The Monday Edition 12.15.03

Hello again, it’s Flea and for all you people that complain
about what a hag Sable is, I’d be willing to bet you would eat a mile of her
shit to see where it came from. It’s so easy to be critical, but it helps to
use your brain a little bit before going out on a limb that’s shaky, at best.
Hyatte says he will be back next week – I guess we will find out 7 days from
now for today, I’ll give you a PPV rundown (work with what you are dealt), some
very good commentary from Two very cool Ladies, and then a follow-up to
yesterday’s column that I think you will like.

Don’t forget to visit 1ryderfakin.com – Eric has a new one, Hyatte’s
got one on deck (it should be up by tonight) and, well, you know the rest

Come on! Let’s GO!

 

[b]TOP STORY[/b]

For any off you that have been reading for awhile, the
Monday column after a PPV will contain my thoughts after the show, nicely
prefaced with my thoughts going into the show (from Saturday’s column). This
format has always worked, so I see no sense in changing now original thoughts
are in italics  

WWE Raw World Title – Goldberg vs. Kane vs. Triple H

Foley told a good story in "Have a Nice Day"
that most of these "Three Way" matches come about due to Management’s
lack of faith in a two person main event. Whether or not that was the case here
is a matter of opinion, but I can’t see any reason why it * shouldn’t * be. If
this was WCW, Goldberg would beat both of them in about 2 minutes, which would
make some people happy, but would make me feel like I just got cheated out of a
Main Event. Goldberg going for more than eight to ten minutes is never a good
idea, but that would still leave a gaping hole in the program, time wise. I
think that was the reason a three-way match was made – with the proper booking,
they can get 20 minutes out of this without slowing down to a snail’s pace and
the result can come out the same – Goldberg, the bad ass that he is, fights off
two contenders (and possibly a run-in or two) and retains the Belt – leaving
the possibility of a Kane – Goldberg rematch for the Rumble, where Dead Man UT
shows up to cost Kane the title – boom! There’s WMXX booked for you, as Goldberg
would move along to fight Brock, or whoever is Champ on Smackdown. HHH can take
care of himself, and doesn’t really need the belt to do it – Hollywood is
calling, yo.

I’ll be damned if H didn’t win – and it made perfect sense –
Evolution dominated the night. Besides, I don’t care for Goldberg anyway and
hopefully this will teach him not to try to play hardball negotiations with
Vince. He held him up once, I don’t see it happening again. Of course, if they
give the belt back to him tonight, it will piss me off, but I’m sure I’ll
survive.   

WWE Intercontinental Title Match – Rob Van Dam vs. Randy
Orton – Cactus as Special Referee

This should be a cluster f*ck. Instead of the
"Special Ref" gimmick, they should have made this a Ladder or
Stretcher match, something that will force RVD to think outside the box as far
as match planning…have you noticed, unless there is an inanimate object
involved, RVD has been wrestling the same match since about 1997? Luckily,
Orton is still learning the ropes and will not go totally apeshit when he works
on RVD’s leg for 5 minutes, only to have the guy not sell – it looked to me
like Flair legitimately wanted to punch RVD for pulling that shit a few months
ago (Tag match? I can’t remember, I just recall Flair getting a total look of
disgust on his face.) I’m thinking Orton will probably win this one, as him
holding the belt and bragging about it makes sense. On second thought, he’ll
probably be on the wrong end of a Mr Socko, which will incapacitate him long
enough for RVD to take it home with the ***** Frog Splash. For the record, I’d
prefer the former.

Surprisingly good match from Van Dam and the crowd was just
all over him. Orton winning made sense and it kicked off a nice trend for the
evening. Orton is getting good, quick and I’m glad they decided to give this
one some time – it’s too bad they had to ruin it with a bunch of rest holds,
but the hot crowd didn’t make it seem so bad. Not the clustef*ck I thought it
would be, but RVD is still all over the place, which JR calls hmm he has a word
for things – “unique”. Hey GRUT! If you are RVD, you know how you catch a buzz?
“Unique” up on it! Ha ha ha ha.  

