A Broken Tease

The Hardys lost to Sheamus & Cesaro at the PPV last Sunday. On Raw, they did a promo where they teased returning to that TNA gimmick a lot of smarks love so much. And yet, it seems like the WWE might still not own the rights to use the gimmick to make all that money they would off the merchandise. Nevertheless, there are a few points I want to bring up based on this.

First, this is a good example of how losing a match, and even a feud, does not have to be a burial. If that loss serves a storyline purpose and branches off to something else that fans can get excited over, that is a good thing.

However, I hope the WWE didn't book things the way they did solely to tease the "Broken" gimmick. I have pointed out before that there are no good, fresh face teams to feud with heel Tag Team Champions on Raw right now. The Hardys feuding against The Revival for the tag titles would just have been good booking to give a young, new tag team a good rub. I feel like the WWE just buried the tag division last year by pushing New Day too much with the tag titles. They would have done fine without the tag titles. This time, it would be a case of a gimmick being pushed as a priority over the tag titles. For the sake of putting the attention on The Hardys and the potential gimmick change, the WWE books the tag division in a way that just isn't best. More excitement is still on The Hardys than over whatever is going on with the tag titles. Can't we share the spotlight better? Is it fair that these guys that were relevant over a decade ago are priorities like this in the tag division?

Another issue is the reaction from the live audience that the promo got on Raw. I pointed out on a message board that a lot of the audience just didn't care. Some fans thought I was crazy. Didn't I see the fans doing the "Delete" gesture? Didn't I hear the chants? Yeah, I saw it and I heard it. As I said, a lot of the audience didn't care.

It reminds me of when Samoa Joe debuted a couple months ago on the main roster. One guy on the message board I mentioned made a topic laughing at Samoa Joe not getting a reaction. Other people came in to talk like he got a great reaction. What was the truth? Did Samoa Joe get a reaction? Yes. Was it a great reaction? No.

It is like a lot of fans today only know two responses when it comes to crowd reactions today. You are either getting no reaction or you are getting a great reaction. That is just a dumb way to look at things. Some people will get a great reaction. Some will get a mellow reaction. Some will get no reaction. It might be different every week for the same wrestler. You cannot judge overness based on one reaction to one moment or even one night. You got to understand how much of the audience is reacting.

What was the truth about The Hardy segment? Did they get a reaction? Yes? Was it a great reaction? No. The fan reactions were mellow and did not last that long. The entire audience was definitely not reacting.

Someone I was talking to on that message board actually posted a Youtube clip to show them getting a reaction. Yeah, and it only confirmed for me that the reaction was not great. But the reason I mention this is that I read some of the comments and one that stood out to me was that someone said something along the lines of that 500 TNA fans could give a better reaction than an arena full of fans. And that is exactly my point. The reaction was there, but it was not great.

And why would you expect a great reaction? This was a gimmick from TNA, a company that was nowhere close to the WWE's numbers last year. Yes, The Hardys helped TNA's numbers with this gimmick, but Impact Wrestling wasn't averaging even half a million viewers. A lot of the WWE's audience does not care. If they cared, they would have watched TNA.

Do I believe The Hardys can eventually get epic-level reactions? Yes, if they continue to tease the gimmick, the fad will catch on and grow. And this is without being in smark-heavy arenas. Fans just love fads and things to play along with. This can definitely grow. But let's not overrate how popular this thing is now. It has potential, but the entire WWE audience is not hot for it, and it definitely will not draw much more viewers.

Mid-2017 Ratings Review

This will be the last ratings review I do. As usual, I get my numbers from here and here. Some numbers are missing, but you can still get the general idea of how the shows are doing.

Let me start with TNA/GFW/Impact Wrestling/The Company Of A 1000 Names. They are averaging 297,700 viewers so far in 2017. They averaged 310,800 viewers in 2016.

The prediction I had made for TNA was that they could do just as well as they did last year or better. It is not likely that they will do better in 2017. Nevertheless, they can still meet the 300,000 benchmark and come close to as well as they did last year. They have to be consistent with what works and build around that. They have not done a great job at that. The fact that they have gone through so many changes just this year is not good. Losing The Hardys was obviously a part of their ratings not being better than they are, but the overall confusion with the company is also a problem. The GFW thing ended up being a decent angle and has led to the company being rebranded. But they need to not make the same mistakes of the past.

Over to the WWE and Smackdown. They are averaging 1.78 in the ratings. They averaged 1.72 last year, which featured part of the year having Smackdown go live on Tuesdays and be its own brand again. Looking at their viewership numbers, they have regularly been doing over 2 million viewers this year, with one episode doing over 3 million. They have not gotten more viewers than Raw so far in 2017.

Who says ratings are down for everything on TV? Smackdown is doing better than they did last year and will likely finish the year with a better average than last year. This shows that it is still possible for the WWE to improve their numbers if they make proper changes. Most of the changes that have led to better numbers are structural. Changing nights, going live, and just making Smackdown a big deal again has led to improvements. The show does rely heavily on hype. It gets a little annoying at times. Rely on quality feuds, segments, and characters. For example, stop tossing all the women in the same picture and actually build stars. They have been relying too much on all these historic segments recently. Moreover, Smackdown seems too smark-friendly a lot of the time. Most viewers are not going to be entertained by this. Smackdown could be doing even better than they are, but they would have to make some changes that will likely not happen.

Over on Raw, they are averaging 2.12 in the ratings. Last year, it was 2.26 for the annual average. They have averaged over 3 million viewers 17 times so far this year, but will likely not reach that benchmark much for the rest of the year because of football season.

Raw is already below last year's average for the year. Their worst part of the year is coming up soon. There is no way they will avoid doing worst than last year. The annual ratings average has been declining since 2013. Ratings were about even from 2012 (3.0) to 2013 (3.01). 2012 happened to be an election year. Wasn't 2016 an election year? The idea was that ratings were so bad last year because of all the election coverage. You would expect some kind of improvement this year. At the very least, things should at least remain about even. And if the trend of Raw losing about 700,000 viewers from the start of the year to the end of the year continues, they will be in really bad shape.

I talked about how structural changes have helped Smackdown do better than they did last year. The big structural change for Raw is obviously cutting that third hour. It has been around since 2012. It is no coincidence that ratings have been sinking for most of the years since then. Declining is one thing. Declining at a terrible rate is something else. Three hours is just too much. The brand split being back just makes things harder. The WWE has to sign people just for the sake of filler. They are obviously not stars and not draws. And the WWE is terrible at making stars right now. They can probably be more efficient with just two hours. That efficiency would help the workers get over better with the audience.

Outside of cutting the third hour, Raw just needs to clean up how they run the show. Make better booking decisions. They don't need to pander to a smark audience like Smackdown does, but even a casual audience might not care too much for some of the things going on. A guy like Finn Balor should not be demoted so soon. Kurt Angle is lacking a real personality. There is just a lot lacking. A lot of wasted potential.

If Smackdown can be doing better than they did last year and GFW in a position to do just as well as last year, Raw does not need to be doing as poorly as it is. The excuse about no one watching TV anymore does not hold. I do not believe the WWE's ceiling is collapsing just because of TV viewing habits changing. They have issues that they can fix. If they fix them, things can improve in a lot of departments. They can get more viewers. They can get more people coming to shows. They can get more lively people coming to shows. Workers get more over. And the WWE just makes more money without having to work their workers to the bone, raise prices, and all those other things many people don't want.

Should Gail Kim Retire With The Title?

It is no secret that Gail Kim will retire from TNA/GFW this year. And they are having her set her sights on leaving on top. Specifically, will she be able to retire with the company's women's title?

Does Gail Kim deserve it? Some might say that Gail Kim has already had a storybook career in TNA. She was their first KO Champion. She has won the title numerous times. She held that title and the tag titles at the same time. She is the closest thing the company has had to a true centerpiece these last few years. She was the first woman in their Hall of Fame. They have done a lot for her. In return, she helped to develop the respectability that helped the KO division stand out for a number of years and gain a lot of praise from wrestling fans.

Trish Stratus retired in the WWE as Women's Champion. She was not the first Women's Champion. She was not the first centerpiece of the diva era. But if you think Trish deserved that honor of retiring on top, you can argue that Gail Kim also deserves it. Just like Trish Stratus was pushed as the greatest diva of that era, Gail Kim is just as legendary in terms of the KO division.

A couple years ago, Mickie James returned to TNA for one more match. Not only did she win that match, it was a nice moment for her. The way things are going for Mickie James in the WWE, it would not be surprising to see her back in TNA/GFW again. Ignoring that, Gail Kim is obviously a bigger deal in the company's history than Mickie James. If TNA let Mickie James have that moment, they can very well let Gail Kim have a moment to go out as a winner.

Overall, I think they should let Gail Kim retire with the title. There is no woman in the company more deserving. It is a respectful thing to do. If Gail Kim doesn't want to go out with the title, that's up to her. But TNA should want to honor Gail Kim now that she is retiring.

