Falls Count Anywhere

06-12-07

Being a pimp wasn't enough.

Notes on MMA
Mixed Martial Arts has been getting a lot of attention in the press lately. Chuck Liddell lost to Quentin Jackson (and there was a Couture-Liddell poster on Seth Rogen’s wall in Knocked Up) and that fight got loads of coverage. The LA show, which drew 30,000 people to the LA Coliseum, got very little coverage, but it might get more soon. It appears that instead of selling seats, the promoters bought a ton of tickets, sold some and gave huge numbers away.

This isn’t something that most companies do, but the number they gave away, about 25k to 40k, is huge. The show therefore ‘sold’ more than fifty thousand tickets so the company took a hit of about 2 million dollars. Very few tickets sold, including almost none of the high end tix. It didn’t do huge ratings in Japan, it managed an 11 which is only OK for MMA, but it did get Brock over with a lot of the fanbase.

Brock Lesnar is now the most eligible and desirable free agent in the business. He’s got no deal in place, he did well in his first fight and he’s talking with everybody. UFC is interested, but not at the money level he’d like. The various small groups are interested, but money is the matter there.

The Strikeforce folks out of San Jose are probably the most likely to sign him, at least for one fight, and that could pop another crowd like the one they had last March. The concept of Lesnar-Angle is still being pushed and there are a lot of companies that would love to have it. Getting Angle licensed in California would be almost impossible but that’s where I’d say it would draw the best.

Brock did dominate and there’s a lot of positive stuff to say about how he handled himself. He’s actually probably a bigger star in Korea, where the show was a big deal and he was featured on Prime Time, than with most American or Japanese MMA fans. We’ll have to see where this goes.

I did watch the latest UFC and other than Jackson KOing Liddell, there wasn’t anything that really got me going on the show.

Edge practicing for the Jamie Lee Curtis role in the upcoming Prom Night remake...

SmackDown!
I didn’t see it! I was watching Ocean’s 13, OK! Still, everything I’ve read (and the few clips I’ve found) seem to indicate what I’ve expected: holding pattern. They’re in this limbo because they’re doing the draft and if they start a program (or even strongly continue one that’s already going) they’re just shooting themselves in the foot.

Still there’s a lot of talk about what SD! needs. My three names to look for are Cor Von coming from ECW and Umaga and Khali coming from RAW. That’d be the best thing as heels are in short supply and if he’s used right, and that’s never a guarantee, Cor Von and Edge could have some good matches.

I did see parts of Edge vs. Benoit, which is an obvious sign of holding pattern. Benoit’s not being pushed for the World Title, so they can give him a shot without fear. Edge won clean with the Spear in a very good match. Edge is the WWE MVP as far as performance goes. Cena gets the award for drawing people to house shows. Other than that, everyone who means anything is out with an injury.

The match was solid, with Edge working his latest form of actual heel style. Michaels, when he was a heel in the mid-1990s, developed the Heel-working-Face style that dominated all the way up through 2004 and was the basis for all of Kurt Angle’s work until he became the leg-breaker. Edge has brought back the real Heel style that works so well in a more traditional venue and stands out in today’s wrestling environment because there are so few folks doing it.

The ratings were slightly up, which is odd. There is something to the idea that a Draft, especially when announced a few weeks ahead, does draw overall more interest.

Steve-O and Pals on SummerSlam
Lots of differing reports on what’s the plan for SummerSlam. The Jackass crew is expecting to be the faces in the feud which will last a few weeks leading up to the show (and it’s believed to be on RAW) and that’ll lead to the big SummerSlam match. This might actually keep Umaga on RAW because he did the bit with Steve-O that he barely sold and that got lots of heat on him from just about everybody for not really selling it.

Johnny Knoxville’s not totally signed on yet, according to the Observer, and there were other reports, including one from a source I tend to go with, who say that he’s really not that interested. Chris Pontius is in, which goes to show that he’s got nothing on his plate. No word on Weeman, which would totally make sense. He’s a huge fan (you can see him on old Coliseum Home Video tapes sitting in the audience) and he’s entertaining as hell. No word on anyone else, but the idea is to get all of them (or as many as possible) and put on a match with some set of heels.

Please, Vince -- Knoxville's already wrestled a snake...

Needless to say, this is causing some stress. The WWE has had both really good luck and really bad luck using celebs. The Donald Trump thing worked really well and is probably what got them thinking about going to that well again since their numbers are down (and Backlash’s numbers were really off, about 40% from expectations) and Mr. T and Mike Tyson can both take at least some credit for setting up the two biggest periods in WWF/E history with their WrestleMania appearances. But then there’s Shatner, who was hugely pushed and did little for ratings.

There were all sorts of celebs over the years in WCW, including the Rodman-Karl Malone stuff which worked great, and the Jay Leno stuff that went flat. There’s always a danger of over-doing it. The Jackass boys might make from some entertaining TV, but who knows if they can reign it in.

And there’s the bigger rub. The guys backstage see that they’re second tier compared to the stars that are brought in and are expected to sell, which won’t go over well. There is already talk that a few guys are very upset with the way they’re going to be positioned at SummerSlam as it stands now due to the outsiders coming in.

While Cena will still be in the Main Event slot (the last match on the show, not the most pushed match), it’s obvious that Edge won’t get that sort of respect. A lot of guys probably won’t make it on the show or share in an expected to be good PPV bonus because of the Jackass crew, unless they do a Battle Royal, but then the cuts will still be pretty small. Whether or not the Jackass guys can draw wrestling fans beyond their key demographic is an interesting question.

The Vince vs. Jackass stuff isn’t expected anymore. Umaga is probably pretty close to a lock. Maybe Vince leading a team that includes Umaga, but there’s no certainty to that thought yet. We’ll find out more on RAW.

That’s all I’ve got for today.

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Chris Garcia