World Tag Team Titles Turmoil Match- The Dudley Boyz vs.
Garrison Cade & Mark Jindrak vs. La Resistance vs. Val Venis & Lance
Storm vs. Rosey & The Hurricane vs. Scott Steiner & Test

Tag Team Turmoil matches are usually entertaining – again,
using the "Three Way" match theory, the more, the merrier. I like how
La Resistance got the "rub" from Rock’s verbal abuse and Foley’s
alleged physicality, whereas if HHH or UT would have been the ones to do it, it
would have been decried as a "burial". Isn’t it wrong that they can’t
beat up a movie star and an author? Oh, I’m sorry, it’s the ROCK. and MICK
FOLEY. The Rock and Sock Connection. Do you see how all this political stuff is
very subjective and horribly ridiculous? Rumor has it that Rock has
"vetoed" the idea of a WM match with John Cena, but is still
generally accepted as "one of the boys" with a "good
attitude". Must be that million dollar smile that distracts people while
the Rock steals money from their pockets. Oops, I’m getting a little negative
and cynical here, which is against the ground rules. This match will walk the
line between Comedy and…nah, it will be a comedy match. Maybe the Duds will
get screwed out of the titles…but all that would mean is they would win them
back in about two months so I don’t know what that would accomplish. I’d like
to see them bring in America’s Most Wanted from NWATNA, who are the best team
going today, but I sure that they would probably end up with the Smoking Gunns
old gimmick and Jeff Jarret’s old horse. You know, I’m all over the pace here
and should probably cheer myself up…"but OciFer, don;t you know I’m the
KING OF THE INTERENT?" ha ha ha hawr, much better…less move along….

I didn’t like this one a little and REALLY hate that they
wasted all that time for a silly angle to give Evolution the Gold. Flair and
Batista should have just jumped them backstage and stolen the damn belts. As
mentioned above, I have no problem with Evolution having Ze Gold, senor, but I
think it could have been handled a bit better. 

Mrs. Trish Hyatte & Lita vs. Some Other Guy &
Christian

This one will be fun, although it may be hampered by Lita’s
injury at the MSG show Friday Night. According to reports, she hurt her knee,
but was able (with Mrs. Hyatte’s help) to do a run in on a Dudley / Some Other
Guy and Christian match later in the show. Hopefully, she is okay, but that may
limit her involvement.

UPDATE! Scherer says it was a work so she wouldn’t have
to j.o.b. in the ladies match…back to the news…

I seriously doubt this will be the end of the
relationship between these four, as…well let’s just see what happens. Oh
yeah, Netcop is stupid. I don’t use that term often, but the guy is just plain
stupid. I usually would always give him him the benefit of the doubt, as his
arrogance is semi-amusing, and I always kind of felt bad that everyone would
jump on his case for any misstep that he made – hell, I’ve practically watched
him grow up online and always enjoyed his Rants, etc, but he’s really showed
what a dunce he is over the last few weeks. What he managed to do was upset
someone who is really nice and * does * take the time to chat every once in
awhile, but because he * knows * so much, he dismissed it in a manner that
caused the offended party to use language that made me proud.

If I had any thought that this was the real deal, I
wouldn’t have printed the letter or even mentioned it, because most of the
people in the WWE I do talk to start with that kind of disclaimer anyway.

"If I had any thought"…that’s the problem. As
far as re-capping Wrestling Events, Nectop is the Tops. However, he is a one
trick pony and should realize that additional commentary outside of the realm
of re-capping is a little beyond where his mind can go. The thing about being a
one-trick pony is that if you attempt to deviate from that one trick, the pony
will end up looking like a horse’s ass. I’ll expound on that later…

Goddamn, did the crowd go apeshit for this, which means
jeez, maybe the angle is WORKING? A three dimensional Some Other Guy is
starting to show, as evidenced by his reaction not only to the victory, but
also throughout the match. Far from over, I think. Which is good.  