Will GFW continue to push a proper women's division without Gail Kim? They have done it before. I think they have enough women on their roster and free agents out there to supplement things. If they still want to create a centerpiece, which I think they should want to do, they can go with Allie. She knows how to wrestle. She is attractive. She can show personality. And she is going to be 30 in a few months. They can do some good things with her for a number of years.

Last thing to consider, should Gail Kim go back to the WWE? Even for just one match? Even if just in NXT? Some fans want it. I don't think she should. Leave the memories alone. The WWE mistreated her a lot. TNA was the company that was loyal to her. Don't be one of those people that has a huge farewell when they retire, then comes back for more, especially in a rival company. Gail Kim is 40. She was never over in the WWE and she has had some sloppy moments you cannot blame entirely on the WWE. As for coming back just for one match in NXT, what would that accomplish for the WWE? It might be something Triple H does to promote his love for women's wrestling, but there are a ton of women out there that would love to get a chance to shine in the WWE's developmental territory. Asuka has kind of been burying a lot of the division lately. If Gail Kim is going to retire, her final match should just be in TNA, not NXT.

Improving The Presence Of Mickie James

When you are talking about the presence someone has, that can mean a lot of different things. It can be based on someone's appearance or charisma. If a beautiful woman walks into a room, that can turn a lot of heads. On the other side of that, if a person that comes off as a tough guy walks into a room, people might want to stay clear of him. Both individuals have a presence.

In sports, presence also matters. And it usually has to be earned. In football, if defenders know they have to go against Tom Brady, that might make them a little worried. In baseball, if someone known as a good hitter steps up to the plate, the pitcher might pitch him very carefully, or just intentionally walk him. In basketball, a player with a great presence might draw extra defenders to him, which will open up opportunities for other guys on his team to score.

Wrestling is a funny business. Not only can you debate whether it counts as a real sport or not, the presence of a wrestler isn't just based on his own appearance, charisma, and overall greatness as a performer. How they are being pushed also has a lot to do with it. I would say how they are being pushed is even more important than their personal qualities. I have seen mediocre performers be pushed hard and connect with the fans mainly off of that big push. I have seen people that seemed to have a ton of potential be underutilized and have that hurt their success.

That brings me to Mickie James. She is obviously not connecting well with the fans. The way she has been pushed obviously has a lot to do with it. I have seen some fans think the return of Mickie James was a success a couple months ago, like this writer. He wrote that article shortly after Mickie James finally won a match since re-signing with the WWE. The fact that it took that long to give her a win was a sign that this was not a good start. And the mistake that writer makes is thinking too much in terms of in-ring value and not enough in terms of overness. I questioned even before she returned whether having her be La Luchadora and a heel was wise. She then had that poor feud with Becky Lynch. And she has been treated even worse since coming to Raw. No, the return of Mickie James to the WWE has not been a successful one. She will get pushed sooner or later. She is back for a good amount of years. But that push will likely be a mediocre, typical push that doesn't do much for her.

The WWE obviously does not care about doing anything to help Mickie James, but let me bring up something they could do to help her connection with the fans, anyway. Improve her presence. Right now, she just looks like a loser. Not only has she lost every televised match she has been in on Raw, but she has frequently been laid out in every appearance she has made in the last few weeks. The commentators can put over all the titles she won in the WWE and say she helped the women's revolution, but when she's jobbing like she is and looking so bad, the words mean nothing. Her presence does not match the empty hype. It is hard to get excited for someone like this.

I don't mean just a gimmick change. I keep on seeing fans roll their eyes at how many opportunities The Colons have gotten with various gimmicks. They have had a lot of gimmicks, but I don't know how many opportunities they have had. Their presence has never been that great. They have never been pushed as that big of a deal, especially during the title run Epico & Primo had. The WWE just sends them out there for a while, then doesn't follow through. The same thing with Brodus Clay. They gave him a dancing gimmick that no one expected and got people talking. He had a win streak for a while, but the WWE never really developed a proper feud for him when he had that momentum. His presence was that of just a gimmick. He wasn't going anywhere. And there are other examples of people with gimmicks that just didn't seem to be actually pushed properly during those gimmicks.

Right now, a lot of fans can look at Mickie James and think she's nothing special. And that is terrible. The WWE is simply not presenting her as anything special. I am going to bring up four ideas of how to present Mickie James as something special. And this is without inventing anything out of thin air. Just based on things Mickie James already has associated with her, it is possible to treat her in a unique way. Again, the WWE isn't likely to do any of these, but if they ever did have a change of heart, here are some ideas.

First, she has that music career. It isn't like she abandoned it. She came out with a new single last year. TNA obviously did a real job making something of her country music career. They could have done better with Mickie James in a lot of ways, but they did do some good things. They let her perform her theme song on Impact. They sold her second CD on their website. I also remember reading that Mickie James would sometimes do music shows right after some TNA house shows back then. Some fans got a "2 for 1" experience.

The WWE can obviously do more than just mention her music career on their website. Present her as something more than just a wrestler on Raw. That can help her get more fans interested in her. While Mickie James is out there furthering her music career, she might be able to win over people that like her music into wanting to watch Raw to see her wrestle. I am not saying she will be a huge draw, but presenting her in this way could widen her appeal. The WWE frequently brings in part-timers like The Rock and Brock Lesnar, hoping their appeal in Hollywood and the MMA community, respectively, will draw for them. I am not saying Mickie James will work out as well as them, but they have a full-time performer that has potential to at least draw some interest outside of wrestling that is not being utilized.

Second, Mickie James is married to a wrestler, Magnus. Once again, TNA did a better job with this than I expect the WWE would. Two years ago, Mickie James was involved in two big feuds for Magnus. People can roll their eyes at what TNA had done in the James Storm angle, but it still got people talking and led to a nice moment of Mickie giving her DDT to Storm. I always wanted periphery angles for Mickie James and being married to Magnus just makes for a convenient option. And they wouldn't always have to be involved with each other. Magnus can have some solo feuds against the men. Mickie can have some solo feuds against the women. But the two can then come together for some good storylines, feuds, and segments. A lot of women in the WWE became stars in the periphery, so presenting Mickie James here would not be bad for her.

Why do I not think the WWE would do a good job with Mickie and Magnus? Even if Magnus comes to the WWE, I expect him to not go that far. The two of them might end up just being a jobber couple. They might job to Miz & Maryse. Mickie and Magnus would just be treated better together in TNA. Not only were they treated well back in 2015 together, but Magnus has held multiple titles in TNA, including the TNA World Championship. I doubt TNA would put a title-reigns limit on Mickie James like the WWE might still be keeping on her. They would be willing to do some interesting things with her. And when you include her husband in the mix, there is the potential for a power couple to be presented. I don't think Mickie James would have that presence in the WWE with Magnus.

The third idea for presenting Mickie James as something special has to do with her title reigns. Look at Ric Flair. This guy has been retired for almost a decade, ignoring the fact that he actually came out of that retirement to wrestle in TNA. But he still has a presence. He does not even need to show up for that presence to be felt. Whenever someone talks about breaking the record for most World Championship reigns, the number is 16 and the name is Ric Flair. Ric Flair won multiple titles in various promotions, not just the WWE. Years after he has retired, fans can still know he is a big deal and know other wrestlers are trying to chase his legacy. John Cena will break the record, but Ric Flair still saying he is a 16-time World Champion is something to be proud of.

Mickie James has won more major female titles than any other woman. But it means nothing. The WWE will not acknowledge her TNA reigns. Women like Charlotte are not chasing Mickie James. They are chasing Trish Stratus. If her true title legacy was acknowledged, that would help to present her as someone a lot more important. It is not going to happen in the WWE. The WWE knows TNA exists and will often play chess with them, but they will not acknowledge her titles there. Her title reigns become just something for her to be proud of and her fans to talk about.

Lastly, how about the impact Mickie James had on the status quo? During the diva era, she took a career in which she was being used to put over other women and being used as filler and overcame that to get more over than the women being pushed as stars. She never got the career she earned and the WWE continued to try to force the diva status quo. Back then, the WWE could not stop her. Obviously, today is a different story. But can being an enemy to the status quo help a worker stand out? Look at what it did for Daniel Bryan. He looks like a hero. CM Punk said what fans wanted to hear and became a rebel. He's a hero to smarks. To some degree, even Zack Ryder is still looked on as a guy that beat the status quo. And before all these guys did what they did, Mickie James did what she did and no one understands it and no one gives her credit for it.

How would you present Mickie James as this woman that beat the status quo? Have her go out and say it. Call it a pipebomb. Instead of having her go out there and give a bitter promo about women of today not giving her respect, which does not match reality or anything Mickie James said in sincerity in an interview, have her stand up for herself and shoot on the reality of her career. If nothing else, smarks will love it and she will definitely improve her overness. But the WWE will never acknowledge just how much the mistreated female wrestlers in the diva era. And if the diva era is sneaking back in, the WWE will not want fans to catch on that women like Bayley are just being used to put over the eye-candy centerpiece, then getting tossed aside. But if Mickie James ever was allowed to do this kind of promo, she would gain the kind of presence as men like Daniel Bryan  and CM Punk.

