I really don't care about watching WWE right now but here are some Observer notes:
Summerslam Poll Results
Thumbs Up: 131 (32.7%)
Thumbs Down: 149 (37.2%)
Thumbs in the Middle: 121 (30.2%)
Best Match Poll
John Cena vs. Edge: 224
Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley: 91
Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton: 27
DX vs. McMahons: 23
Worst Match Poll
Batista vs. Booker T: 183
Big Show vs. Sabu: 84
Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton: 49
DX vs. McMahons: 34
Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero: 33
The biggest party of the summer ended up being just another monthly PPV. Despite having so much star power, the show fell flat. With seven apparently big matches it came across as a transitional show rather than an event where issues ended. Dave said there is nothing wrong with inconclusive finishes to build, but that this show had them for no real reason other than to have them. Even worse, four of the seven matches had the same finish of a woman interfering, and it went from ridiculous to beyond ridiculous. In the case of Vickie Guerrero it was a step in the storyline, which Dave calls as nauseating a storyline as the company as ever done. Dave says as bad as it looks, he can understand the companys mentality. In there eyes, they are helping Vickie out by making her a heel manager because it gives her a better income than she could otherwise get and feel they are honoring Eddie. The problem is that only the biggest WWE apologist would see it as not exploiting Eddie, and the crowd showed that by turning on the match, and the fans have shown that over the past few weeks by not caring about the feud at all. The company goes back and forth on crowd reactions by either listening to them or pushing back even harder, and in this case the company will be pushing back and are determined to see this angle through.
Dave understood the Melina finish in the I Quit match and thought it was clever as part of the storyline. Said Foley was never going to let Flair say I Quit, and that it would take something beyond physical punishment to get Foley to say it without violating his entire character.
Said that with them having those two finishes, which is one too many, the Sharmell interference finish in the Batista vs. Booker T match was a bad idea. Also said it was telling of them having no ideas because there were numerous other DQ finishes they could have done, seeing as it wasnt going to lead to anything as it was just a way to get out of beating Batista or changing the title.
Said the finish to the main event, with Lita interfering, would have been fine except for what happened on the undercard and the match stipulation and said it ended a damn good main event by rubbing in how bad the overall booking of the show was.
Said the match quality was ok and apart from the ECW and World title matches nothing was bad as far as the wrestling goes. Called it a mix bag, with a show that should have had memories having nothing youd really remember except for a lot of blood in the I Quit match and the Hogan comeback.
Said the Cena vs. Edge match was the best match, but no better than most WWE PPV main events and calling it the same good match theyve been having at house shows since the start of the year.
Called Foley vs. Flair a bloodbath of major proportions and said that if it was 20 years ago it would have been considered a gruesome classic but that it wasnt long enough or diverse enough to be labeled a classic. Dave said that it felt like the blood and barbed was done just for the sake of it, but that it wound up telling the only real story in a match of the whole night.
Said the live crowd considered Hogan the biggest thing on the show, and said he treated Orton as a stooge for his routine as opposed to a serious opponent, but it worked as well as anything on the show and it led to some funny insider stuff
Hogan did the crotch chop to Orton as a buzz to Shawn Michaels as the two havent any interaction since the year before where Michaels spent hours trying to get to beat Hogan to no avail due to Hogan having creative control. Later on at Summerslam, Hunter did Hogans ear cupping deal to get a reaction and got less than half the reaction Hogan did earlier and you could tell Hunter was bothered by that. However, at Raw the next night, when Vince and Kevin Dunn were telling people how much of a success the show was and how the DX vs. McMahons angle was the hottest in the company, they specifically said that DX outdid Hogan and that is now the official company line as to what happened at the show.
While Hogan had the sympathy in-built from the knee injury and it could have made the match famous with Hogan battling valiantly but losing in the end because of the knee, Hogan didnt see it that way and won instead in a match that was forgotten the next day. Said given how the booking committee works, you cant blame Hogan or Foley for doing what they were able to do with creative control, and that it also showed the difference between the two. Hogan is all for his own legacy, which Dave said is fine because its a business where selfishness is a virtue, at least for your own career. Foley was for creating a story where he could lose but in doing so elevate Melina, who he is friends with and wanted to give the main event rub to.
The show drew a sellout of 16,168, with about 13,500 paid. The gate is likely to be around $800,000.
Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio: **1/4. JBL got heat for his comment about Eddie falling off the wagon, and for something he said later in the show about Batista crying like a bitch when he had to give up the title.
Big Show vs. Sabu: *1/2. Called it a garbage style match and not even a good one.
Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton: **1/4.
Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley: ***1/2. Said that the fans chanting we want fire during the heavy bloodshed gave it a sense of them viewing it a geek show performance rather than a dramatic wrestling match.
Batista vs. Booker T: ½*. Almost everyone Dave spoke with internally were pretty open regarding Batistas work. Said Batista was slow and tentative, with none of the explosiveness he used to have, and with his age, losing some size and his injuries said all he has going for him now is the star power he got from playing off of Hunter and Flair.
DX vs. Vince and Shane: ***1/4.
Edge vs. John Cena: ***3/4. Said the story once again was Cena getting booed, and how heavily he was booed depended on where in the building you were, with reports of the crowd being anywhere from 40%-75% pro-Cena.
Other News
WWE and Sci-Fi are close to signing a new deal for ECW.
On the 8/15 ECW show, the Foley beatdown by Knox and Test was meant to lead to Sandman, Dreamer and Foley vs. Test, Knox and someone else the following week. When Foley decided the blowoff to his angle would the match with Flair and combined with the angle the next night, it made the idea redundant. Foley didnt nix the beatdown, but because the match it was to have led to got scrapped, the beatdown made no sense.
The 12/3 ECW PPV will be held at the Richmond County Civic Center in Augusta, GA, and will be called the December to Dismember.
Matt Striker and Hardcore Holly were moved to the ECW brand this week.
Kurt Angle was being examined over his groin injury on 8/21, and there is now fear that he has a new injury. The Angle/ECW deal has gotten worse in the last few weeks, with people having apparently gone to Vince and John Laurinitis to get Angle taken out of ECW after Angle supposedly said he didnt want to be in ECW unless he got a main event title push. Angles biggest issues are non-wrestling. Angles family relies on him for financial and emotional support and his wife, who is pregnant with his first son, is leaving him again. Dave mentioned that that would throw anyone for a loop, but combine that with Angles breaking down, and his denial of it, and it could see some major issues down the line.
The 2007 PPV schedule looks like this: New Years Revolution on 1/7 in Kansas City at the Kemper Arena, Royal Rumble on 1/28 at the SBC Center in San Antonio, No Way Out on 2/18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Wrestlemania on 1/ 4 at Ford Field in Detroit, Backlash on 4/29 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Judgment Day on 5/20 at Savvis Center in St. Louis, and One Night Stand on 6/10 at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
While Vince was snapping at people on Raw, he was also snapping at people in real life backstage as he was in a foul mood.
There is apparently a list of words that announces are no longer allowed to say on-air, including the terms belt and strap. They are banned from WWE, OVW and DSW, because Vince thinks they are linked to old-time wrestling.
