ProWrestlingViews.com

Archive for September, 2010

The WWE is making the right decision in unifying the WWE Women’s Title with the WWE Divas Title, and this weekend’s PPV will have Michelle McCool facing off with Melina, with the lumberjills at ringside, to decide who will emerge victorious as the women’s unified champion.

For my money, I think it’s a no-brainer to put the title on Melina. McCool’s not so cool, and her constant rants about everything from how she’s better than Melina to weird mumblings about some acai scam are just not that engaging.

Shawn Michaels posted a video on YouTube recently (and not on www.removebellyfat.org, as some claim) to announce that he’s not the mystery GM on RAW and doesn’t no who is.

“That’s because I don’t ask,” Michaels said. Michaels, who retired from the ring earlier this year, claimed he’d met or exceeded every career goal he had for himself, his retirement is real, and he’s a WWE guy “for life,” so don’t expect him to show up on TNA or anywhere else. He will not be returning to the ring.

Of course, in the world of pro wrestling, one never knows what’s a work and what’s real. Especially with the Heartbreak Kid.

Former TNA wrestler and one-time WWE star Sean Waltman (often known as X-Pac in his WWE days, Syxx-Pac at TNA) was arrested at a New Jersey airport in Newark, on charges of marijuana possession. Waltman was released a few hours later; he claimed to have lost his ID at a party and been robbed. Hard to say whether rfid blocking wallets could have helped Waltman in this case.

Waltman returned to TNA back in January but was subsequently released in June. This past weekend represented his return to the indie wrestling circuit, but in light of his arrest and release, that return could prove to be short-lived.

WWE Raw averaged 4.35 million viewers on Monday, which they labeled their “season premiere” episode even though Raw never really goes “off-season.” Strong numbers from Monday Night Football and Pawn Stars on ESPN meant Raw came in only eighth in viewership on Monday, among cable programming.

That’s a long ways off from Raw’s heyday in the late-1990s, and the lowest rating since May, but now that regular programs are returning to the network schedules, a dip had to be expected, and no one will need a barcode scanner to keep with with the viewership for the next few months, until December, when reruns start to push viewers back to cable channels.

The WWE, it has been confirmed, is under investigation for how it classifies its wrestlers and some behind-the-scenes workers as independent contractors, rather than employees. The classification investigation seems to be part of a recent crackdown by the Obama Administration on businesses who misuse the independent contractor classification to avoid paying out certain benefits and other employee-related expenses.

It’s hard for an outsider to know how the WWE works. Are they getting their life insurance quotes online? Are they providing certain benefits, such as those the company pays for through the Employee Wellness Program?

It’s hard to say, but the timing of the investigation – as Linda McMahon is locked in a tight race with Democrat Richard Blumenthal for the open US Senate seat in Connecticut – is suspicious. WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman had this to say:

“WWE has always complied with the law. Up until this election, WWE has not been fined nor investigated in the past for independent contractor classification. However, curiously the state of Connecticut is currently conducting an audit of WWE’s classification of independent contractors. WWE constantly reviews its internal practices and procedures to comply with ever-changing employee laws … The average WWE performer earns more than $550,000 annually, while only wrestling less than three days per week. WWE covers 100 percent of all costs associated with any in-ring related injuries and rehabilitation.”

It will be interesting to see how quickly this investigation fizzles should McMahon lose her race against Blumenthal, and how long they might linger if she wins.

Glenn Jacobs, the WWE wrestler better known as Kane, was interviewed in the Baltimore Sun recently and aside from his wrestling career, which he senses is winding down these days, he did air some interesting political views. Jacobs is a member of the Libertarian Party and was asked by the Sun reporter whether he ever envisions America electing a Libertarian, independent or third-party president.

Here’s his response:

Certainly I think the way things are going with the economy, and this is not a rip on any particular party because they’re both at fault, but with the centralization of the economy, central planning, that doesn’t work. We saw that everywhere it’s been tried. As things unfold I think people will be looking for answers, and I think the Libertarians, certainly the people that understand real economics – Austrian economics – they have those answers. So we’ll see what happens. I think we do live in very interesting times.

Not bad for a fellow who’s spent most of his adult life beating up on other large fellows inside metal buildings. The pro wrestler also writes a political blog called “The Adventures of Citizen X.”

Thanks to low ratings when RAW gets expanded to three hours too frequently, WWE and USA have cut down the number of times the show is expanded from its normal two-hour format. This past Monday celebrated RAW’s 900th episode, which was pretty special as a benchmark, but the next three-hour RAW won’t roll around until November 15 as a build-up to the Survivor Series PPV.

Personally, I’m in favor of reducing the number of times RAW is expanded to three hours, in order to keep it feeling like a special event. Do it too often, and it eventually just feels routine. I’m sure there are some custom electronics that could calculate the math behind the perfect equation of how often RAW ought to be expanded to three hours, but personally I think it ought to be a bit more organic than that: it should only be expanded for very special events.

It might take a bathroom fan to air out fan displeasure over how abruptly Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson dropped his WWE career in favor of making movies, but current WWE/movie crossover star John Cena, a seven-time champion, told CBS News that he has no intention of leaving pro wrestling any time soon in favor of acting.

“I’ve filmed three movies now with not sacrificing my WWE schedule at all. I have a system that makes it work,” Cena said. “The first movie I filmed was in Australia. And I still flew back and forth and made all of my WWE commitments. So, if I can be that far from home, and still not miss anything, I know it can be done.”

While some naysayers of Cena’s might welcome his departure, wrestling fans will be relieved that Cena will continue to balance both of his career ambitions.