One thing I would not say is that Mickie James screwed her own presence. Back in the day, Lita had that affair with Edge and that hurt her presence. A lot of fans turned on her. She has since regained some of that respectability. Mickie James has had to deal with sour dirtsheet reports and other garbage since 2009. But that didn't hurt her overness. Fans still were upset when she got released. She worked as a face in TNA and the indies. A lot of fans were excited when she was coming back to the WWE.

I would say it is just the era. A lot of men, women, tag teams, cruiserweights and whatever else that you would expect wrestling fans to eat up just do not get good, consistent reactions. You need to be pushed hard to get that kind of reaction, like Roman Reigns, for better or worse. You need a huge gimmick, like New Day. Fads help, just as Chris Jericho. When it comes to the women, fans are once again getting drawn to the eye-candy, like Lana. Sadly, the WWE just gets lazy and sloppy with a lot of things.

But it is starting to look like the WWE's mistreatment of Mickie James is more deliberate than a botch. They have made her look needlessly bad recently. I remember having a conversation with someone somewhere on the Internet a long time ago. I told that person that the WWE would love to turn Mickie James into the next Victoria. This was during the end of Victoria's WWE career when she was essentially just a lame duck. That's what happens to credible jobbers. They don't win an infinite number of title reigns. And because they are not priorities, they do not get moved to great spots in the periphery. Beyond not winning too many title reigns, another reason they get treated so poorly is that younger, fresher credible jobbers are around. These older credible jobbers just get shuffled around until they get released, their contracts expire, or they leave on their own. That person I was talking to said that wouldn't happen to Mickie James because she was more over than Victoria and better than her. It is true that Mickie James was more over back then and was a better choice to be the centerpiece then over the divas that were failing than Victoria ever was in her career over Trish Stratus. But the WWE still viewed Mickie James as a credible jobber.

The WWE career of Mickie James has picked up right where it left off. Back in 2010, Mickie James had gotten 6 title runs. A lame duck credible jobber is not going to win as many as Trish Status, not to mention continue to be in the way of the chosen successor to Trish Stratus. Everyone talks like the WWE releasing Mickie James was the worst thing ever for her. It might have been the best thing for her. She was not going to accomplish much else in the WWE, if anything. Now that she is back, she seems to be immediately back to being the lame duck she was just becoming when they released her. Even if she will never win another title, I do think they can at least improve her presence to help her connect with the fans better. Moreover, some of these ideas can lead to angles that can have an impact in putting over other women and creating situations that sometimes draw. John Cena sometimes gives these promos where he makes it seem like his opponent's accomplishments mean nothing. Smarks usually hate that. Well, if all these accomplishments of Mickie James, whether you are talking her title legacy or her impact on the status quo, never get used to create the same drama that you have with Ric Flair's title legacy or storylines with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, what do they become? Nothing but things for Mickie James and her fans to be proud of and talking points. Her career does not have to go out with a whimper like this. There are still ways to present her as something better for the rest of her years in the WWE.

How TNA Does "Diva" Better Than The WWE

Eye-candy has always had a place in pro wrestling. WCW had the Nitro Girls, who danced around. ECW was more known for catfights than respectable women's wrestling. Even today, there are women in the indies that are obviously just there for their looks. They may take bumps and have matches here and there, but they are mostly valets and just personalities.

What made the WWE's "diva" agenda different was that they would often look for women with no pro wrestling training at all and develop women like that in the ring to be their centerpieces. They took women that were really models and cheerleaders and treated them like they were as good as, or better than, women that had more credibility. Some of these women eventually became very respectable in the ring, like Trish Stratus, but there have been more failed centerpieces than successful ones during the diva era.

This is supposed to be a new era. This is supposed to be the women's revolution era. Let's face it, the women's wrestling revolution is turning into the revitalization of the diva era. I have pointed it out before. I see more and more fans bringing it up. Alexa Bliss being pushed like she has is straight out of the diva era. And Lana now looks like she is bringing back more of that diva flavor to Smackdown's women's division.

Bayley and Alexa Bliss are just coming off a feud where Bayley looked terrible before their recent PPV match. Without even bringing up how much fans disliked that elaborate segment last week from Alexa Bliss, just sticking to the wrestling, their PPV match was not good. I talked about how the story would matter in that match. It was likely that Alexa Bliss would retain, but I said that Bayley needed to at least look good and give Alexa Bliss a little comeuppance. I am not a sadistic individual. I do not have a fetish for seeing women getting hit by sticks. I am talking in terms of helping the characters and telling a good story in the ring. And it was awful. Bayley looks terrible. I have pointed out multiple times in the last few months that Bayley has not gotten a fair shot. She had to take a backseat to Charlotte/Sasha at a time last year when it looked like she would finally get her shot. That did not make her look good. And the WWE has just not presented her character right. They have taken her and just expected her to be something that just doesn't work for her.

Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss had a "match" on Raw this week against Nia Jax. It was more stupidity that hurts the image that Raw's women's division used to have since last year. Alexa Bliss just should not be the centerpiece. I hear some fans justifying her push because she sells merchandise. Okay, why does she sell merchandise? It is because of her looks and her charisma. No sensible wrestling fan out there thinks she's a great wrestler. If she is valuable for her looks and charisma, why can't they push her as a periphery diva? Present her as something special there. Because pushing her in the ring is definitely damaging the development of women that are better in the ring than her and irritating a lot of fans out there.

Onto TNA (Impact Wrestling). TNA obviously has a history of taking former WWE workers. They have even taken some of their divas. I don't just mean female wrestlers taken from the diva division, like Gail Kim. I mean those women that were true eye-candy divas in the WWE, like Taryn Terrell. This is also a company that has a history of featuring respectable women's wrestling that goes back even further than the women's revolution in the WWE.

How can these two things coexist? How can you have a company that is going to push respectable women's wrestling, but also hire these women that only got into the business thanks to their looks? Because TNA has maintained their standards. Women like Taryn Terrell and Brooke Tessmacher had to train and put on solid, respectable performances before they got title reigns. Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim had a great rivalry that even wrestling fans respected. Might these former WWE eye-candy divas sometimes botch? Yeah, but so does Gail Kim. And Velvet Sky is also one of the least-credible women TNA has ever had, but you can't blame the WWE for bringing her up. But even Velvet Sky had to at least be presented as a serious competitor before finally winning the KO title.

Go back to the lowest point of the KO division. I would say that was last year. Maria Kanellis won the KO title. You look at the list of women to have held the title. Is any woman on that list less credible than Maria Kanellis? TNA did not even sell her as a threat. She was abusing her power, relying on henchwomen, and using weapons. Allie (Cherry Bomb) got a short title reign during this time that looked terrible in terms of how she won it and lost it, but at least she has shown she is a good in-ring worker in the indies. Indeed, I would say Maria is the worst woman to have held the title. To make matters worse, this was going on at the same time the WWE was touting their women's revolution. It was terrible timing. As the WWE was moving away from the diva era, TNA gave the title to a diva.

Thing is, however, you can argue that TNA did not really lower their standards. They did not try to sell Maria like she could hold her own in the ring as Gail Kim. It was just a storyline getting in the way of that respectability the women's division is known for. The whole storyline was even that Maria running the division was ruining it. Gail Kim got her revenge on Maria Kanellis and the KO division has gone back to being treated better.

How is that different from what has been going on in the WWE recently? They are actually trying to sell Alexa Bliss as a woman that can hold her own against women a lot better in the ring than her. She may be better than Maria Kanellis in the ring, but that isn't saying too much. And the WWE isn't doing it by maintaining respectable standards and having Alexa Bliss rise up to meet those standards. The WWE has lowered their standards. That is what have so many fans unhappy about the direction things are going. Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley just did not come off as Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim at all. Would it have at least been better if it came off like Maria Kanellis vs. Gail Kim? Gail Kim got her revenge on Maria and everyone moved on. Bayley didn't get her revenge on Alexa Bliss and it does not look like the WWE is planning to move on from going in the direction of Alexa Bliss. This is not a storyline of Alexa Bliss hurting the women's revolution. This is the WWE damaging the women's revolution through their desire to push Alexa Bliss. I am sure there is a good chance there might be a storyline of Alexa Bliss hurting the women's revolution when she feuds with Sasha Banks, but will that storyline really lead to the end of Alexa Bliss? Or at least lead to her stepping up and being more respectable in the ring? Or will this just be a storyline for the sake of exciting smarks and not really change anything?

