Gunn is going to screw Chyna out of winning the IC belt and go after it himself, or she's going to win it, and Gunn will be her first feud. Cole has Test cornered in the back. He brings in Pat Patterson and Gerry Brisco and informs them that they will both be his best man at his and Stephanie's wedding. Whichever one has the best memory gets to carry the ring. Patterson gets all weepy. Man, he and Brisco are the second most ambiguously gay couple in wrestling right now. (You all know who is the first. Uh-huh ... Hogan and "Mean" Gene.) - SHAMROCK vs. GANGREL Geez ... a regular WRESTLING match. What am I supposed to do with one of these? Shamrock forces Gangrel to tap out after about five minutes. Howard Finkel comes out and directs Shamrock's attention to the Titan-Tron. "Y2J" countdown. Chris Jericho says he'll show him his "Fists of Fury" on Smackdown. Well, that's two things set up for Smackdown thus far. How many things did WCW plug for Thunder this week? Mankind tries to lay some strategy on the Rock, but it involves him "borrowing" the People's Elbow, which the Rock will have none of. He tells Mankind to stick to his sock gimmick. "It's 'Mr. Socko,'" says Mankind, like a small child who's been told his imaginary friend doesn't exist. - Michael Cole is in the ring to get comments from Ivory. She starts calling Tori a "slut," and after the third or fourth "slut" the network tries to censor her. (Funny, since this show *is* tape delayed by a couple of hours. If they were trying, they weren't trying very hard.) Tori runs in, and a catfight ensues. Michael Cole, stuck in the middle like a sandwich, is ONE LUCKY BASTARD. Then Luna and Jacqueline run in, making it all on big jiggling four-way. THIS IS THE GREATEST RAW EVER! They abruptly cut to a commercial, as if things are getting too hot for TV. - Ross and Lawler are shown at their cheap-ass replacement table. Would it have been too much to just reassemble the other one, or are we supposed to assume the WWF buys a new one everytime someone gets put through one of those suckers? - UNDERTAKER/BIG SHOW vs. MANKIND/THE ROCK The Show is stuck wrestling the whole match, as Paul Bearer comes out to tell the Undertaker something, and the two leave. This looks like the Rock and Mankind's opening, and they whip him into the ropes--only to be taken out by a big flying double clothesline from the Big Show. The Show then kicks a chair into Mankind's face, and plants the Rock with the chokeslam. Deliberate cover and 1 ... 2 ... the Rock kicks out! Missed elbowdrop by the Big Show. Mankind with the Socko Claw, but the Show shoves him into the corner, wiping out the ref. Big chairshot from the Rock. Big Show is down. The Rock tosses the elbowpad. Mankind toss Mr. Socko. Into the ropes the two go. DOUBLE PEOPLE'S ELBOW! 1 ... 2 ... 3! New Tag Team Champions! That's a wrap. - This Thursday: Pepper to be released. Jericho vs. Shamrock? - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: The show was definitely missing something (Austin, Michaels, Vince McMahon), and it dragged in a few spots, but the super hot finish otherwise made up for it. Checking my notes, I'm surprised to see Mankind has now won the Tag belts FIVE times. I remembered the one as Dude Love with Austin, and I remembered him and Kane holding them (twice), but I'd forgotten all about him as Cactus Jack holding them with "Chainsaw" Charlie (Terry Funk). This is the Rock's first Tag title reign, and to be honest, I don't expect them to hold it long. Smackdown this Thursday, RAW next week ... certainly before "Unforgiven", as someone amongst these four competitors should be facing Triple H in the PPV main event. Speaking of which, didn't see much of Triple H this week. That may have been a good thing. I'm still a bit surprised (and disappointed) that Shawn Michaels wasn't on to explain his actions at Smackdown last week. It annoys me that they do these big angles with Michaels, then don't follow up immediately. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Being unopposed is a double-edged sword. Most fans went into the shows this week expecting WCW to put on a blockbuster to win over WWF fans. I don't think they came even close, not even putting on a good enough show by their usual standards. What everyone seemed to forget is that the WWF would be unopposed too. And boy, did they make good use of it. I won't say RAW was spectacular this week, but they did put forth a great effort. They even threw in some matches which would maybe appeal to WCW fans (X-Pac vs. Taka, Shamrock vs. Gangrel). Throw in the stellar mic work by the Rock and Mankind, and a big main event with the titles changing hands, and it made for an effective show. They even managed to plug Smackdown, something Nitro failed to do for Thunder. I don't know if the WWF won any WCW fans over this week, but they sure showed those WWF fans who got a look at WCW unopposed that there's every reason to come back to them when RAW resumes its regular schedule week after next. Next week should be every bit as big as this week was, if not bigger. WCW desperately needs to impress all the wrestling fans out there with what will be RAW's last preemption until the Westminster Kennel Club show next spring. The WWF will no doubt repeat this week's level of effort, if not top it, in order to prevent those viewers from leaving. In years past the WWF has always seen a ratings drop after the U.S. Open preemptions, and has generally taken a few weeks to get back to where they were before them. WCW has for months been waiting for this stretch, hoping the unopposed shows would boost their ratings to the point where the shows are close to each other in the ratings. They can then pull out something big, like bringing back Bret Hart or Scott Hall, and hope to pull out a narrow win over the WWF. That will turn around the impression that they are in trouble, and make them a contender in the ratings battle again. Well, I've seen this week's ratings, and I won't bore you with the numbers: suffice it to say RAW won again, narrowly, though it "doesn't count" since they weren't head-to-head. Nitro will have, to its credit, the two highest rated hours of cable wrestling this week, but the first hour was low enough to bring their overall number below what RAW earned. Nitro saw a modest increase, drawing in some of RAW's usual viewers. More impressive was the fact that RAW still did better, amazing when you consider on the east coast that the show was running from 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM. TV viewership takes a dramatic drop-off after 11:00 PM, yet RAW managed to hold a good chunk of their usual primetime audience (probably helped by the fact that RAW aired out on the west coast at its usual time). WCW will have to wait until next week, or the week after, to see if they've done any damage to RAW's longterm ratings. With Monday Night Football back in full force, look for both shows to dip a bit. If the WWF comes back hot in two weeks, WCW will have lost any shot of overtaking the WWF for a good year or so. Only a major cataclysm in the WWF will turn things around any faster than that. Enough about ratings, except to note that, as usual, the opening rounds of tennis on USA did a miserable rating, barely beating out what ECW did on TNN last Friday! ECW may be the ones with the biggest bragging rights this week after all. And if Thunder tanks again, and ECW shows some improvement this Friday, WCW could end this week in a whole world of hurt. [More ratings info, as always, available at 1Wrestling.com.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1999 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 198 of the "Monday Night Recap", August 30th, 1999.