During the WrestleMania build, WWE could generally count on the feud between the heel Michael Cole and the babyface Jerry Lawler to spike viewership interest.
That interest appears to have faded, as a significant portion of Monday’s WWE RAW audience tuned out during Cole’s match with Zack Ryder.
According to a quarterly ratings breakdown at F4WOnline.com, Triple H’s “State of WWE Address” popped an impressive 3.8 cable coverage rating, representing one of the biggest “top of the hour” spikes in a while for the weekly wrestling telecast. The segment with Zack Ryder versus Michael Cole, the match that Triple H’s promo built, fell to a 3.1 rating, which conceivably represents a loss of more than one million viewers.
Given the immense fan interest in Triple H’s follow-up to the angle with Vince McMahon, that segment undoubtedly benefited from “curiosity buzz” that would not customarily trickle over to the next segment. But a drop of this magnitude, especially since the Cole match was plugged during Triple H’s promo, is still a disappointment.
The low rating, of course, also speaks negatively to Ryder’s drawing ability, indicating that his online buzz has not yet translated to television interest.
source: headlineplanet.com
July 29, 2011
WWE RAW’s Michael Cole, Zack Ryder Match Bombs After Big HHH Segment
This Day in Wrestling History
Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman were on the Late Night Show with David Letterman. Lawler and Kaufman started yelling at each other. Lawler started pushing Kaufman and Kaufman was cussing him out, which led to Andy Kaufman walking off the set. The incident made headlines everywhere and basically gave huge publicity to the two men. We later found out that it was all a work and that they were friends.
July 29, 1982
July 28, 2011
Paul Levesque Granted Another 5000 Shares of WWE Stock
Paul received 5000 shares in September of last year around the time of his promotion. According to the SEC filing, he received another 5000 shares this month. Click here to see a copy of the SEC filing.
C.M. Punk reveals when he decided to stay with WWE, Vince McMahon's thoughts on the angle, More
WWE star C.M. Punk was interviewed by ESPN's Bill Simmons on the new Grantland.com in a podcast interview. Punk acknowledged that he used "The Cult of Personality" in Ring of Honor and thought it would be a fun throwback. He said no other songs were considered.
Punk said his big promo that started the angle "was 100 percent real because it came from the heart." He said he knows where the line is and while he may have went too far in a couple of areas, he knows that things like saying hello to Colt Cabana isn't going to hurt the company.
Happy Birthday Murphy
Paul & Stephanie will be celebrating their middle daughter's third birthday today.
Rumor Mill - Sin Cara Attitude Problems the Real Reason for Possible Firing
Though Sin Cara's future with WWE remains uncertain over his recent drug test failure, some new information about his predicament was broken by Mexican wrestling expert Dr. Lucha Steve Sims on today's Figure Four Daily podcast:
Though the test failure has been reported to be due to steroids, Sims is not so sure about that, as Cara is telling people in Mexico that the failure was due to some pain medication for his knee that's on the WWE's banned substances list which he wasn't able to supply them a prescription for. Some people believe Cara's story, as he's had a history of knee problems for quite some time. Cara gave a very similar explanation for his suspension to the Mexican newspaper Record last week.
Sims is claiming that the drug test failure was the excuse people were looking for to send him a message about his attitude backstage and stresses that's the reason why they are considering firing him. The WWE locker room seems to view him similarly to many of the women he's tried to date in Mexico, "a real jerk" who feels he's "superior" to everyone...More?
source: cagesideseats.com
John Laurinaitis Added to WWE.com
A profile on John Laurinaitis, WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, has been added to the Alumni section on WWE.com.
Contrary to CM Punk's derisive remarks concerning the corporate executive during a pseudo-shoot promo last month on RAW, Laurinaitis is referred as "a respected WWE employee" in his bio. His previous life as "a successful sports-entertainer" in both Japan and the United States is also acknowledged.
Multimillion Dollar Lawsuit Filed by Ottawa Wrestler Against Abdullah the Butcher
Four months after his induction in the WWE Hall of Fame, Abdullah the Butcher (real name Larry Shreve) was served with a statement of claim on Monday July 24thfor a 6.5 million dollar lawsuit, filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, involving negligence, assault, and battery against a local Ottawa wrestler, Devon (Hannibal) Nicholson. Designated co-plaintiffs under the Family Law Act are Laura Joan Nicholson, Arthur Gwyn Nicholson, Frederick Kerry Nicholson, and Joan Greenwell, claiming $40 000 respectively for general damages.
The lawsuit stems after allegations surfaced on a YouTube documentary titled Don’t Bleed on Me, released on March 31st 2011, over an incident that happened between the wrestlers in 2007. Two years ago, Devon Nicholson was on the edge of achieving his dream of working for World Wrestling Entertainment. The talented wrestler obtained a contract, only to have it rescinded on the grounds of him having Hepatitis C. WWE annulled the contract regardless of its current “No Blood” policy and having employed Hepatitis C positive wrestlers in the past...More?
source: netnewsledger.com
This Day in Wrestling History
Eddie Guerrero defeats Dean Malenko for the ECW TV Title.
July 28, 1995
Molly Holly defeated Gail Kim for the WWE Women's title.
July 28, 2003
Rumor Mill - Spike TV Expecting to Rebrand its Network
At the PROMAX/BDA annual conference of marketing executives two weeks ago, Spike TV made it clear they intend on rebranding and trying to change its image from a station mainly targeting males 18-34 to both males and females 18-49.
The network is expecting to lose UFC programming and what this new direction change means for TNA and the weekly Impact Wrestling show is unknown. The show continues to draw well demographic wise and averages anywhere from 1.6-1.8 million viewers per week.
If Spike was to drop TNA, it would mean the end of the company unless they were able to secure another television deal. It doesn't appear likely given that it doubles the network's current average rating and is not expensive based on network standards for first-run programming. So while it would feel like the show is safe, anything is possible with this new direction change by Spike. It should be noted that Spike made no mention at all about TNA at the conference and instead focused on other shows with a passing reference to UFC.
source: wrestling observer newsletter