So, how was TNA able to do "diva" better than the WWE? By actually putting the divas they took from the WWE in a position to be featured as serious performers. There might be some sloppy matches here and there and the whole situation with Maria Kanellis I just mentioned, but their identity has still remained respectable. Meanwhile, the WWE seems to lower the bar when they want the divas still on their roster to look good. Female wrestlers are made to look bad and match quality is definitely taking a hit. And this is not a storyline that these eye-candy divas are hurting this new era. This is the WWE letting old habits take over again.  

The New Direction Of Impact Wrestling

TNA has had a lot of changes this year. They have been re-branded to Impact Wrestling. I'm only going to be here a few more months, so I'll just call them whatever I feel like before I'm done blogging. Aside from changes in name and logos, there has been a change in the roster.

First, the big loss. The Hardys are gone. Last year, these guys had a big hand in TNA getting their best numbers for some weeks. It's not just that they were former WWE guys and very popular. Face it, Jeff Hardy has had his issues over the years and even Matt Hardy was going sour with the fans before his epic gimmick change. But that gimmick and all the crazy segments and matches that came out of it really caused some buzz. Something that easily could have been viewed as Wrestlecrap was actually a hit. And now it is gone.

The big gain? That would be Alberto El Patron. That would be WWE's Alberto Del Rio. He has held multiple titles in the WWE and has already found himself in the title picture in Impact Wrestling. A point I have brought up a few times over the years is, as far as positions go, anyone and everyone is replaceable. But in terms of how efficient and how productive someone can be in a given position, some people cannot be replaced that easily. You might even say there are elites out there that simply cannot be replaced. I am not saying The Hardys were elites, but Alberto El Patron is not going to replace them. I like the guy, but he never reached his potential in the WWE. And this is one instance where most of the blame cannot go on the WWE. They pushed him very well, especially during his first run. Things just could not come together for him. Impact Wrestling gains a guy with some credibility and notoriety, but it will only take them so far.

Of course, there was more to The Hardys' formula for success than just them being liked before TNA. As I said, they were pushed in a unique way. And that is something the company will need to do for El Patron. I think there is definitely potential for that. It may not work, but they can try various things. Don't just push him as a guy that wants a title reign and all that. It was mediocre when they did it with Mickie James in 2010/2011, and it will do El Patron no favors. Develop a good gimmick for him.

I have said before that one of TNA's main issues for years was their failure to retain talent. They just juggle everyone around. They needed to find things that work and stick with it. There are a lot of coaches in sports that will agonize to find a starting lineup that works. Once they have it, they don't just toss it in the trash and continue going all over the place for no good reason. They stick with it as much as is needed to be successful. Wrestling companies need to follow that same idea. Find what works and try to stick with it. Issues might pop up, like injuries, but that doesn't mean inconsistency should be your goal. The WWE's main issue over the years has been trying to force things to work. They don't look for what works. They force things to work. That's not how you give people a proper chance to succeed and earn things for themselves.

Losing The Hardys is another example of TNA failing to retain talent. You can also bring up certain other men, like Drew McIntyre, but I would say The Hardys going is a bigger deal. It just impacts the audience. If the audience was getting attached to something, it is terrible to start depushing it for the sake of something else that will also get depushed in time. And to completely lose it from your company is even worse.

I talked about the impact The Hardys had on the viewership numbers. I felt that 2017 was a year Impact Wrestling could do just as well as 2016, if not better. Let me talk about the company's viewership as it stands now. I get my numbers from here. The numbers do not currently include the viewership for last week's episode, but I calculated that in myself.

For the first 10 weeks of 2017, Impact Wrestling is averaging 292,000 viewers. In 2016, the show averaged 273,700 viewers through 10 weeks. Through the first few weeks of this year, Impact Wrestling is actually doing better than they did last year.

How is it that Impact Wrestling is doing better than last year and WWE Raw is doing worse? Are none of the cord-cutters TNA fans? Is TNA unaffected by that? TNA just has a high ceiling. Just a couple years ago, they were doing over a million viewers. Multiple factors have contributed to their collapse, but there is still room for them to regain their audience, even in this era of many people saying no one watches TV anymore.

Has Raw really reached its ceiling? Is that ceiling really getting lower? I don't believe that. Just 2 years ago, the Raw after Wrestlemania did over five million viewers. I am not talking about a Raw from a decade ago. I am talking about 2015. I am not saying they can do just as well every week, but it is ridiculous to think that the WWE is already in a position where they may never see four million viewers again for their main show.

Back to Impact Wrestling. Even though they are doing better to start 2017 than they did to start 2016, I am not as confident as I was that they can still do just as well as last year for the remainder of the year. Losing The Hardys is huge. What can TNA do? Push people in unique ways. That is what got them good numbers last year. Don't be afraid to look stupid. Something stupid might end up drawing. That doesn't mean they should make stupid business decisions. I am talking about "look stupid" in terms of creative ideas. Most importantly, don't do what the WWE is doing. They do not have a winning formula right now. They are just working off smarks and trying to make as much money off wrestling fans as they can. TNA should just worry about entertaining and being unique.

January 2017 Ratings Review

January 2017 is over. Especially for Raw, the ratings in the first month of the year will give a good idea of how the rest of 2017 will go. I get my numbers from here and here.

Let me start with TNA. They have been rebranded to Impact Wrestling. I might still call them TNA just out of habit, and because it is just shorter. They averaged 296,000 viewers in January. They averaged about 300,000 viewers in January last year. I had said I believed TNA could do even better than last year, if not at least remain the same. So far, I would say they are still in a good position to do as well as I predicted. Impact Wrestling has not shown to have the same seasonal roller-coaster pattern that you see with Raw. They will likely suffer on Thanksgiving, but that's just one night. Football season won't hurt them too much. As long as they don't make too many stupid mistakes, don't try to do what the WWE is doing, and build on what is entertaining the fans, they should remain at least decent.

It might be unfair to compare Smackdown's ratings in January 2017 to the numbers they got in January 2016. They were live back then, but they were not yet their own brand. They have averaged an 1.86 so far. They averaged 1.84 in January 2016. Again, much like TNA, they are in the same area. People give Smackdown a lot of praise. They are a little more efficient than Raw in some ways, but they do have issues. I can picture them getting derailed sooner or later. If it does happen, will it hurt the ratings?

Onto Raw. This is the show to really pay attention to. They averaged 3,225,000 viewers in January. It was 3,623,000 viewers in January of last year. We're not talking about around a 1% difference here, like what you had with TNA's viewership and Smackdown's ratings between January 2016 and January 2017. We are talking about a 10% difference. In terms of ratings, it dropped from a 2.56 last year to a 2.21 this year, once again over 10%. When numbers for Impact Wrestling and Smackdown have stayed about the same from January 2016 compared to January 2017, I don't think you can let Raw's drop off the hook.

I saw some people get excited for Raw's numbers last week, which was the Raw after the Royal Rumble. 3,615,000 viewers and a 2.49 in the ratings. This is worth getting excited over? Shows after a PPV typically do well. And this was one of the biggest PPVs of the year. It is to be expected it will do well. Even then, very mediocre numbers. These same people that thought Raw's numbers last week were impressive will be left in shock in a few months at how far it will drop. What went wrong? Was KO not a draw? Was it a bad idea to put the title on Goldberg? Blame it on Rollins getting injured? None of these things. Raw was just always trending towards bad numbers. Some people just got fooled by a ratings boost that was just obviously going to happen, and wasn't that impressive to begin with.

Where are the viewers going? For one thing, to Fox News. Numerous shows on that channel get more viewers than Raw. They might not be drawing more in the young adult demographic, but their numbers are up from last year around this time. Also, TNT is now featuring Monday night NBA games. It is true that NBA TV used to feature games on Monday nights, but now a network with a broader audience has them, and TNT is no stranger to beating Raw in the ratings. Most of these games are not likely to get more viewers than Raw, but it is still sports competition. The NBA playoffs will do more damage in a few months, but Raw still has more to deal with until then.

Of course, aside from looking at competition, the WWE just needs to look in the mirror and recognize their own faults. Last year, they had a lot of excuses. It was an election year. You had the summer Olympics. Then, football season. Okay, you are out of excuses now. The last time they dealt with an election year, and the summer Olympics, was 2012. They bounced back well in 2013. It hasn't happened yet this time around. And it is unlikely to happen. What's their big surprise to draw this year? Goldberg is already back. No other fresh part-timers that can draw are on the horizon. Will Shaq do anything? Things are going to look very bad.

What can the WWE do to help Raw? End the brand split. Some people can say cut the third hour, but ending the brand split would be my #1 step. It just holds back the WWE from having their full roster of stars available to them. And they need to get back to entertaining and stop with the self-righteous garbage. It really starts with the atmosphere. If you have a sour atmosphere, it doesn't matter how much potential your talent have to be entertaining, the sourness is likely to turn a lot of people off. Their general identity should be entertaining, not to play with what smarks want. With Impact Wrestling and Smackdown holding steady, it is inexcusable for Raw to still be doing as poorly as it is.

