Did you hear the sounds of the apocalypse last week after the epic disaster that was RAW's rating? If not, you must either be living under a rock, aren't a wrestling fan, or were too busy cleaning your rifles and giving prayer at your Dale Earnhardt shrine.
Last weeks RAW scored a 3.5. Let that soak in for a minute. RAW's viewership has gone up and down over the past few years since the unfortunate demise of WCW, but ever since the WWE's number one show switched to a three hour format the ratings rollercoaster has turned into a plunge straight into hell.
Ratings have declined every week since the well received 1000th episode in St. Louis got a 6, which is great but laughable when you remember this is the same company that was drawing over an 8 during the height of the Monday Night Wars.
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| Seen here bat shit old and crazy |
So Monday night was a very important night for McMahon and his family empire, and boy did he come down with the force of a thousand Gods on his workers. Longtime WWE employee and head writer Brian Gerwitz was sent home, and his duties were passed off to another in the creative department. All of the creative staff was informed that their jobs were no longer safe, and word around the campfire is the entire company is pretty rattled right now.
As for the show itself, it was better received than past episodes that have just sort of 'been there' when it comes to development and entertainment. After not being on the show last week, John Cena made a triumphant return to show everyone that even if things change, some things will always remain the same. The WWE is built around John Cena, whether he is injured or not. I have no problem with Cena, he's a hard worker, a company man, and goes out of his way for the fans. I can understand the backlash against someone who is so predominantly displayed as 'the man,' but I think fans take their hatred a little too far with him. He can never truly win the 'smart' fan, and I think that's unfair.
Mr. McMahon appeared on television to give his state of the WWE address, or as we at Team BZ85 call it - 'The Holy Shit I'm Going to be Poor At This Rate" speech. CM Punk mixed it up with McMahon and the two had a pretty good match at the end of the show, which isn't bad for a guy so out of shape, and also the 60+ year old head of the company. In the end Punk got an ultimatum - fight Cena at the Hell in a Cell PPV, or fight hungry newcomer Ryback, who has been interjected into the top tier mix since Cena's elbow surgery. Will fans buy Ryback, who is a throw back to the muscle headed quiet monster-like Goldbergs of yesteryear, or will fans still remember his stint as Skip Sheffield from just a year ago? The WWE is hoping your memory is as bad as their writing.
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| We never thought Goldberg would show more emotion than someone else |
It will be interesting to see the ratings for this weeks show, and how that will force McMahon's hand going forward.
WWE Superstars Are Violent and Mean
Two superstars were involved in fan incidents recently, both at a house show and at Monday Night RAW.
At a weekend show in Anaheim, Smackdown bad guy Alberto Del Rio ripped up a pro-Sheamus sign held by a little eight year old. The fan was visibly upset, and when his mother confronted Del Rio about it the imposing superstar mocked the kid for crying.
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| Child seen here not crying |
I understand that it's just a kid and all, but this is a wrestling bad guy we're talking about. This is the kind of stuff he's supposed to do. You don't take a kid to the movies and then expect Freddy Krueger to apologize for scaring him after he slices someones face off, do you?
The WWE has apologized for the incident, and Sheamus has gone out of his way to make the kid happy. Kind of a mean story, but a happy ending at least.
On the other hand, there was the incident from RAW where CM Punk knocked the hell out of a fan behind him for getting a little too close. Let's go to the cell phone video!
It definitely looks like the fan got a little too close for comfort, and you can see Punk looking back at him repeatedly. Once he accidentally smacks Punk in the back of the head it was on, and the WWE champ laid the guy out with a vicious back fist and either a punch or a shove. Either way, it was pretty brutal.
Now wrestlers have the right to defend themselves when they're assaulted by dumb ass fans who are trying to prove how big and tough they are. So this case seems pretty cut and dry, right?
WWE STORYLINE TWIST! Turns out the fan who got backhanded might not be as guilty as it seemed.
PWInsider reports that complete dumb ass Dario Teyes went to his Twitter account afterwards to brag about causing the incident.
When asked about the incident, he replied with the following -
"bro I'm the one that was f***ing with him lmao them he rocked an
innocent fan. that guy is about to be a millionaire!!! I punched
[Punk's] kidney and slapped his back hella hard. bro [Punk] straight
pounced on a poor day white guy. I hit him ran away then ran back and
stood next to him cause I saw the camera."
When he was asked about getting caught he said - "no one ever has and no one ever will."
Of course, that was before Captain Jackass outed himself on Twitter, which through wonderful sites like BZ85 was spread throughout the interwebs for everyone to enjoy!
As for the fan who was assaulted by Punk, no one is saying lawsuit yet, but you can best believe this isn't the last we've heard of this. We'll keep you updated.
Last, but most important to me and the gaming community, is great news about the next title in the former Smackdown series.
If you were already looking forward to the new WWE 13 game when it drops October 30th, prepare to enjoy a little bit more icing on that cake.
A new video shows some of the awesome changes made to Universe mode, including branching storylines and the ability to create your own show from scratch. It looks amazing. I was always a fan of the Universe mode, as it reminded my of the old season modes from the PSX Smackdown games.
Also of note is Paul Heyman himself oversaw the development of the mode. Paul is a bit of a maniacal genius when it comes to creativity, so I can't wait to see what they come up for this one.
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