Shawn Michaels vs. Batista

Keller wrote a good column the other day about HBK and his need to
"update his image", seeing as he now plans to be more than a
part-time wrestler. I agree with most of it (HBK should have a defined purpose
for being around and they can use his history to build matches, instead of
assuming everyone knows the reason he’s great) but I would stop short at
changing his entrance music. Some things, like Flair’s music, are just the
perfect definition of a character and are timeless…"I’m just a sexy
boy…I’m not your boy toy"…yeah, that’s a little outdated and maybe a
bit cheesy for a pushing forty, recently reformed, Man of God, but come on.
What’s he supposed to do, come to the ring to "Desperado" like Terry
Funk? Hey! Here’s an idear – he could adopt Evlis’s version of "How Great
Thou Art" which kicks all kinds of ass, allows him to pay homage to God
AND defines who he is – just make sure the pyro is on the downbeat. As far as
Batista, on the OVW tapes he is "Leviathan – Demon of the Deep" and
is some piece of work – Great Gimmick and storyline. I’m surprised that they
just didn’t let him keep that gimmick when he got to the Big Leagues – oh
yeah…he’s was Preacher D’Von’s "muscle". Jesus! HA! That was funny
GRUT! I can’t imagine HBK walking away winner here, but you never know. What I
do know is that HBK will go out of his way to make Batista look like an animal,
which is why this match is scheduled – whether or not he does the j.o.b. on the
p.p.v is another story – even though he’s a Man of God now, the Bible doesn’t
have a Book of Snow that exposes the Holy Word of "Pin me, Pay Me".
But Batista should win…much like Orton should. Oh yeah, I hope Flair is in Bastita’s
corner…added bonus.

HBK beat the big guy with a superkick, but it looked to me
that * his * shoulders were down as well, so I think there may be some
controversy. Not the best (and probably not the last) match these two could /
will have, but decent enough for me.

Mark Henry vs. Booker T

I honestly don’t know what to say about this one. I have
no doubts that Booker making the talk show rounds last year saying "I gots
two years left and then I’m out of the business" was probably the worst
thing he could have done for his career, as any kind of Main Event Push
withered away. That’s a classic example of shitting in your oatmeal, ladies and
germs. They gave him commercials, plenty of TV time and he was well on his way
to being a playa, but next thing you know, he’s making future plans and loses
to HHH at WM (something for which HHH took all the heat) and now look where he
is…But at least he ain’t Mark Henry – Henry has been f*cked over more times
than anyone not named Big Show, regardless of the consensus opinion that he
just doesn’t have the "it" that everyone talks about. Yes, it is kind
of tough to take the guy seriously when he’s made to look like a fool, gets his
dick sucked by a transvestite and then ends up being the proud father of a
Hand. Believe it or not, people cared about Henry when he would beat the crap
out of people, but that was 6 years ago…at this point, you can pretty much
stick him with a fork, he’s done. Shoulda Coulda Woulda and all is fair in
hindsight and horseshoes, as they say.

Booker looked good and I thought Henry put in a good effort
– but the match just didn’t click. I have never bought the axe kick as a good
finisher – but better than a missile drop kick, I suppose. Good opening match –
which is usually the spot RVD find himself – I wonder why he didn’t jerk the
curtain?   

And there is the card. Seems a little weak, but the HBK
match should be good, as will the Main Event. I’m also looking forward to the
Ladies / Jerky Boyfriends Match, if only to see the direction it goes and if it
lives up to the expectations of people who expect wrestling to be anymore than
it is.

Also on the show was a non match with Matt Hardy and Maven
and a Women’s match between Molly and Ivory, which unfortunately, came off as
filler. I still don’t understand the schizophrenia of the Women’s division,
where no one seems to be able to define an accurate role for themselves from
week to week. Plenty of talent, just no definable direction.