The Reinvention That Isn't Working

I wasn't a fan of how the WWE chose to bring back Mickie James. I did give them some credit. For instance, they had her return take place during the main-event segment of Smackdown a few weeks ago. That was a nice sign of respect. Since then, however, I see more not to like.

But let me start with giving them a little more credit. A week after she returned, they let Mickie James get some promo time to really put herself over, as well as explain her heel character. How often during her first run in the WWE did she really get a chance to stand in the ring and give a promo like that? It was a little refreshing.

As far as what I don't like goes, they had her give a bitter promo about the women's revolution. She talked about not being given enough respect by the female wrestling stars making noise in the WWE recently. This isn't based on real-life drama. I have said many times how much I am sick of angles like that. Mickie James has frequently shown respect to the women of this new era. She may joke about things here and there, but she has never shown any true bitterness to women like Becky Lynch. But it is still a bitter promo. What makes it worse, it is once again based on the women's revolution. Enough is enough with that. This has been going on for 2 years. It started as #GiveDivasAChance. It is now the women's revolution. You can treat these women better without mentioning it so often in promos and making storylines off of it.

Since that episode of Smackdown, all Mickie James has done is been on the losing end of tag matches. She hasn't been pinned. Alexa Bliss has been pinned by Naomi to further that title feud. Nevertheless, she just doesn't look very strong. As I said before, Mickie James coming back can help their depth. And that is how they are using her. They now have more options for tag matches.

Mickie James can offer a lot more than that, however. She was one of the most over female wrestlers of the previous decade. It is true that a lot of those fans are gone now. And the younger audience likely never saw Mickie James. She was gone from the WWE main roster for 7 years. Most of these fans don't watch TNA (Impact Wrestling). It will take time for her to connect with this audience.

Her current usage, however, is not likely to help her. A bitter Mickie James? Why is that a good thing? Even then, she's not really keeping it up in her matches so far. Why should she? That would just be burying herself. And the WWE should probably give her a new theme. It is true that she had that theme during her short psycho heel run, but she's not playing that character now. This heel character and that theme song just don't seem to go together. Her whole entrance needs to be upgraded. Looking at some of the entrances other women have these days, Mickie's entrance looks like something from the 1970s. If this is the "reinvention" of Mickie James, the WWE needs to actually handle Mickie James a lot differently.

Part of the problem is obviously the depth. If there were more women, Mickie James might be more free to have a better feud with Becky Lynch. She can go over some women to build some momentum. Alexa Bliss can tag with someone else. Naomi can be pinning someone else. Carmella can actually be feuding with someone on the roster. Right now, things are just spread thin. Mickie James is looking like a sidekick, even though she does have her own feud going on with Becky Lynch.

It reminds me of Mickie James going back to TNA in 2010. They didn't use her right. They treated her like all she was good for was chasing after titles and seeking revenge against heel sidekicks that were screwing her. They stifled her charisma. It wasn't until her short heel run that they let her show that charisma. This is the company that let her tie and break the record for most major women's titles, but they didn't use her properly to really deliver for them.

Let me bring up a recent example from TNA. Look at Aron Rex (Damien Sandow). When he debuted for them, he looked like an average guy they found walking down the street. He looked boring. This is a guy that got over in the WWE prior to his release. He did it by playing different characters very well. Aron Rex is not good enough as a wrestler to get over by that alone. I am not sure if he has the charisma to pull off being entertaining without a proper gimmick, something Mickie James could do. But he is this guy that can play gimmicks well. There is nothing wrong with that. He just wasn't working out as best as he could. Recently, TNA finally figured it out and let him play a more flamboyant character. I saw one fan say that TNA is terrible for doing this to him. No, this is TNA doing the right thing. This is where he is at his best. If this kind of thing got him over in the WWE, why would you not go to that in TNA?

Imagine a company that is looking to hire workers that have proven they can be successes. But when they hire these workers, they tie their hands and don't let them do the things that made them successful elsewhere. Why would you want to do that? Unless what they were doing is unethical or illegal, you shouldn't hire successful workers and do that to them. It is neither good for the worker nor the company. I am a believer of sometimes taking away what gets a worker over to challenge them to show versatility, but that's just me. But if you're company is struggling, you definitely should not do that kind of thing. And I don't think there is a major pro wrestling company in North America that can afford to act this way. TNA is trying to rebuild. The WWE is losing their audience and very sloppy. If they are going to hire workers that have shown they can be successful, they have to understand what makes them successful and help bring the best out of them. It is good for the worker and the company.

I had said that the WWE should not re-sign Mickie James. I saw the issues they had. They needed to fix their own issues before they bothered to bring anyone back. They bring back Mickie James, but then they don't really handle her right. Again, there were some nice gestures here and there in the last few weeks. Overall, however, this looks like it is going to flop. Yes, this is a botch. I am not saying they are intentionally screwing Mickie James. Mickie James has had to endure a lot of terrible situations throughout her career. She debuted in the WWE during an era where they were not pushing her to get over. She overcame that and had to endure some pretty terrible treatment from the WWE. That didn't ruin her overness. I already mentioned how TNA did not handle her right. That didn't ruin her overness. This toxic environment currently in the WWE might finally kill it. It is a shame that Mickie James has had to spend so many years not being pushed the way she really deserved. It's not about title reigns. It is about how you are actually pushed. And even though the WWE appears to want to feature her for better reasons than they did the first time she was there, they just are not doing it properly.

Brooke Returns To TNA

Brooke Adams (Tessmacher) left TNA in 2015. She had a baby last year. She has gotten back in great shape in a quick time. She has now returned to TNA.

Back when Brooke left TNA, I looked at whether the WWE should want her back. Now that she is back in TNA, is that a good move? I think so. TNA's women's roster isn't in as terrible a position as the WWE's, which is spread thin due to the brand split. But it doesn't hurt to bring back a former TNA KO Champion. It also does not hurt to being in someone with wrestling experience that also offers more than just that. Someone like Maria may have an appealing look, but she is not a great wrestler and giving her a title run last year wasn't exactly a move to help TNA keep pace with the WWE's women's revolution. Brooke is at least someone with more wrestling credibility, which should help.

You can also consider whether she should be the centerpiece for TNA's women's division. I have been saying for a while now that TNA should move on from Gail Kim. Look for someone younger and that has the potential to be more over than Gail Kim. Some fans say that wrestling doesn't have mainstream attention anymore. Well, when you make a whole bunch of decisions that only cater to wrestling fans and build stars out of people that lack mass appeal, you're not going to maintain a large fanbase. I think Brooke would be a great candidate to push as the top star for a few years.

Is TNA likely to do it? Probably not. Of course, there is a new regime in the company. Things might be handled differently, much how things are being handled differently in the WWE these days after years of fans complaining. Until change does pop up, however, I would expect Brooke to just be in the rotation for TNA's women's division. As long as Gail Kim remains, overall big storylines will still revolve around her.

Angelina Love is also coming back. Much like Velvet Sky, she is someone that always comes and goes in TNA. That is one of the reasons I did not spend as much time talking about her as Brooke today. Other reason, she is a little older than Brooke. She has also held the KO title as many times as Gail Kim. When you are talking about the future centerpiece, I would look for someone younger and fresher than that. Of course, Angelina has wrestling credibility and a history in TNA, so having her back too is not bad.

2016 Ratings Review

I have a birthday coming up this week. I think I can get away with putting up whatever pic I want. I get my numbers for the ratings and viewership from here and here. Some of the data may be missing, or occasionally botched, but you can still get the general idea of things.

I'll start with TNA. Wrestlingdata.com seems to have given up on TNA, so just look at Gerweck's chart. TNA averaged over 312,000 viewers in 2016. That is down from over 330,000 viewers in the previous year. They went as high as 410,000 viewers, thanks to the unique character and storylines they were having with Matt Hardy. They dropped to 165,000 on Thanksgiving. That is a pretty big range for a show that doesn't average that many viewers to start with.

It would be easy to slam TNA. They used to average a million viewers just a few years ago. Their numbers are slipping. They have all that inner turmoil. They are still going. Moreover, I think they will see their numbers increase in 2017, or at least remain relatively stable. What am I basing that on? Gut feeling? Did I flip a coin? Well, look at the numbers. Yes, they are down from previous years, but look how they performed throughout the year. They started out averaging under 300,000 viewers for the first few months of the year. During the final few months of the year, they were averaging over that benchmark for most weeks. And keep in mind, this is going against NFL games on Thursday nights. You can say the Thursday night games sucked or whatever, but they still drew good numbers, compared to other shows, and TNA managed to close the year against them pretty well. They closed 2016 better than they did 2015.

