This Week in ‘E – The New War Begins

Columns, Features

The new Monday Night War saw an early win for WWE, Triple H continues to make his stable of future wrestlers and Vince continues to get Linda in more trouble.

Opening Witty Banter
I got nothing this week. This damn spring forward time change screwed me up something fierce.

Let’s take some ‘E…

The News of the Week
It was a really quiet week on the ol’ WWE news front this past week, especially this close to WrestleMania, so everyone had more than enough time breakdown the ratings for the first week in the new “war” between RAW and Impact. RAW earned a 3.42, lower than what they had been doing in the build-up to WrestleMania while TNA did a staggering .99 rating, far lower than their first special two months ago and actually lower than what they normally got on Thursday nights.

Here are the highs and lows of the night, followed by full quarter hour breakdowns:

– Impact opened with a .99 for the Hogan/Abyss-Flair/Styles segment.

– RAW’s lowest segment was their second quarter hour, which did a 3.15 which featured the Divas match and Criss Angel backstage. RAW’s fourth quarter hour segment, which also did a 3.15 rating, featured Randy Orton vs. Legacy handicap tag match.

– Impact’s fourth and fifth quarter hours were their highest rated with each doing a 1.07. The fourth quarter hour segment featured Sting-RVD and the proceeding Sting/Hogan confrontation while the fifth quarter hour segment featured the Beautiful People’s win and celebration as well as the Nash/Hall/Waltman segment.

– RAW’s sixth quarter hour did a 3.56 rating. The segment featured the end of Triple H and Sheamus’s confrontation, the Santino-Criss Angel backstage, and the very beginning of the Money in the Bank qualifying match.

– RAW peaked with a 3.60 for their eighth quarter hour, featuring plugs for Steve Austin on RAW next week and the start of McMahon-Cena.

– Going against that, Impact’s rating dropped huge, falling from a roughly 1.05 all the way down to a .76. The segment featured Hulk Hogan backstage segments and the start of Hogan/Abyss vs. Flair/Styles.

– RAW’s overrun did a 3.98 rating for the conclusion of McMahon vs. Cena and Batista’s involvement.
– Impact’s overrun did a 1.01 rating for the conclusion of their main event tag.

Full RAW quarter hour breakdown:

Q1 – 3.45: Undertaker/HBK Promo
Q2 – 3.15: Divas Tag/Criss Angel and Hornswoggle Backstage/ShowMiz talk
Q3 – 3.27: ShowMiz v. Truth and Wisdom/Cena Interview/Criss Angel, Evan Bourne, William Regal Segment
Q4 – 3.15: Orton v. Legacy
Q5 – 3.39: Orton v. Legacy/Batista Interview/HHH-Sheamus Interview
Q6 – 3.56: HHH-Sheamus Interview
Q7 – 3.27: Bourne v. Regal/Various Video Recaps
Q8 – 3.60: WrestleMania Plug/Criss Angel in the Ring/Cena Starts the Gauntlet
Overrun was a 3.98: Cena Runs The Gauntlet

Full Impact quarter hour breakdown:

Q1 – 0.99: Hogan and Abyss v. AJ and Flair/Sting Returns
Q2 – 0.98: AJ and Flair Interview/Kazarian, Daniels, Williams, Bischoff Promo
Q3 – 1.0: Kazarian, Daniels, Williams X-Title Match/Shannon Moore Returns/Knockouts Tag Title Match
Q4 – 1.07: D’Angelo Dinero Interview/Beautiful People Interview/Sting vs. RVD

Q5 – 1.07: Sting Beats Down RVD, Hogan Appearance/Nash and Young Promo With The Band
Q6 – 1.03: Nash and Young Promo With The Band/Eric Young v. Sean Waltman/Angle Interview With Soldiers, Anderson Beatdown
Q7 – 0.95: Bubba Talks To Hogan/JJ and Foley Talk/Beer Money vs. JJ
Q8 – 0.76: Abyss and Hogan Promo/Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ and Flair
Overrun was a 1.01: Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ and Flair/Jeff Hardy Returns

Not surprisingly WWE didn’t send out any official press release about the night, but USA’s Vice President of Program Research Ted Linhart tweeted:

“Not much of a Monday Night “War”. RAW trounced TNA by 275% w/ total viewers. Also Impact much lower than the test Monday ep in early Jan.”

It’s only been one week so there’s nothing to really talk about now, but it is a little startling that Impact was so low compared to what they normally do. I still feel TNA picked the wrong time to move to Mondays as WWE gets on such a creative juggernaut through WrestleMania season that it’s the wrong time to pick a fight with them. That being said I am excited to see how both companies grow, change and mature as things continue down the road for the foreseeable future.

John Hill, most famously known in wrestling circles as “Gentleman” Jerry Valiant passed away on Thursday. As Gentleman Jerry he captured the WWF World Tag Titles with “Lucious” Johnny and formed a six-man team with Johnny and Jimmy. He was 68 years old. SLAM Wrestling has a great piece up highlighting his life and times.