Okay, so not much of a PPV recap, but they didn’t provide me
with a whole bunch to type about. It was an okay show, but nothing I would go
out of my way to watch again. I think the general thinking behind this was to
get everything in order and the Road to Wrestlemania begins NOW. And damn,
someone is mad at Goldberg – and I don’t think you can blame H for this one

At this point, I would like to call upon my old friend, the
lovely The Rat Diva to show some HHH love and explain

[b]HHH IS GOD AND HERE IS WHY[/b]  

I’ve been absent for a
while, but I’m definitely "Back in Black"!

I wasn’t surprised that Trip won the belt… Kane is a warmed over gimmick that
needs to be changed, like, five years ago. Goldberg… I’ve never liked him,
for the fact that he doesn’t seem to have any real wrestling skill. All I’ve
ever heard about Goldberg is that he throws temper tantrums and injures other
wrestlers because his timing is so off. It wasn’t all that long ago that I saw
Goldberg do a pedigree on himself, and Trip had to pretend that it was scripted
that way. That’s just what a man who has had serious injuries needs to worry
about…

Granted, Goldberg has crowd appeal, although I don’t know why. He doesn’t
have any special moves in my mind, and seems to spend more time finding trunks
that are half black and half white, which draw attention to a package that I
never wanted to see.

So, you may ask, why do I think that Trip is better than Goldberg? In my mind,
it all comes down to one thing: devotion. Trip is not the kind to call off
matches for any reason other than he is seriously ill/ injured. Goldberg on the
other hand, has refused to be a team player and do house shows, or pick up the
slack when someone else is too ill to be part of the show. He threw a veritable
tantrum when he was asked to replace Trip in the last tour of Australia. Trip has proven that he is a hard working professional, while Goldberg
acts like a prima donna.

Trip has earned his belt back, and I congratulate him!

 – THE RAT DIVA

See kids, it’s all perspective!

Now, it’s my pleasure to bring to you what is becoming the
highlight of Hyatte’s MidNight News. Tammy and her

[b]BITCH FROM THE SYTCH[/b]

Well there is less for me to write about this week. Which is
a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. I have less to
talk about because of a few things, as its been a busy and hectic holiday week.
As well, there is nothing major for me to talk about wrestling-wise, and sadly
the email feedback for the past couple of weeks has been less then stellar. I
did recieve a few emails thanking me for getting some folks re-interested in
wrestling, which is nice. As well I got a few emails about great Ric Flair
memories. Unfortunately nothing good enough to devote a section of the column
for, but I will note that lots of people had memories from Nitro, which reminds
me how great a show that was and how much of a shame it was to lose it with the
folding of WCW. Not that I’ll get into a rant about that, or what Vince McMahon
should do with the archive, but I will say Spike TV should run re-runs of Old
Nitro and Raw. I mean Spike runs essentially re-runs all day anyway and surely
Raw & Nitro would get bigger ratings then the A-Team or whatnot. As well
it’d help get current talent over, IE: Steiner, Flair, Booker T, Goldberg,
Benoit as well as help the older talent recieve a boost in popularity IE: The
Rock, Undertaker and Stone Cold.

But thats probably just a pipe dream, and makes too much
sense to really happen. Elsewhere in the world, I hear Goldust is getting
released, which baffles the mind in a million ways. As Dustin Rhodes has not
only performed in ring better then years, but his mic work has been amazing. He
and Booker T were the only reason to watch Raw for a long time, his work with
others has helped and he really deserved more. I’m sure there is some reason
for his release we’ll never know, but people email me complaining that WWE is
using Terri right or wrong, and that company can’t even use Goldust right, how
could they use Terri right. But I’m sure Dustin will end up in TNA, and I could
see great things from that.

Here are a few Q & A’s I got. I haven’t recieved much
feedback in a while, and while I LOVE to hear folks emailing me about how great
a diva I once was, I’d rather get feedback about the column. Questions are
fine, but try to make
them interesting. i get enough pervert emails in spam thank you. So feel free
to send me some general wrestling feedback and expect to see your email in this
column.

Q: I recently saw a picture of you and thought you looked
fat. Others thought you looked great, we debated it on a very popular wrestling
diva’s board.