What are some of the things TNA will need to do to stay stable, or possibly grow? They just have to keep going with what they had in 2016 that worked. That is obviously The Hardys. How much further can they really go with that? Moreover, they have to build fresh stars. They cannot just push someone well for a while, then break them down. I have seen them do that too many times over the years. Not only does it hurt the connection fans might have with certain workers, some workers may not feel like sticking around in this system. On the other side of that, they need to move away from Gail Kim in the women's division. Gail Kim is already in the Hall of Fame. I can't say she should retire. And she looks like she could still go for another five years. But there are women younger than her and might potentially be bigger stars than her. TNA just needs to start going to these women properly. Most importantly, TNA should not try to play the WWE's game. The WWE does not have a winning system right now, so why imitate it? TNA has their own things with potential, so they should work on that.

Speaking of the WWE, how about Raw? Raw averaged a 2.64 in the ratings in 2015. This recent year, it dropped all the way to a 2.27. That is pretty horrible. It was a 2.95 in 2014. 3.01 in 2013. 3.0 in 2012. 3.21 in 2011. That 14% drop from 2015 to 2016 is the worst in recent years. People can say it was an election year, but it was also an election year in 2012. There was only a 6.5% drop back then. And Raw remained stable the year after that.

Looking at viewership numbers, Raw struggled to go over 4,000,000 viewers, doing so only twice in 2016. It did so eight times in 2015, including one Raw that saw over 5,000,000 viewers. The WWE's main show dipped below 3,000,000 viewers multiple times. It averaged 3.2 million viewers. Can you imagine them averaging under 3 million in 2017? I can.

I talked about how the NFL did not hurt TNA too much in 2016. Can the same be said for the WWE's main show? No, Raw got some of its worst numbers in the final months of the year, as you can usually expect. Again, they also had to deal with heavy election drama coinciding with the NFL drama. You can say competition was tougher for them than it usually is.

Will Raw bounce back in 2017? It would be easy to think they would. No more Monday night NFL games. The election is decided. Thing is, the WWE didn't have a nice ratings spike to start 2016. There is a good chance 2017 starts the same way, which would set the tone for a terrible year in the ratings, again.

What can the WWE do for Raw? Ending the brand split would be a step in the right direction. I have said before that a long-term brand split is just not good, especially for Raw. They lose their full arsenal of stars. When you take a show that is already sliding in the ratings and tie its hands like that, you just make it really hard to stop the decline. And all the Kurt Angles in the world will not be enough to save them. All these returns the WWE is doing might give them a nice boost when it happens and the week after, but it always dies down after a while. Look at Goldberg's recent return. He helped them get some good numbers for a while, but the quality of the product is just not good to retain the audience. You can also talk about making Raw two hours again, but that is even less likely to happen than the brand split happening.

Onto Smackdown. Smackdown finally beat Raw since that first live episode a few months ago. Raw last week had 2,855,000 viewers. Smackdown had 2,885,000 viewers. All it took was hyping a special episode like it was a PPV, including all those title matches and John Cena returning. Of course, Raw did have to go up against a Dallas Cowboys game. In this year of the NFL also suffering a ratings loss, the Cowboys have remained a top draw. To put it simply, it was Raw going against its toughest competition of the NFL season and Smackdown pulling out almost all the stops. It is not too shocking that it would happen.

Regardless of this recent victory, I would still say Smackdown is underachieving. They have made a ton of improvements and are on a convenient night. They only averaged a 1.72 in 2016, a little up from a 1.69 in 2015. You can say that they weren't live and their own brand for the first few months of the year. You know what's funny? Some of their numbers from earlier this year, when they were not live and their own brand yet, are actually better than the numbers these last few months. Smackdown averaged 2.64 million viewers in January 2016.  It averaged 2.59 million in December 2016. It might make you question whether all these changes are really making a difference.

What can Smackdown do to improve? Well, they are still in a better position than Raw, whether they end the brand split or not. I think they just have to continue being efficient with their roster. They are going to sign and promote more talent, so that should help to make things more fresh. But they can't fall in the trap of just trying to cater to smarks. That goes for the WWE in general. Smarks seem to prefer Smackdown over Raw. Okay, but the WWE shouldn't just rest on that. There is more they can do. These meaningless celebrity segments they have sometimes done are just a waste of time. Focus on the talent you have. Hopefully, Smackdown might even be more competitive in 2017 against Raw.

Should Drew McIntyre Return To The WWE?

The WWE released Drew McIntyre (Drew Galloway) a few years ago. He ended up in TNA and went through the motions there that you would usually expect from a former WWE performer like him going to TNA. TNA may have given him a run with their top title, but they didn't really push him that well. His deal is set to expire in a few months and the speculation can now begin about whether he will come back to the WWE.

The WWE gave Drew McIntyre a big push at one point. You have to wonder how far it would have gone. Were they grooming a legitimate main-eventer? Or just someone to work with a top star and then get demoted? Some people like to say issues with his wife, Taryn Terrell, ruined his push. How about the fact that he just wasn't getting over? Even after that incident in 2010, Drew went on to get a short run with the tag titles with Cody Rhodes. They didn't release him right away. He was stuck with the jobber group of 3MB, but he was still in the company for a while.

Could he bring anything to the WWE? Did he really improve himself in TNA? He definitely has potential. Maybe part of the problem during his WWE run is that they pushed him as the wrong kind of heel. They spent too much time hyping him and not enough time just letting his character really shine.

Of course, this is a different era in the WWE. Not only has the WWE's attitude towards certain things changed, but the fans watching are different. The WWE has driven away a lot of fans over the years. Of those fans left, smarks have become a lot more vocal and energized. These type of fans might be all for a guy like Drew McIntyre. At the very least, he will be better off than his first run with the WWE.

I would not be surprised if the WWE at least showed some interest in Drew. They have already shown a willingness to bring back certain other wrestlers they had released that they felt at the time they no longer needed. They even brought back Jinder Mahal! They obviously have depth issues with the brand split back. I have said many times that I feel the WWE should do better with the roster they have before rushing to sign more people, but if they are going to sign more people, Drew McIntyre would not be a terrible choice to bring back.

Dark Days Have Fallen On TNA's KO Division

I am going to be spoiling a a few things that will be happening in TNA in the coming weeks. They tape a lot of episodes at a time, so things can change very fast. That is the situation you had in their previous set of tapings.

First, Sienna, the KO Champion, lost the title in a multi-woman match. Allie got the title. After that, Allie lost the title to Maria Kanellis. To top it all off, Gail Kim became #1 contender, so the title feud you have his Maria vs. Gail Kim.

Giving the title to Maria is the worst decision TNA has made for their women's division in a long time. She is not credible. This is not a respectable decision. And for TNA to do this at this time is also dumb. The WWE is hyping their women's division and treating it with more respect. While that is going on, TNA is collapsing almost to the level of a diva division. There was a time when TNA's women's division was a lot more respectable than the WWE's women's division. And TNA ran with that. It was one of their strengths. Giving the title to Maria isn't as terrible as the WWE giving Debra the Women's Championship back in the first dark age of the diva era, but it is not an answer to Sasha Banks and Charlotte trading the title. Maria has some wrestling training, but she is just not credible. She was liked in the WWE, but did not have the wrestling ability to deserve to be pushed as the centerpiece. She is not as beloved as she used to be and her wrestling ability has not improved that much.

TNA has given their title to eye-candy performers they took from the WWE before, but those women had better wrestling credibility than Maria. I am talking about Brooke Tessmacher and Taryn Terrell. Both had the look, showed charisma, and gained some real wrestling credibility. Either of them would have been great choices to build a diva-like women's division around. Maria does not fall in that category.

Of course, this is all for the sake of the feud between Maria and Gail Kim. TNA has sacrificed respectability for the sake of a storyline. As I have said before, they could have ran this feud without the title being involved. Maria puts her control of the division on the line and Gail Kim would retire if she lost to Maria. Of course, Gail Kim would win. Leave the title for other women to fight over. Maria should not be getting a title reign.

As for Gail Kim, she is being inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame. She deserves it. She helped to make TNA's women's division respectable. She is going to be 40 next year, but she still wrestles better than some female wrestlers younger than her. You can even argue she's the best in-ring worker in the KO division right now.

All that being said, TNA needs to move on from pushing her so hard in the title scene. If this is going to be her last title run, that is fine. She deserves it before retiring or taking on a different kind of role. But everything revolves around Gail Kim. TNA didn't always used to be like this. If Gail Kim was more popular than she is, then you might let it go. If those other women want her spot, they have to reach her level. But she's not that popular. That is why TNA should be opening up the playing field and trying to give these other women a chance to be made into stars.

You might bring up the counterargument that four women have held the KO title since Gail lost it earlier this year. And I would say none of those women have been pushed right to build them into stars. While they have held the title, it has still been Gail Kim's show. The main focus has still been on her. Even if TNA has not protected Gail Kim that much and has had her get pinned a number of times in the last few months, sometimes needlessly, the creative focus is still on her. And as long as the focus is on her and these other women are not getting featured nearly as well, no new stars are being built. TNA still has a bit of a periphery. Rosemary is doing her thing. But there are lot of women not being given a fair shot, even if they are getting title reigns. Gail Kim should take on a periphery role.

