Lance Storm Commentary On SNME; Jim Ross' Latest Blog; Jackass At Summerlam
Steve O (Jackass) posted a blurb on his webpage that the cast of Jackass will be in action at WWE Summerslam. And the talk going around the net is that Steve O will actually be part of the Summerslam main event. Sigh.
Lance Storm posted the following commentary on The Fight Network website:
SNME OVER EXPOSURE?
I watched this past weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, and couldn’t help but wonder, what’s the point? I didn’t even watch the thing live I taped it and watched Sunday Night while doing the dishes. That is how excited I was about catching the event. The sad thing is I was a huge SNME Mark back in the mid to late 80’s when the WWF first started running SNME, yet I had next to no interest in seeing this event.
This brings up the obvious question, why? Is the newer version of SNME that much worse than the SNME of old, or has the wrestling industry simply outgrown it? Some might argue that the show was not very good, I read several viewer reviews online that buried the show, but I don’t think that is a valid argument. This past Saturday Night’s Main Event was very much true to form of past events. It started off big, with a World (non) Title match and much like back in the original Hogan era, it was short on actual wrestling but heavy on build up for the next PPV. We got two other solid segments with the arm wrestling contest and SD tag match, which were a solid angle and solid match respectively; from there thing went down hill, sliding into the absurd and wacky, but again that was what SNME was back in the day. Do you remember all the silly Gene Okerland, Lord Alfred Haze skits, or the Blow Away Diet? This show very much followed the SNME formula.
The reason I think people thought the show as poor, and why, like me, most people didn’t care for or about this episode of SNME, is that it is completely redundant when you take into account the current state of pro wrestling. When SNME first became big, the only wrestling on television were shows like WWF Superstars, or WWF Wrestling Challenge. These shows aired weekend mornings and consisted of exclusively one sided squash matches and promos, and almost never had big name match ups. Saturday Night’s Main Event was your only chance to see big name match ups or hype for PPV feuds and therefore were extremely special. When I was in High School SNME where huge. My friends and I never missed an SNME and even if there was a big party that weekend, the TV went on and the party was put on pause for 90 minutes.
Today we have Monday Night RAW, Friday Night Smack Down, and Tuesday Night (Friday’s here in Canada) ECW, all of which feature big name match ups on a weekly basis. If WWE can’t hype and sell a PPV with 5 hours of big match programming per week, an additional 90 minutes certainly won’t help and let’s be honest, keeping up with 5 hours of programming a week is a tough enough task as it is. Even if SNME was a WrestleMania caliber show it would still be almost more work than it is worth.
This is especially true when you consider that WWE decided to offer this past SNME the day before the One Night Stand PPV. Die-hard wrestling fans know that the important stuff happens on PPV so they will likely want to catch ONS, which means if they want to catch both it and SNME they have an additional 4 and ½ hours of wrestling programming to add to their normal weekly 5. This has to be the very definition of over exposure. Over 6 days WWE offered 6 and ½ hours of free wrestling programming on television and still expected people to turn around and on that 7th day, and pay to watch an additional 3 hours of action. That is just too much! Even God rested on the seventh day.
With that said, I obviously don’t have high hopes for the SNME ratings or the ONS buy rates. Even with strong shows, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Even the most die-hard fans have to consider 9 ½ hours of WWE programming a bit much. Heaven for bid a fan might also want to catch TNA Impact, a ROH DVD, or crazier yet catch a live event. I guess to be a true wrestling fan today you have to dedicate more time to wrestling than most people do to their full time job. This could be the reason a lot of people stop being wrestling fans. It gets so hard to keep up it just becomes easier to tap out and give up. It’s a good thing wrestling is my job, I’m not sure I’d make it otherwise.
Jim Ross posted the following new blog on his website, jrbarbq.com:
John Wayne.. Tired Chants.. Montreal.. Draft Talk.. Kennel From Hell.. Dueling Chants.. Al Snow Lives!.. DDT.. King Breaks Heyman’s Jaw.. J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q Closer to Opening!
I hope you are willing to check out our latest Hall of Fame offer, as the last one sold out and we expect (hope) that this one does well too.
Our Jerky business is growing really well and we are getting ready to begin doing business with several convenience stores in the Oklahoma area. I will keep you posted as to where our products are, when we get a little farther along. We have also mentioned that the Shopzone site at WWE.com carries several of our products and that they ship worldwide. I hope our international friends will take advantage of this opportunity.
I recently finished my portion of the voice-overs for the new upcoming 2008 THQ WWE video game. I can say without fail, that this year’s game is the most involved and intricate game yet, that I have been a part of. I do not profess to be a gamer in the sense that I am a video game expert, but I can tell you that are, that this game has a ton of twists and turns, features some great legends, and is more complex than I have ever experienced since I started doing video game voice-overs. The THQ folks allowed me to adlib some of the lines, which I hope adds a little extra sizzle to the process. The game will be out on all platforms in mid November.