Who’s right?

A: Who needs a life? If you have nothing better to do with
you days then debate how hot Tammy Lynn Sytch is or was, perhaps its you.
Personally I’ve seen these boards where guys critique every little thing from
top to bottom on
girls, talking about how everyone from Stephanie mcMahon, to Trish to Me is
fat, and how Stacy is flat chested, Dawn is over-rated…etc….My feelings
aren’t hurt. I just wish people would perhaps debate greater things, and I
don’t know, take into consideration that they are people on message boards
spending literally hours a day arguing over some girl they have never met shoe
size, and the person they are ragging on is out in the public making decent
money doing a often times hard job. Just food for thought.

Q: I was on a site called wrestlecrap.com which is basically
a list of what they think are the worst angles or gimmicks etc. There was one
which read ‘Sunny’s Sex Video: You’d think anything starring Tammy Sytch, who
was
smoking hot back in her WWF days, couldn’t be all bad. But then her bedmate is
revealed: Fondle Me Elmo’, I can’t say I remember this angle. Did it happen,
could you explain it?

A: Well, I can’t say that was a crappy angle, as it was
really just a series of funny promotional vingettes capitalizing on the hugely
popular at that time, Tickle Me Elmo. Nothing major, just some roughing around
with a big fake Elmo. There was of course someone inside of him, and it was
just like Brock Lesner F-5ing a Shark, or whatever. Just PR stuff. Speaking of
TNA, I saw the AJ Styles/Abyss match from a few weeks ago, and if you haven’t
seen it…well it was great. Perhaps the best Big Man versus Smaller Man match
I’ve ever seen. Abyss has potential to be better then Vader, and AJ Styles has
potential to be the best….hmm….ever? He is the man to watch, I hope he
never ruins his career by being in WWE. I’d honestly cry if I saw him brought
in as William Regal’s maid, or as a rookie upstart or worse yet Jamie Knoble’s
cousin. Is Nunzio even related to Knoble anymore? Ah forget it. Check out that
match, and watch out cause AJ Styles is the man. TNA is doing some great things
with him and others.

Alright no Fantasy booking this week. Next week you’ll get
the PPV. Thats all you get this week, but next week I’ll drop a few more weeks
of Raw on you as well as Armageddon.

Thats my Bytch!

 – SunTam1@yahoo.com

* * * * * *

Drop Tammy a line, if you have the time. Because FLEA asked
you too, that’s why.

[b]HEADLINES[/b]

I’m just grabbing a few things from the newslines – I *
really * want to get to Page Six today

Nevermind. Not anything wrestling wise I care to comment
upon. I would like to say that the capture of Saddam is a great thing, not only
for the United States and George Bush, (who for some reason still needs to
justify why we are there on a daily basis it’s called FREEDOM – easy not to
care when you ain’t oppressed and have lived in a free society you whole lives)
but also for the whole world, who saw that this brutal dictator holed up like a
ratand not even going down with a fight. Good Riddance to CHUMP. I have a nice pic
over at 1ryderfakin, right below Sir Mick. Go check it out. And play in the
Wrestling Dead Pool while you are there.  

Now onto Page Six Grazi

Oops! Almost forgot

[b]ANOTHER WEEK OF THIS CRAP[/b]

RAWr is in Tampa, most likely panning to continue what was
started last night. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Next

Smackdown is also in Florida (Jacksonville) and have their
own Rumble buildup to do. I hope you enjoy both shows.

Now let’s have some fun

[b]PAGE SIX[/b]

Here is an update to Saturday’s column the following was
pulled from Netcop’s blog (hey why ain’t he at 411 Black yet, BOSS?)