I don't follow wrestling in the indies that much, but I do know who Cherry Bomb (Allie) is. I have seen some clips and matches of her. The way TNA has used her is crappy. She has just been used as a cowardly sidekick. That is a waste of her skills. Someone like Maria would fit that role better. Obviously, the gimmick won't last. But how much faith do you have in TNA to properly keep the ball rolling on her? I think she has potential to be a star. But she needs to be featured a lot better.

TNA just has a lot of issues right now in their women's division. They have declining respectability, have not been featuring their KO Champions properly in the last few months, put the title on an eye-candy performer with no real credibility, are relying too much on a woman that is not that popular and nearing 40, and are not properly creating new stars for the future. I am not against shaking things up now and then. At any other time, someone like Maria winning the title and being pushed as she has been would be okay. But the WWE is making TNA look bad. TNA doesn't need any help to look bad. You would think TNA would try to lean on the respectability of their women's division at this time, not let a storyline trump respectability. And all their other mistakes might be overlooked if they had better star power in place. But they don't. They need to move on from Gail Kim and build new stars.

Shades Of TNA's Matt Vs. Jeff Feud In WWE's New Day Vs. Wyatts Feud?

The outrageous feud between Matt and Jeff Hardy in TNA went to another level last week. There have been some fans that have compared that feud to what the WWE is doing with New Day and The Wyatts. The two major promotions often do take ideas from each other. But there is one minor difference that I want to bring up here.

There was no title involved in that crazy match Matt and Jeff had last week. This is a non-title feud. Matt did hold the TNA Championship a few months ago, but he lost it to Drew Galloway as the feud between Matt and his brother continued. I actually would have kept the title involved in the feud between Matt and Jeff. This was obviously the biggest feud they had going. I just felt that the title would make it feel even bigger. Instead, Drew got one of those title reigns that falls in the category of title reigns that make you wonder why TNA even bothered. They could have built him up more to eventually win the title down the line and get a better run than he did. But that's another issue. Point is, no title was involved in that match last week.

And look what TNA accomplished last week. They had 410,000 viewers, easily the highest number on their new network. I doubt fans were tuning in to see Lashley. They wanted to see what was going to happen with Matt and Jeff. TNA created hype with a match where no title was on the line. Control of the company was not on the line. No one's career was on the line. It is just a heated grudge feud. It is a blood feud.

Onto the WWE. People want to compare what TNA is doing to New Day vs. The Wyatts. There is an interesting storyline developing there. It is not as heated as Matt vs. Jeff, but there is a good storyline. Thing is, the tag titles are also there. Do they need to be there? You can have this storyline without the tag titles. It would be a great non-title storyline.

I have been saying for months that keeping the titles on New Day for so long was not a good move. There were a number of other teams and feuds that could have benefited from the tag titles. I think right now is pretty much the limit. The tag titles are completely unnecessary for this storyline. New Day will break the record for longest run with the tag titles, but what does it matter in the long run? The WWE could have given the titles to The Club. While AJ Styles feuded with Cena, Anderson and Gallows could be defending the tag titles against Cass & Enzo, another hot face team. It's not really about praising or rewarding Anderson and Gallows. It is about creating interesting feuds. And New Day vs. The Wyatts can be interesting without the tag titles. There are other feuds that could be more interesting with those titles involved right now.

Fans sometimes debate whether there should be more titles. Especially for the women recently, they have thought about a second title for them and even tag titles. No, they don't need it. Not only would the WWE not handle it efficiently, it is just missing the point. The point is to entertain the fans and create hype to get more people interested and interested enough to spend money to come see the stars, watch PPVs, buy merchandise, and so on. Title reigns are only a small part of it. TNA was able to generate enough hype to get over 400,000 viewers last week for a match where no title was on the line. Fans may be interested in New Day vs. The Wyatts, but don't expect it to create a ratings boost for the WWE like what TNA got last week with The Hardys. The WWE has not hyped it and built it up that big. Meanwhile, the tag titles are just being held hostage in that feud. Nothing is added. 

Mid-2016 Ratings Review

Numbers have not been that great for the two major wrestling promotions. Football season will obviously hurt the WWE in a few months. Before that, the brand split will have an impact on ratings. I get my numbers from here and here.

Let me start with TNA. Fans have been waiting for TNA to go out of business for years now. They keep hanging in there. They didn't last too long on Destination America. How have they been doing on their new network? They are averaging over 290,000 viewers. That is down from the over 330,000 they averaged last year. I wouldn't say that is too terrible of a drop. Some numbers this year have been just as good as last year. Of course, they are no longer near the million viewers they once had just a few years ago.

What does the future hold for them? They will not be going head-to-head against NFL games in a few months, so their numbers will not suffer because of that. I think they have shown some signs of doing some good things here and there. Even though many fans may not respect the Matt vs. Jeff feud, it is the kind of thing that at least has people talking with how crazy it is. It is one of those things that is so bad that some people might find it good. And it features two big names in wrestling. Well, as big as TNA can get right now. If they keep giving fans something to talk about, they might have an easier time rebuilding.

Onto the WWE. Let me start with Smackdown. Smackdown just seems to have everything going for it. It is moving to Tuesdays, away from Thursday night NFL games. It is going live, which will surely help it get more viewers than a taped show. And the brand split means there will be some stars regularly featured on the show and storylines exclusive to the brand. There is no reason Smackdown should not improve in terms of ratings.

How have the numbers looked so far? They are what you would expect. 1.7 average for the year so far. They averaged 1.69 for all of last year. Around the same area, but football season coming up would have ravaged them. Luckily, they are avoiding that. I will not give a specific number or range I would expect the average for 2016 to be by the end of the year, but there should be a good improvement.

Raw is a different story. It will face NFL action on Monday nights. The brand split will hold back the WWE's ability to use their full roster for their top show. Yes, there is all this talk about bringing back stars and all that. Who can they get that will legitimately save them? The WWE also has shown issues managing the talent they have. There are consistently reports of Raw reaching new lows with their ratings. I see no way for them to avoid a killer drop in the coming months.

Raw has averaged a 2.45 for the first six months of 2016. They averaged 2.64 for all of last year. I could probably stop typing right here. They are already far below last year's average, and football season hasn't even started yet. Let me just bring up a few recent numbers. Two weeks ago, they averaged 2.97 million viewers. NBA playoffs was the main reason. Okay, that was to be expected. They bounced back to 3.47 million viewers last week for the Raw after Money in the Bank. Raws after a PPV usually do well. I saw fans saying Dean Ambrose was a draw. They said Sasha Banks was a draw. They said Roman Reigns losing the title was a draw. Yeah, that's nice. I was expecting a drop this week. This week had 3.09 million viewers. That is a terrible drop. Second-lowest viewership of the year, only better than that 2.97 million I brought up. This wasn't even the norm for football season last year. Was this just one bad night? Will things get even worse? Is Roman Reigns really a draw? Probably not. Expect terrible numbers for Raw on July 4th, but what happens after that will be interesting.

Minor Slammiversary 2016 Preview

TNA is having a PPV this Sunday and one of the matches I am interested in is Gail Kim vs. Maria. These two have had issues for months. I have spoken about it a few times. The match will probably be terrible, but I am interested in seeing how TNA will handle it.

Heading into the weekend, they are handling it with an injury angle. Maria is teasing a broken hand. It adds some drama to things. I still question whether someone like Maria even deserves this push. It obviously will not be a great match, with or without the injury angles and sidekicks Maria has. At a time when the WWE is hyping improvements to their women's division to make it seem more respectable, this kind of feud for TNA does not help them maintain their image of being respectable.

Nothing is on the line in this match. This is really just Gail Kim wanting to get her hands on Maria to beat her around a little. I have said before that the stakes should be raised in this match. Not only have Gail Kim beat Maria, but take away Maria's control of the KO division. Have Gail put her career on the line. Injury angles are one way to add some drama to a feud, but I don't think this feud has reached its climax.

What do I think happens this Sunday? Gail Kim will get her hands on Maria. But there will probably be some kind of shenanigans for Maria to win. That will continue the feud to a point where it can end in a bigger way.

The KO title seems like somewhat of an afterthought in all this. All the creative interest is in Gail Kim vs. Maria. Nevertheless, Jade defends against Sienna, one of Maria's sidekicks. Putting the title on Jade wasn't enough. TNA should have done a better job with her from a creative standpoint. That is what will really help her get over. This match can go either way. I would not be surprised if Sienna won the title to bring a little more credibility to Maria's group. Better than Maria winning the title herself. But I will say Jade retains here. Maria can screw Jade out of the title later on.

