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Every Tuesday and Friday we give you the scoop on what's happening in and out of the wrestling ring. Somedays it's even funny!
Chairshots
12/18/01
Raw Thoughts
For the second week in a row, I feel like I watched a different Raw than everyone else. Maybe I've been a wrestling fan too long. Everything just seems like rehashing the same old bits.Booker T beating up Stone Cold's truck has been done to death. The car chase, we saw last week. Then the lame segments in the Church lacked reality and humor. Someone explain to me how the WWF cameras were able to film that split screen confessional scene. Someone explain why Vince McMahon's cell phone conversations are broadcast through the arena and to a televised audience.
Then there is the predictability issue. Was anyone surprised by Tazz losing? Didn't you know that Vince McMahon was going to interfere in the main event? When Booker T switched bingo cards with the old lady, didn't you know she'd win in the end? Was Booker T the only one that didn't know Austin would find him and confess an ass kicking? There was a time when people watched Raw because anything could happen. Anything can still happen but you'll see it coming a mile away and when it gets there, it won't be amusing.
Ratings
The ratings are in for Raw and the news isn't good. The show scored a 4.0 rating, down from last week's 4.7. I'm sure the WWF is blaming Chris Jericho for a 15% drop as we speak. Heat scored a 1.2 rating, with the replay doing a 0.5, almost the same as last week's numbers. Excess scored a 0.8, which is the same as last week. Odd that Shawn Michaels' return didn't cause that number to jump a little.HHH Return Date Announced
In case you blinked while watching Raw last night, they showed HHH's return date on the Titan Tron. January 7th, 2002 is the time; Madison Square Garden is the place. That has also been the rumored date for the WWF roster split and the return of the Outsiders.Fear Factor
Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Jacqueline, Lita, Mighty Molly and Test taped an episode of Fear Factor last week. The episode will be shown in March. They will be playing for various charities. Jeff Hardy is determined to die one way or the other, isn't he?
Russ Haas Dies
WWF developmental wrestler Russ Haas, 28, was found dead Friday morning. The cause has yet to be reported. Haas had suffered a heart attack and seizures back on 9/24, one day after he had worked a match at an HWA TV taping in Jeffersonville, IN. The heart attack had been caused by an undetected blood clot, which led to a partially blocked artery near the heart. He did not wrestle after that point, although he had resumed working out.Jim Ross in last week's Ross Report had noted that Russ had an appointment with a cardiologist on 12/18 for another evaluation, and they were optimistic that his situation had cleared up, but they wanted to be "doubly and triply" sure. At the time of his death, Haas had not been active in wrestling because of a heart condition that had been diagnosed several months ago, but he had been cleared recently by his cardiologist to return to active wrestling. At the WWF's request, Haas had been scheduled to be examined for a second opinion.
"Russ Haas was one of our shining lights at Ohio Valley Wrestling, and he was an even better human being," said Jim Ross. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the Haas family. Russ will truly be missed by all who knew him." The King and J.R. paid small tribute to Haas on Raw last night.
Mark Henry vs. Schwarzenegger
During Saturday night's Ohio Valley Wrestling TV show, Mark Henry announced that he will be leaving OVW to train for Arnold Schwarzenegger's World's Strongest Man contest. The former USA Olympian is not leaving the WWF, but rather the WWF is giving him time off to go compete. Henry has been getting a lot of praise for his work in OVW and is said to have lost a lot of weight.WWF Rant
It's a slow news week, so I have something I want to complain about. It's something that has been missing in the WWF for a while now and I think may be the cause of a lot of the recent downturn in ratings.Why do fans love HHH? He's a bad guy, so we're supposed to hate him and yet the news of his impending return leaves us drooling like cattle. What made fans decide to like The Rock? When the Rock debuted in the WWF, he was portrayed as the next big baby face and fans hated loathed him. It wasn't until he turned heel and smacked Chyna around that fans took notice of him. How has the Undertaker survived 11 years in the WWF? His old gothic gimmick reeks of 80s wrestling and yet he is still one of the WWF's biggest stars. What did all these men have in common at the height of their successful heel runs? On any given night, you were never sure if they would win in a fight against the top heel.
Andre the Giant was a monster and the fans weren't sure if Hulk Hogan could slay him. HHH is the only heel to ever win the Wrestlemania main event. Undertaker threw Mankind off the top of the Hell in the Cell and The Rock beat Mankind's brains out with a steel chair. A young Steve Austin didn't give a shit about what fans thought of him. He just destroyed one wrestler after another and in the end, the fans turned on Bret Hart and decided Stone Cold was their favorite.
In the wrestling business, one of the most important things for a heel wrestler to have is credibility. No one cares if Spike Dudley wrestles The Rock because everyone knows that The Rock will easily win. Looking at the current WWF roster of heels, only the Undertaker has any credibility. Chris Jericho, while entertaining, hasn't won a match on his own since he lost the WCW World Title. He lost two matches in the week before Vengeance. Since then, he's won every match at Vengeance, Raw and Smackdown due to outside help. Matt Hardy lost his match to Bradshaw last week and now he's crying over his hurt ex girlfriend. Lance Storm lost his first two chances at a WWF job only to sneak a win in due to a count out. Tazz is supposed to bad this New York bad ass, but I can't remember the last time he won a match. Kurt Angle used to be a credible heel, but now he's been demoted to Rikishi's bitch. Only the Undertaker has beaten the crap out of anyone lately and he's not in a feud with anyone.
In the 80's, when Hulk Hogan was champ, the WWF thrived on the formula of the credible heel. Some putz in a stupid costume would show up in the WWF, beat the crap out of every wrestler on the roster, attack Hogan and leave him lying and then Hogan would win at the pay per view match. Does anyone honestly think that The Rock is going to lose a match cleanly to Test or that Booker T can beat Austin fair and square? Doubt it.
In order to attract viewers, the WWF needs to go back to the days of credible heels. Guys like Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, HHH, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock, Jake Roberts, Kurt Henning, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Yokozuna, and Ted DiBiase were all great heels. Fans paid money to see them fight because they were a threat to our favorite wrestler. Lame comedy skits and fights in churches aren't going to make the WWF any money and won't raise ratings. With every passing show, the WWF loses more and more of it's own credibility.
See you Friday.
