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PWINSIDER Q & A: DO DROPPING RATINGS MATTER, BOOGEYMAN UPDATE, 24-7, CROSS POLLINATION OF BRANDS, WHAT IF WITH ECW AND MORE

Is Big Daddy V indeed coming to Friday Night SmackDown!, because they playing vignettes as of late? 

That has been talked about internally for a while now.  However, with WWE in full court press mode trying to save ECW, it may be put on the back burner.  WWE only got a one year renewal for ECW when they would have liked a multi-year deal so it's been made clear to them that ECW needs to improve to keep it's TV spot on Sci Fi.  They will actually have to start treating the brand as something more than an afterthought and having cross-pollination with Smackdown is their idea for doing it. 

I noticed that Smackdown rating is up again. Don't you think that a lot of people (a few website writers, and some ignorant fans) are making a bigger deal out of that RAW 2.8 rating than they should? Everyone knows that Monday night there were 2 pretty big sporting events on TV, the NFL game and the baseball playoff game. The Cowboys and the Yankees have a HUGE following all around the country, that's what took some of the viewers. 

Really?  Is that the reason?  Then please explain to me why it's not a concern that the show dropped to almost ten year lows that night?  Please explain why on the night that every fan who didn't buy the PPV should be curious to find out who the new champion was yet many didn't turn on the show.  Honestly, the only people who are ignorant where the ratings are concerned are the apologists who don't want to see things for what they are.  WWE still does a solid number for Raw, but the ratings are way down.  That is a fact.  Just because someone is a WWE fan doesn't mean that they can't look at the product with a fair, critical eye.  Saying everything is great when it's not is counterproductive.  As for the football and playoff games keep this in mind.  They both did great CABLE ratings but in years past, there have been games on free TV that have done way higher numbers than they did and Raw still did far better than a 2.8.  The fact of the matter is that is a scary number for WWE.  To not accept it as such is akin to an ostrich putting his head in the sand.

Where is the Boogeyman?

As I mentioned on my hotline yesterday, he is out of action with a calf injury.

WILL WE EVER SEE 24/7 VIA TIME WARNER CABLE. I'VE ASKED CONTINUOUSLY FOR 4 OR SO YEARS, & you name the excuse & TWC has used it at least once.  They know where we are when the PPVs keep getting rammed down our throats, & people are dumb enough to keep buying them. How about someone doing something for us instead of ramming something AT us. Thanks for the time. There actually are a few of us who would like to see some classic wrestling.

I understand your frustration, believe me.  What this situation is right now is simple.  You have two parties who have drawn a line in the sand as to what they want to pay/receive for the service and neither one will budge.  This isn't the first time Vince McMahon has done it (remember the year or so he pulled his events from DirecTV?) The only thing that you can do is call both parties and demand that they get their act together.  But, be prepared to be frustrated.

My question comes from reading on WWE.com, a small thing about what would have happened if the original ECW never went out of business. I was thinking the same thing, and I wondered. Would ECW have become something similar to what ROH is now? Since ECW folded, more and more pure wrestling matches are turning out in the indy scene, all because of ROH's influence. Even CZW has started doing pure wrestling matches. Do you think that guys like Bryan Danielson, Low Ki (I know he was already slated to start with ECW when it folded), Nigel McGuiness and so on would have worked with ECW and they would have evolved their product from what it was in the late 90s, to what ROH is now?

The short answer is no, ECW wouldn't have evolved into that for the simple reason that they folded because of financial problems.  With no money, they wouldn't have continued on since they spent so much in the years that preceded their bankruptcy.  It's kind of like trying to say you are a virgin after you had sex, the genie is out of the bottle by then.  ECW went national and then failed.  Once they hit the bankruptcy, it was game over.  Had they not gone under, they would have been a national, not regional, company.

But, if they had tons of money and decided to go on a regional basis rather than go on PPVl, sure they would have pushed technical matches because they did that before trying to go national.

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