Flea makes crazy analogies, film at 11…

Now see! That RULES! Here’s is Netcop’s response to
yesterday column where I typed about advertising

I don’t know if "WWE stock booster" is Flea’s
new gimmick or what, but basically he talks about how the new advertising
campaign for RAW is going to make them $200 million or something, and cites
Bill Gates using "Start Me Up" for Windows 95 as an example. First of
all, "Start Me Up" was not exactly a rousing success as far as brand
recognition went, as most people don’t even remember the campaign today.
Second, Windows 95 was a pretty big failure in a lot of ways, and it wasn’t
until Windows 98 that they really got a strangehold on the market by putting
out a stable and widely-accepted OS. Finally, Microsoft could afford to shell
out money for that song because there hasn’t been a viable commercial
alternative to Windows since OS/2 died, and it’s only recently that Linux is
gaining acceptance. Gates has a monopoly, Vince McMahon only has one on the
wrestling world, but he’s competing with more than just other two-bit promoters
with this. WCW, for instance, shelled out countless millions on advertising and
silly catchphrases and celebrity endorsements, but in the end if the product
isn’t there, people won’t watch. Simple as that.

Whoa. I’m stealing Eric’s gimmick for this one…

* By the way, no bashing here, I think this is a good debate
from two very different points of view and I am glad Netcop responded…and
serious, that headline KILLS…here we go…

I don’t know if "WWE stock booster" is Flea’s
new gimmick or what, but basically he talks about how the new advertising
campaign for RAW is going to make them $200 million or something, and cites
Bill Gates using "Start Me Up" for Windows 95 as an example.

My most recent gimmick is the Wrestling Dead Pool, but yes,
I have been talking business over the last few weeks in an effort to provide a
different perspective and explanations about how things actually work. This
weeks Saturday Column specifically dealt with Netcop’s rant against the WWE
Advertising. READ IT for
perspective.

First of all, "Start Me Up" was not exactly a
rousing success as far as brand recognition went, as most people don’t even
remember the campaign today. Second, Windows 95 was a pretty big failure in a
lot of ways, and it wasn’t until Windows 98 that they really got a stranglehold
on the market by putting out a stable and widely-accepted OS.

That’s just wrong on every level you look at it – Windows 95
put Microsoft on the map and I ( and most people I know) invested heavily in
Microsoft in 1995, because we knew Windows was coming and would change the
world, so we, for the most part, bet the farm. Not my concern if it had
glitches in it, – the unwashed masses bought the product like it was cheap
gold. Techno – wise, yes, it had it’s flaws – hence Windows 98. I can’t think
of too many products in the technology field where Version 1 is the best there
is always room for improvement. But no one can say 95 was a "failure"
– it validated Bill Gates’s company and made a bunch of folks a whole lotta
dough rey me…

Finally, Microsoft could afford to shell out money for
that song because there hasn’t been a viable commercial alternative to Windows
since OS/2 died, and it’s only recently that Linux is gaining acceptance

Go back to the column yesterday and I have a nice disclaimer
for anyone who breaks this down into tech talk. The people who don’t know from
nothing want something to plug in and turn on, i.e.- the “casual” computer
user. Mick singing "Start me Up!" got them in the mood to grab their
credit cards, drive to the store, buy a Gateway or IBM and then tune in, turn
on and drop out. If the damn thing doesn’t work – dial the 800 number. Not only
did Gates provide a simple way to get with the program, but he provided a new breed
of working class hero – $45k per year to tell Mrs. Gaudreau in Iowa how to turn
the f*cking thing ON! Genius….

Gates has a monopoly, Vince McMahon only has one on the
wrestling world, but he’s competing with more than just other two-bit promoters
with this. WCW, for instance, shelled out countless millions on advertising and
silly catchphrases and celebrity endorsements, but in the end if the product
isn’t there, people won’t watch. Simple as that.

