by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

The Fed pulled a 4.2 two hour average rating for Monday's RAW, which was back on par with the stagnant numbers that they'd been earning prior to SSeries.  That's a half point loss from the 4.7 earned two weeks ago.

-  On the upside, the show quality was markedly improved over the previous week's ass-tastic effort.  On the wrestling side, the shift to seemingly fewer in-ring matches that are allowed to go a bit longer was appreciated.  Austin/Jericho was really good, and the tag team main event was surprisingly dramatic and exciting given the participation of two essentially non-regular workers.

Throw in the Hardys/Tajiri/Spike tag match and an RVD/Christian contest, and there's plenty of in-ring stuff to keep me happy.

And on the non-wrestling side, the silliness was kept to a minimum.  Better use was made of Ric Flair, I thought, in his handful of appearances (he's taking a much needed more antagonistic approach to Vince).  And stuff like RVD/Christian seemingly ad-libbing through their verbal confrontation ("The Capital of Brussels," RVD?) and the Rock planting one on Trish before mugging for the camera were not perhaps high drama, but were good for some chucks.

It wasn't one of those super-surprise-laden RAWs that you remember for ages to come, but it was a solid two hours that served its duel purpose:  (1) to prove that the Fed could mix Sports and Entertainment more effectively than they had on the previous RAW, and (2) to keep things moving to this Sunday's Vengeance PPV.

Missions accomplished.

And luckily, with CRZ back on the job, I don't feel so bad about including such abbreviated RAW thoughts.  His recap, which is so replete with complete transcriptions and lovingly hand-crafted detail that you have to wonder when he finds time to do this, is available right here.

-  Hollywood gossip is suggesting that the Rock may miss a week or so of WWF TV sometime between now and WrestleMania.

Principle work on "The Scorpion King" is complete, but they either need to pick up a few additional shots or do a few re-shoots before the film is complete.  With a Spring 2002 release date established, the Rock's presence on the set is going to have to come sooner rather than later.

Now all that remains to be seen is whether or not he'll be able to do his work on Wednesday through Sunday, or if he'll actually need to miss TV.

-  Mick Foley actually made it out of the peanut gallery and into the hot seat on this past Monday's celebrity edition of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".  

Foley made it up to the $125,000 level before time ran out on the show.  Foley's quest for the mill will continue next Monday at 8pm.  And yeah, I think he has two or three lifelines left.

-  The Undertaker, who missed weekend house shows as well as Monday's RAW to attend to family business, WAS back last night for SmackDown! tapings.

This is not a spoiler, but is newsworthy:  Taker apparently cut his hair, sporting "the Mean Mark Callous look," according to OO Reader Steven (who filed this spoiler report).

-  The XWF, which taped several hours worth of TV last month in Florida, is gearing up for its first house shows.  They will take place on the final weekend of the year in (suburban) Chicago (12/28), Milwaukee (12/29), and Green Bay (12/30).

The press release promotes Roddy Piper, the Road Warriors, Curt Hennig, Jim Duggan, Rena "Sable" Mero, and Johnny B. Badd as the top stars of the group.  

Though the XWF is definitely running some big time markets with these first shows, it sound like they are hitting the "b-level" venues in hopes of filling them up (rather than putting 2000 fans in a 15,000 seat arena).  Tickets are already on sale through TicketBastard...  I mean TicketMASTER, so give 'em a call or a visit on the web if you're interested.

-  News on WWF roster cuts should trickle down to us soon.  The Fed is expected to trim a lot of developmental talent, and Johnny Ace will be deployed to Cincinnati and Louisville to make the notifications personally.

While there is a lot of concern that the WWF is acting rashly to help their own bottom line now that there is no real competition for them, there is also some hope that if the WWF is successful in launching a new brand/company in 2002, then positions will once again open up as there is a need for more warm bodies on each roster.

I hope that the "established" names who are just treading water in OVW/HWA are immune from these cuts, as they are the types of mid-level guys who could be ultra-valuable when the split occurs.  I mean, the developmental guys might have TONS of upside, but if you're running "Thursday Nitro," would you rather have a D'Lo Brown or a Val Venis out there instead of a ratings black hole like Randy Orton?

Just my own damned opinion...

-  I'd mentioned on Monday that the Hardys had faced each other once a year or two ago in a one-off match that didn't amount to anything.  That was true, but they also faced off in a King of the Ring match earlier this year, according to a few astute readers.

Of course, that match had a bit more meaning behind it, but it still wasn't a case of both Hardys going full speed ahead with a cogent storyline behind them, as I expect they will at Sunday's PPV.

-  Speaking of Sunday's PPV, the Fed just circulated a press release about the show.  It was full of the usual fluffery and hype, but it all took on some extra gravity when they really played up the historical aspect of the "title unification" concept (something that they boast has not happened in this industry in the past 50 years).

A full explanation of the histories of the titles and their lineage dating back as far as the turn of the century is given, and is followed up by the full credentials of each of the four men who are in position to be wrestling's first Undisputed Unified World Champion in half a century.

If your local paper if lazy enough to just print whatever fluff the WWF sends them, give it a read.  Otherwise, I'm sure a quick scan of the news- or business-wire at Yahoo will turn up the press release.

-  And in closing, some site-related news...

First, at this point, I do NOT anticipate bringing back "The Rick" for a Q&A column...  even if you threaten to withold donations to my Amazon Honor System account!  Now, in time, I would like to get all the old "Rick Says" column posted in a searchable fashion so you can type in your questions and (hopefully) get an answer.  But that's not here, yet.

Second:  thanks to everybody who pointed out errors and screwy links in the left side navigation.  I think it's all fixed now... and plus, to the few of you who suggested that a link back to the main page would be a good thing to put in there, I say, "You got your wish."  I can't believe I didn't have it there already!

If you're still finding anything broken or messed up, keep on letting me know!

Finally:  I know it's a pain, but I'm still working the kinks out of the ad (especially the pop-ups).  The idea was that pop-ups would only happen on the main page, but not on the content pages.  I just yesterday got set up with my new ad serving company, though, and I haven't fully figured out how (or if) I can be that selective.

I refuse to apologize to the clueless assholes who don't comprehend that pop-ups are a necessary evil to keep a site like this funded...  but in hopes that I can figure out a way to make them less intrusive, I do apologize to those of you who are silently enduring the pain.

Friday, I'm back here with Vengeance PPV Preview...  till then, I'll keep The Ticker updated, and be posting columns from other writers whenever I receive them, so keep on coming back!

E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
BROWSE THE OO ARCHIVES

Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH.  He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to watch hours and hours of rasslin'!

All contents are Copyright 1995-2014 by OOWrestling.com.  All rights reserved.
This website is not affiliated with WWE or any other professional wrestling organization.  Privacy Statement.