Feedback time:
Danny- In Stone Cold’s book, Steve mentioned how I described The Duke in wrestle speak. Wayne was the consummate hero to his fans. Wayne worked with the same directors, John Ford, etc, who were akin to wrestling promoters, and much like the top wrestlers did back in the territory days Wayne secured work for his friends in many of his movies. If you watch many John Wayne movies, you will see several of the same actors in film after film. Sometimes Duke’s friends were allies, and sometimes they were Wayne’s enemies in a particular movie. In wrestling for example, when Nature Boy Buddy Rogers went from territory to territory back in the day, he traveled with a handful of wrestlers who would be booked on the same cards as Rogers, and who often times wrestled Rogers to help Rogers get established in a new area. Also old school, territory bookers would most always have a handful of wrestlers they utilized from territory to territory, especially when the bookers also wrestled, which was usually in a main event role. These bookers did this because they usually liked these wrestlers, could depend on them, felt that they were competent individuals who could enhance the product, and were generally low maintenance talents. John Wayne did the same thing when he was calling the shots as the star of the movie.
Probert 24- “You screwed Bret is a fun thing to chant”. Whatever you say my friend. You buy your tickets and can say what you want, but for me, I am ready to move on.
Martin- Montreal fans are emotional and generally bring out the best in the wrestlers. I know that the “moment” between Hogan and the Montreal fans the night after the Toronto Wrestlemania where Hogan wrestled The Rock was extraordinary. I enjoy traveling to Montreal, as I love the food (smoked meat sandwiches!) and the lovely French accents of the ladies. I may be a happily married man, but I’m not dead!
Kev- On a recent WWE 24/7, The King was speaking of breaking Paul Heyman’s jaw many, many moons ago when Heyman was just getting his start as a manager in the biz down in Memphis. As legend has it, Lawler’s breaking of Heyman’s jaw was not an accident.
Cactus- Regarding the upcoming WWE draft, I have to believe that the wrestlers will find out where they are going when their name is called. That’s how I would handle it. Talent should be drafted where they can most help the company. Not that this is an issue, but I would also not factor in wrestlers who may be socially connected with another superstar on the same roster when making these draft picks either. This is a job where significant money can be earned, and is not a dating or a matchmaking service. That may sound harsh and old school, but that’s my honest opinion.
Rene- When I think of the many great French Canadian wrestlers, I first think of Pat Patterson and Maddog Vachon. They head a long list of great French Canadian stars that got their start in Quebec. Andre The Giant also learned the business in his younger days wrestling in Quebec, for the record.
Jeremy- I agree that the use of gimmick matches is over done. I love the Hell in a Cell format, the War Games, and old school, smashmouth Texas Death Matches, but the Kennel from Hell would not make the cut. I am still trying to forget that one.
Frank- I do not follow MMA to the degree that I could pick out one of their stars who might make it in sports-entertainment. I am a casual fan of MMA, but with my travel demands, starting our restaurant, and trying to keep up with our website, I don’t devote the time to watching MMA that I did at one time. However, I am sure that there are several athletic and outgoing men in MMA who might make excellent sports entertainers.
Bryan- Unless you are hell-bent on becoming a wrestler at age 28, and have the gifts to ascend to the top quickly, I would suggest that your goal may be challenging at best, to reach. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try it, but you should be aware that success is a long shot starting at 28 years of age. I know that Diamond Dallas Page started his career later than most and did really well, but DDP would be the exception and not the rule. Lastly, I am unaware of any wrestling schools in Oregon, but perhaps someone can help us with that one. I do wish you the best of luck with whatever your decision may be.
IMan- We will have a small bar in our restaurant that will serve ice cold beer, but no hard liquor or wine will be served at “J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q”. The bar is going to be small and not emphasized as we will hang our hat on our food. If we made the bar any bigger, then I know many of my friends would just hang out and drink, which isn’t the idea with this concept.
Richard- The dueling Cena chants in Toronto added a little life to the proceedings, but it’s nothing we have not experienced before on Monday Night Raw. I still don’t get it, but if those chants adds to the fans’ enjoyment at an event, then have at it!
Travis- Al Snow is still working in Ohio Valley Wrestling instructing young wannabe superstars. Al is an excellent teacher of fundamental wrestling skills that every successful wrestler must have. Plus, Al is still a fan of the business and is not simply doing this important function solely because of the payday.
Alinco- Seeing a young superstar take a tumble off the top of a double stacked, steel cage isn’t my idea of a smart move for any young wrestler. The business is too dependant on the “Holy S*%$” moment, which I am not a fan of, if it is overused. Matches must build to the occasional aforementioned moment, plus these moments can’t become an every match or regular occurrence in my humble opinion.
Ryan- DDT stands for some sort of banned poison that the U.S. government has disallowed. I am not sure of the technical name, but a Google search might answer your question.
Edgar- It is your choice if you choose to take the draft seriously or not. I think this is an important draft, especially considering how many top superstars are on the injured list with many of them likely to be on the sidelines for a good while. I am looking forward to June 11 to see who goes where. I think your issues about too much crossover on the various TV shows is a function of a lack of talent depth in general, plus factoring in the long list of injuries to make every broadcast as good as possible. Perhaps the draft will lessen some of your concerns.
Thanks for the comments and for visiting our site. Your business is, as always, greatly appreciated!
BOOMER SOONER!
J.R.
Printer friendly page