Pro Wrestling! (For Everything WWE , Impact , Indies & Japan !)

[useridgoeshere]

guess that report i read was incorrect.

No, what you read was right. Just a different frame of reference. Smackdown won Friday night based on 18-49 household ratings, which is how advertisers are buying it and more important than total viewers, which includes old people and family viewing.

[Immortal Weapon]

I think NXT is simply having a bit of trouble adapting to a 2 hour format. When it was a 1 hour show, it had to rely more on the in-ring stuff over the sports entertainment stuff because you can only jam so much into a 1 hour show. You can't have 20 minute skits advancing a storyline taking up a third of your entire show. Now that they are 2 hours, they can afford to add more out of the ring segments to make the matches mean more.

But I think in part they are more hesitant to change their formula precisely because they want to differentiate itself from the main roster. So it's sort of a tricky spot to be in. Do you change NXT's formula to better fit a 2 hour network program where ratings actually matter, or do you stick with the same formula which has gotten them a good amount of praise from their core fanbase this entire time? The former is likely the way to go, but it's understandable that they are hesitant to move too quickly. Especialy when we all know the minute they do change things up, the internet will immediately point fingers at Vince for changing things due to ratings (whether Vince had anything to do with it or not).

Personally I like NXT the way it is... but I get why it needs to change. Getting on network TV means serving a lot more masters now.

2 hours is not the problem. NXT is super basic with how it sets things up. Heel has match, heel wins, presumably his challenger appears and has a staredown. Or heel comes out of nowhere to beat up the face? Why? Who knows, a match gets announced for next week. NXT is focused on making match ups and not feuds. Being compared to AEW has really exposed NXT. There's really no stories going on in NXT.

[Punisher007]

It doesn't help that it feels like it's been spinning it's wheels creatively for awhile now. The women's division especially feels this way.

[Malvolio]

NXT has the same problem that Triple-A minor league baseball teams have. Your best players are going to get called up to the Big Leagues sooner or later, so you can't plan much around them.

And Smackdown's ratings may go down even further next week, as it's airing on FS1 because FOX has game 3 of the World Series that night. Many people don't have FS1 on their cable or satellite service.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

NXT has the same problem that Triple-A minor league baseball teams have. Your best players are going to get called up to the Big Leagues sooner or later, so you can't plan much around them.

And Smackdown's ratings may go down even further next week, as it's airing on FS1 because FOX has game 3 of the World Series that night. Many people don't have FS1 on their cable or satellite service.

As much as people get irked in this thread about Jim Cornette he voiced this issue running OVW in early/mid 2000's. That Johnny Ace would demand a guy for main roster at times before Cornette had finished long range plans with said guy. The funniest story he detailed once was the Basham brothers I believe. Cornette put over how Danny Basham (Damaja in OVW) was really great in ring and carried OVW the 1st few years before the WWF farm league deal happened.

So they signed Danny Davis nephew who also was a solid in ring guy and Cornette comically brought up how Doug Basham had a day job and finally they changed his hours to work a different shift. So after so long of the 2 as a tag team in OVW , they were working dark matches in WWF apart. Cornette tried to tell the creative guys that both were good and deserved a push repeatedly for months.

Then one day with no warning , Cornette turns it on TV and finds that Ace had Danny Basham (Damaja) shave his head bald to match Doug and they were now onscreen brothers. Meanwhile in OVW he had them feuding against each other on TV as enemies. So after cussing out Ace over his voice mail , Jim decided to have Danny (Damaja) reveal it was all a scam on WWE TV to sabotage Doug down the line . (he shot that on OVW TV).

But as Jim claimed the company would repeatedly not even tell him when guys were being pulled up and he'd have to scramble.

[Immortal Weapon]

As much as people get irked in this thread about Jim Cornette he voiced this issue running OVW in early/mid 2000's. That Johnny Ace would demand a guy for main roster at times before Cornette had finished long range plans with said guy. The funniest story he detailed once was the Basham brothers I believe. Cornette put over how Danny Basham (Damaja in OVW) was really great in ring and carried OVW the 1st few years before the WWF farm league deal happened.

So they signed Danny Davis nephew who also was a solid in ring guy and Cornette comically brought up how Doug Basham had a day job and finally they changed his hours to work a different shift. So after so long of the 2 as a tag team in OVW , they were working dark matches in WWF apart. Cornette tried to tell the creative guys that both were good and deserved a push repeatedly for months.