Switching to a men's feud, how about Matt and Jeff? The Hardys are feuding against each other. And it certainly has been an interesting feud. Matt Hardy has gone crazy. There have been some interesting, elaborate segments to push this feud. I would say this feud is more interesting than the title feud between Lashley and Drew Galloway, which I won't even bother talking about.

Of course, many fans are ready to induct this feud into Wrestlecrap, and it probably does belong there. Nevertheless, it is getting people talking. And Impact did see its best ratings on its new network recently. It may not be a huge jump to the numbers they had five years ago, but it is a good sign. I doubt Lashley vs. Galloway is the feud that has people interested enough to watch. TNA has to do it by creating drama. For the women, Gail Kim vs. Maria is the feud that has the most drama to it, even though the match will not be respectable. For the men, Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy has the drama to it, even though there is a lot of dumb things involved. I can't criticize them too much for some of the things they are doing here, even if I don't like some of it.

Who wins this match? This is one feud I would like to see end this Sunday. I don't know how much more wrestling fans can take. And I don't want to think what else TNA might try to keep this feud going. Jeff Hardy wins. I'll just leave it at that.  

Split The Dudleys?

I said I wasn't going to do any mock draft, and I'm not. But I will look at certain specific scenarios. For example, the brand split has always created situations where teams were broken up. New Day brought that up on Raw this week. But I'm not going to talk about them. What about The Dudleyz? Should they split up?

Their return fizzled out rather easily. Their heel turn, which had many wrestling fans eager to see Bully Ray, has been mediocre. Maybe the next option is to actually split them up.

This might be the best way to let Bubba actually be the character he was during his best days in TNA again. Devon was obviously still his sidekick for part of that run back then, but the WWE may not be able to handle the push right if Devon was still with Bubba. When they look at these two, they probably just see a tag team. There are enough teams right now that the WWE doesn't need to push them as a tag team, but that is probably what they see when they look at them together. What would they see if they split them up? That is probably when Bubba can be his own guy again. Velvet Sky wants to come to the WWE. Maybe she can be paired with Bubba during his solo push.

Of course, you have to keep in mind that "Bully Ray" was more than just a gimmick. It was a gimmick in TNA that was pushed a certain way. This is the WWE. The WWE has an obvious hierarchy that Bubba is unlikely to reach the top of. And you always have to worry what will happen if he does gain momentum. Will they then use him to put over Roman Reigns or John Cena, then deflate him? At best, he should remain a midcard act, possibly upper-midcard. He might get a run with a midcard singles title. That's as far as I could see him going.

What about Devon? Remember when these two got split up over a decade ago and Devon was left with a reverend gimmick? I am not saying he should go back to that, but there is potential to push him with some kind of gimmick. Would he fit right in with New Day? Or be stuck with other lower-midcard veterans, like R-Truth and Goldust? I am sure he'll have something to do, although Bubba will likely be pushed better.

Would I split them up? Yes. They are not going anywhere in the tag division as it is. Fans might be excited for what happens with them when they get solo pushes. There is definitely creative potential there. And down the line, the WWE can put them back together for their true final run. And hopefully, that is when they get the tag titles.

Maria In Charge

TNA had a ladder match involving the KOs this week. The winner is in charge of the division. Who won? Maria Kanellis. Arguably the least talented woman in the match won.

Maria is obviously having issues with Gail Kim. She cost Gail Kim the title. And now this. Let me tell you how I would like to see this feud go. I have said many times that TNA should start to build new stars in the KO division and stop having Gail Kim just keep dominating title matters. This current situation can be the perfect way to transition her to something else. The obvious story to tell is that Gail Kim will be the one to knock Maria out of power. But put more on the line. If Gail wins, she gets to run the KO division. Just to make things balanced and add more to the feud, if Gail loses, her TNA career is over. Gail would obviously win. Maria could have some heels try to assist her during the match, because we all know Maria is no match for Gail Kim. Gail can overcome them herself, or have some other face KOs help her out. Maria gets her comeuppance and Gail Kim gets something relevant to do for the rest of her time in TNA that keeps her out of the title picture for a while. She will still probably get one more "thank you" run before she does retire, but other women get a legitimate chance during this time. Of course, Gail Kim has to be willing to do this.

For most of her run since coming back to TNA in 2011, I would not say Gail Kim was really the centerpiece of the division in the same way the WWE has a centerpiece. She was a part of TNA's rotation for a while. There was a span when the title went from Brooke Tessmacher to Madison Rayne, back to Brooke, to Tara for a while, to Velvet Sky, to Mickie James, and then to ODB before Gail Kim got it again. During this time, not only did Gail Kim not hold the title, but she was not featured as that serious of a threat to the title. She got title shots, but so did other women. She was sometimes used to put over other women. She got some non-title stuff to do, but not always anything too major. Her feud with Taryn Terrell during this time was praised, but it didn't get really heated until last year. It is not unusual for the centerpiece to sometimes trump title matters, but I don't feel Gail Kim really did that back then.

Recently, Gail Kim is looking more like a true centerpiece.  She is just coming off a lengthy title reign. Her feud with Maria feels more important than the KO title. The Decay kidnapped her. It just seems a lot of things are running through Gail Kim right now. She is getting better creative investment in her. If Gail was more over, I would say TNA should just keep going with her until she does retire. But she's not.

There are a lot of young women in TNA and in the independent scene that can use a great push. TNA cannot count on taking women from the WWE and running on their star power. WWE doesn't release people on a regular basis anymore. With the recent feminist revolution, female wrestlers there may not likely want to quit to come over to TNA. TNA has to do something they have never really been great at doing. They have to make their own stars. And it might be easier if Gail Kim was doing something on the periphery of the title scene. Gail simply losing to these other women is not enough. TNA does not need to job her out. These younger women need better creative investment and hype. Maybe TNA can practice with Gail Kim now with how they are pushing her, but they eventually have to give the younger women that kind of treatment.

Back to Maria. I have said before that TNA can beat the WWE at their own game. The WWE has pretty much beaten their own diva division into the ground. There is supposedly a new women's division there, although they still have divas, like Lana, Summer Rae, and Maryse, who returned one night after debuting the new Women's Championship. And TNA has a woman that doesn't represent serious women's wrestling get a big push. I am not against eye-candy performers in wrestling. Even if they never become serious in-ring workers, these women can still find a role and often be very entertaining. And I think this current storyline with Maria in TNA has great potential, especially if TNA handles it like I mentioned before. But from the standpoint of fans of serious women's wrestling, TNA's recent actions might be viewed as dumb. Oh well!

TNA has always had eye-candy women in their KO division. Even when things were a lot more respectable and you would read reports of TNA's women's segments drawing the highest ratings, there were eye-candy women around. And for the most part, TNA has done a great job integrating these women into what they do. Taryn Terrell, an eye-candy diva from the WWE that never looked like a serious in-ring worker there, looked legit in TNA last year. Not only could she handle herself in the ring, she had an appealing look and was portraying a great heel character. And even though Maria is not treated as legit, she is still getting matches. You have a respectable women's division that was pretty efficient that featured both female wrestlers and eye-candy performers, some of which became solid in-ring workers.

I cannot say that about the WWE right now. Yeah, wrestling fans are so excited about "divas" being dropped, the new title, and women's wrestling being taken seriously. Respectability is obviously there. But they are very inefficient. They have a ton of dead weight on the roster. They cannot possibly consistently feature even the major female wrestlers (Charlotte, Paige, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch). With the rotational system TNA runs, there might be some periods where certain women were left with nothing to do for a while, but it isn't as bad as the WWE right now. TNA never had this much dead weight. There are women not going anywhere that you just know are not going to get the opportunity to go anywhere, like Tamina and Alicia Fox. The WWE also does not have great characters and their feud development is dull. All this hurts their ability to be efficient.

And the WWE, so far, has not done a great job integrating eye-candy workers into the new division. There are still divas there. And Lana was a great one. Instead of the WWE keeping the ball rolling with her, even if only in the periphery, they bring back Maryse. The WWE cannot just use these women as jobbers to the female wrestlers and only let them beat other women being pushed as lowly as them. It was not unusual to see eye-candy divas be used as jobbers even in the golden age. Because they lacked wrestling credibility and were not treated as serious threats, I would not call them credible jobbers. But what kept these women over is that they were still given meaningful things to do to help portray their characters and their sex appeal. Divas right now are not consistently getting that. Consistency matters. Lana never got pushed to the moon, but she got over because the WWE put her in a position to do her act and be sexy. And that is all it takes. And now they are doing some of that with Maryse. But will she eventually get lost in the shuffle? A lot of wrestling fans do not want these type of women to get involved in too many of the matches because they will hurt match quality. Okay, but that does not mean they should be pushed so inconsistently and poorly.

TNA has definitely dropped the ball with some women over the years. You can criticize them for pushing Maria. But for all their faults, I would say they have done a better job of balancing a respectable, efficient women's division with featuring both solid wrestlers with eye-candy performers than the WWE has been doing in the last few months.