I have nothing to say other than rest in peace…

More ridiculous and fun news surrounding Linda McMahon’s Connecticut Senate race has surfaced. Apparently Vince has a 47-foot sports yacht in Boca Raton that is named “The Sexy Bitch,” which has led to more bad publicity for the Linda campaign. Her opponents are also mad that she doesn’t answer all media questions and turned down an interview with Anderson Cooper.

I’m sure she’s not going to win this Senate race, but it’s sure fun to see what ridiculousness her opponents drag out in regards to Vince and WWE to try and prove a point. Have any of them found old clips of the Kiss My Ass club lying around anywhere yet? Or anything from WrestleMania IX? I know I’d be embarrassed if that abomination got out.

In more news relating to people that Vince can embarrass, it was announced that Stephanie McMahon is preggers with Triple H’s third kid, following their two daughters Aurora and Murphy.

So is Trips just gonna keep going until we get a boy? Quadruple H? The New Game? Or is he just going to single-handedly produce the next crop of Divas? But really, congrats to the entire family as that is always good news to hear of some new births.

The Road to…WrestleMania XXVI
WWE Championship
John Cena v. Batista (c)

World Heavyweight Championship
Edge v. Chris Jericho (c)

Career v. Streak
Shawn Michaels v. The Undertaker

Bret “Hit Man” Hart v. Mr. McMahon

Money in the Bank
Christian v. Dolph Ziggler v. Kane v. Shelton Benjamin v. Jack Swagger v. MVP v. Matt Hardy v. Evan Bourne v. Drew McIntyre v. TBA

Unified WWE Tag Team Championships
John Morrison & R-Truth v. The Miz & The Big Show (c)

Triple H v. Sheamus

Rey Mysterio v. CM Punk

expected matches
Randy Orton & Kofi Kingston v. Legacy
Beth Phoenix v. Michelle McCool

The WWE Hall of Fame, Class of 2010
”Million $ Man” Ted DiBiase (inducted by Brett & Ted DiBiase)
Antonio Inoki (inducted by Stan Hansen)
Wendi Richter (inducted by Rowdy Roddy Piper)
Mad Dog Vachon

Wrestler of the Week
Week of March 8 – 14: R-Truth
Yeah looking over the week, statistically no one really had a better in-ring week on WWE TV than R-Truth. On Monday Night RAW he and John Morrison dominated The Miz and The Big Show to establish themselves as real tag team with a name. Black Magic and White Thunder? Truth and Wisdom? Rock ‘n’ Rap? Then on NXT he teamed with his Rookie David Otunga to beat The Miz and Daniel Bryan. He then capped off his week of kicking The Miz’ ass by pinning him in a one-on-one match on SmackDown. He’s definitely gaining some valuable momentum heading into WrestleMania.

RAW’s On Tonight!
For the 38th consecutive week (?!) the guest hosting gimmick continues RAW and this week promises to be awesome as Stone Cold Steve Austin returns to WWE for the first time since WrestleMania XXV to host the show, live from San Diego, California. He will be on hand to personally oversee the contract signing between Bret Hart and Mr. McMahon for their match at WrestleMania. Somehow I’m guessing this ends up with Austin becoming the special guest referee for the match, thus ensuring the chaotic nature it needs in order to protect all parties. Plus it’s the now traditional WrestleMania Rewind week, as matches from WrestleMania past will be on display. John Cena will take on The Big Show, Shawn Michaels will tangle with Chris Jericho and Triple H looks to continue his best of 24093 series against Randy Orton. Plus apparently Moey in the Bank will now include a staggering ten participants this year, and I’m sure this will be Kofi Kingston’s chance to qualify; unless of course he gets shoehorned into the Legacy break-up feud. In that case look for Mark Henry to qualify. It should be a good show thanks to the guest host being an actual rassler, so there shouldn’t be awful segments they have to shoehorn into the show.

On Last Week’s Episode…
Eison covers this weeks SmackDown, which included an awesome CM Punk promo on Rey Mysterio. How good is this? How long before he starts calling himself Personal Jesus?

Logan and Ivan bring the love for NXT.

Marshall and Wheeler bring full coverage for the historic first RAW in the new “war.”

How They Rated
SmackDown! (2.26.10) – 2.0

Superstars (3.4.10) – .94

A.M. RAW (3.7.10) – .51

RAW (3.8.10) – 3.4

NXT (3.9.10) – 1.0

This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
MM updates everyone on what happened to those on the final ECW roster.

Ditch brings the awesome with Puro Pulse. It looks like I need to pick up Terry Funk’s biography.

In honor of WrestleMania yours truly is counting down the shows from 25 – 1. Here’s 25, 24, 23, and 22.

Check out issue six of The Wrestling Press, featuring yours truly, among many other talented scribes…

Follow me on Twitter here.

For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.

Mark was a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over four years, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking” commentary-style column into the Monday morning powerhouse known as “This Week in ‘E.” He also contributes to other ventures, outside of IP, most notably as the National Pro Wrestling Examiner for Examiner.com and a contributor for The Wrestling Press. Follow me on Twitter here.