Microsoft is no monopoly…neither is WWE – and I’m not
going to waste my time explaining why – that’s 8^th grade business
class. And yes, Vince is playing with the Big Boys now, which has been my point
all along WWE is not a “wrestling” company, but a GOLBAL provider of Entertainment
. As far as wrestling goes, WCW * finally * pulled it together long enough in
the mid-late 90’s to grab world by he balls until Austin 3:16 came along and
whooped their asses – WCW’s problem was total lack of accountability. Long
story short, Vince rode the Austin horse to Hog Heaven until he ended up with
all the marbles and didn’t know what to do with them. A large fanbase was
alientnated by the death if WCW…and I’ll include myself with that – I grew up
on Solie and The Horseman and Dusty fooling the crowd as The Midnight Rider and
cussed the 3rd disc of and otherwise perfect Flair DVD set when Vince ruined
The Nature Boy. But I marked out just as hard on Austin and DX, Cactus and
eventually HBK coming back. It’s all a matter of perspective really, and the
“smart fan” quite frankly, isn’t very bright when it comes to thinking long
term.

Think about what * really * put the Attitude Era on the map
– Mike Tyson, a celebrity appearance. And the whole Attitude Era was basically
one big catchphrase, wrapped around, when it gets right down to it – ridiculous
story lines. But it was cool and hip and a way for people to escape for a
couple of hours a week, which is what the “casual” fan wants and why they tune
in to begin with – The WWE is attempting to recreate that Buzz with the two new
ad campaigns something they didn’t do very well with Gay Weddings and Corpse
Fucking.      

My point remains that “how good the product is” hinges
entirely on one’s perspective. Pull the archives and check out 1999, during the
high water mark of the wrestling boom – it’s pretty much the same crap we watch
today. The bottom line difference is that there are 4 million less people
watching and that’s why Vince feels the need to advertise – because there is no
sense in having an “in thing” if no one knows about it. And there is no sense
in having a hardcore fanbase cuss your shitty product when you could have three
times as many tell you it’s good.

AND HERE’S MORE! Check this out! Again, from Netcop

I’m not saying the campaign won’t work in short term, I’m
saying that it’s not addressing the larger problems which are more easily dealt
with. Getting more people to watch RAW isn’t the answer, getting more people to
watch RAW and then pay money to see house shows and PPVs is what they
ultimately need to aim for, and all the silly advertising slogans in the world
aren’t going to make people shell out $35 a month for a weak product. All it
does is draw more attention to the embarrassing state of the company.

And while they made $17 million for the quarter through juggling PPV numbers
and international business, there’s still no one on Wall Street who will even
comment on their stock because it’s considered such a joke. I don’t think
anyone is worried about the McMahons going personally bankrupt any time soon,
but continuing their rather arrogant and out-of-touch advertising and
cross-promotional campaigns when they can’t even trace their own problems back
to Stephanie taking over as head writer in 2000 is just short-term thinking.

Good Lord.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/srs/srsmain.asp?Symbol=WWE

and that’s without any real research. I just went straight
to CNBC, who gives as good advice as anyone these days…

In case you don’t feel like clicking the link, (I suggest
you should – good information) here’s the summary – WWE stock gets a 7 rating
(out of a possible 10) and the analysts say the following

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a small-cap growth
company in the consumer services sector, is expected to significantly
outperform the market over the next six months with less than average
risk.

Everyone on Wall Street says "BUY!" and you are
simple and / or hate money if you don’t. Like the people who didn’t buy in with
Gates. Caring what the "in-ring product" does is becoming as extinct
as the dinosaur – it’s not like there is any need to reinvent the wheel here,
especially when DVD’s like Flair’s and the upcoming Foley disc can both placate
the people who are not all that enthralled with the current product and pretty
much provide a cash slush fund for WWE. Hell, they didn’t even ADVERTISE the
Flair DVD and it sold like hotcakes.

As a wrestling fan, I won’t argue with the fact that they
could do more with what they have, and if you want to blame Stephanie for it,
go ahead. I prefer not to and from a business standpoint, she is not the final
word of authority. Granted, house show business is not up to par, but most live
events would give their left nut to be able to draw 8-10 thousand without even
trying (I think I have said that before) and PPV buys are just go read The
Saturday columns from a couple of weeks ago – it’s all in there. I’m not going
to repeat myself – you either get it or you don’t. Do you?

Thanks for Reading, I’m FLEA