Then one day with no warning , Cornette turns it on TV and finds that Ace had Danny Basham (Damaja) shave his head bald to match Doug and they were now onscreen brothers. Meanwhile in OVW he had them feuding against each other on TV as enemies. So after cussing out Ace over his voice mail , Jim decided to have Danny (Damaja) reveal it was all a scam on WWE TV to sabotage Doug down the line . (he shot that on OVW TV).

But as Jim claimed the company would repeatedly not even tell him when guys were being pulled up and he'd have to scramble.

Johnny Ace time as head of talent was fucking ****. He would screw over developmental, set back the women by hiring models with no athletic background, and about half the talent roster hated his guts.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Johnny Ace time as head of talent was fucking ****. He would screw over developmental, set back the women by hiring models with no athletic background, and about half the talent roster hated his guts.

Here is what made Ace look good to Vince when he 1st took the job from Jim Ross in 2001/2002....

Cornette put over that Danny and Doug helped work & train the following guys who would get call ups.

John Cena
Batista
Randy Orton
Brock Lesnar

Vince likely thought , damn look at the great job Johnny Ace is doing. Not realizing it was his actual developmental that was making these guys. Cena was a damn body builder who had to learn his craft. So did Batista and Brock. But when your bringing this class of folks up early in your VP of Talent run it makes you look like a damn genius. It wasn't til late 2000's Vince realized just how bad Ace was and how he had driven off a lot of talent.

I mean when Johnny Ace cares more about Justin Credible calling himself that for shows it showed how silly he fucking was. (Now the WWE doesn't seem to care as Credible does indy shows under it)

[Punisher007]

I actually saw that particular Cornette interview and yeah, no wonder he hates Johnny Ace so much. Especially when Jim Ross tried very hard to NOT pull that stuff when he was head of talent relations.

[Gryphon]

As much as people get irked in this thread about Jim Cornette he voiced this issue running OVW in early/mid 2000's. That Johnny Ace would demand a guy for main roster at times before Cornette had finished long range plans with said guy. The funniest story he detailed once was the Basham brothers I believe. Cornette put over how Danny Basham (Damaja in OVW) was really great in ring and carried OVW the 1st few years before the WWF farm league deal happened.

So they signed Danny Davis nephew who also was a solid in ring guy and Cornette comically brought up how Doug Basham had a day job and finally they changed his hours to work a different shift. So after so long of the 2 as a tag team in OVW , they were working dark matches in WWF apart. Cornette tried to tell the creative guys that both were good and deserved a push repeatedly for months.

Then one day with no warning , Cornette turns it on TV and finds that Ace had Danny Basham (Damaja) shave his head bald to match Doug and they were now onscreen brothers. Meanwhile in OVW he had them feuding against each other on TV as enemies. So after cussing out Ace over his voice mail , Jim decided to have Danny (Damaja) reveal it was all a scam on WWE TV to sabotage Doug down the line . (he shot that on OVW TV).

But as Jim claimed the company would repeatedly not even tell him when guys were being pulled up and he'd have to scramble.

Based on some of his interviews and comments where he said stuff of dubious accuracy, I take anything cornette says with a large grain of salt

[Ronin705]

Going back and listening to the Austin podcast with MJF. This guy's a treasure, and Austin kept it mad kayfabe lol

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Based on some of his interviews and comments where he said stuff of dubious accuracy, I take anything cornette says with a large grain of salt

Here is the thing , why would he lie about a tag team like the Basham's ? In all honesty Johnny Ace had a terrible reputation to begin with as part of VP.


I mixed up Doug and Danny. It was Doug who had the hair...that was shaven comically on short notice.

[Immortal Weapon]

Based on some of his interviews and comments where he said stuff of dubious accuracy, I take anything cornette says with a large grain of salt

I understand disliking Cornette but it doesn't make him a liar.

[XPac]

NXT has the same problem that Triple-A minor league baseball teams have. Your best players are going to get called up to the Big Leagues sooner or later, so you can't plan much around them.

And Smackdown's ratings may go down even further next week, as it's airing on FS1 because FOX has game 3 of the World Series that night. Many people don't have FS1 on their cable or satellite service.

I think thats actually one of the advantages NXT has over other wrestling programs. You never have to worry about your product getting TOO stale when your top guys are cycled out every 5 years. It's a lot easier to keep things fresh.

[wjowski]

I understand disliking Cornette but it doesn't make him a liar.

Being wrong or plain not knowing what the hell he's talking about on the other hand...

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Being wrong or plain not knowing what the hell he's talking about on the other hand...

With this though its something he was part running and ...its the Basham Brothers who weren't a major tag team. I mean Cornette isn't a modern wrestling guy to listen to. But here regarding this , it seems he is on the mark regarding how OVW was done by Ace.