William Hillock

Two weeks after the WWE Draft, things are finally settling in with each brand.  RAW and Smackdown! are now equal with one Heavyweight Championship each, and finally, it looks at is the Edge-Vickie Guerrero storyline is coming to an end.  I will admit, I have been pleasantly surprised with Vickie over the past several months, she has become one of the most hated heels in the WWE today.  Other thoughts from the show:

• I’m hoping within the next couple of years, MVP gets the push he rightfully deserves (much like Mr. Kennedy…..Kennnedy).  The guy has charisma, talent, and a passion for wrestling.  His VIP Lounge with Triple H was a great start to the show.  It was nostalgic to have Triple H refer back to his alopement with Stephanie McMahon back in the day…..ahhh those were the years.
• Sooo the new WWE Divas Belt is ugly as a Pug.  A butterfly on the belt…cmon McMahon.  My my Kelly Kelly and Maryse were looking great in the Golden Dreams Match.  Thankfully, Michelle McCool won, and will face Natalya at a future point.  It’s interesting to note there is real backstage heat between Michelle and Natalya, after Michelle tried to teach Natalya (who has wrestled much longer than McCool) how to grapple the WWE way.  Note to Michelle: You don’t teach a member of the heart family how to wrestle.
• Oh..my..goodness, could it be?  Building Vladimir Kozlov towards something??? The video promo they aired this week leads us to believe a push towards Something…Anything, is in the works.
• Leave it to Festus to dress like Uncle Sam for the July 4 Show.  Jesse & Festus easily manhandled the manservants Ryder and Hawkins this week, hopefully the Biscuits and Gravy duo get a shot at the WWE Tag Team Titles after Finlay and Hornswoggle.
• Jeff Hardy made his debut this week against John Morrisson.  Both these guys are extremely talented and I enjoyed their feud back on RAW for the Intercontinental Title, and this match didn’t disappoint again.  A nice filler match that went quite a while.
• Smackdown’s #1 announcer was up next, to get squashed by the debuting Umaga that is.  Hey, at least it wasn’t Vladimir Kozlov this week.  Quick squash match, enough said.
• The Main Event of the night pitted Matt Hardy defending his U.S. Title in a Fatal Four Way Match against Mr. Kennedy, Shelton Benjamin, and Chavo Guerrero.  This was a fast paced, back and forth match, which showcased the talents of all 4 wrestlers.  Matt Hardy retains in a solid outing.

Overall, an excellent Smackdown, the draft has considerably bolstered this show’s roster.  The vignettes with Edge and Vickie Guerrero somewhat resembled Karen and Kurt Angle from TNA, however Vickie calling off the wedding will make it interesting to see how this storyline unfolds.

Til next time,

Will

Justin Barracosa

According to several sources, the impression is that CM Punk will not be having a very long WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign. Jason Powel of ProWrestling.net is reporting that the feeling was, Vince McMahon wanted to shake things up in a big way. One source said that nothing should be considered a long-term move in WWE at the moment due to Vince McMahon’s current mindset.

A number of sources also agree that CM Punk’s World Heavyweight Championship reign is similar to Bret Hart winning the WWF Championship by defeating Ric Flair back in 1992. The feeling at that time was Bret Hart would have a short term run with the Championship, however he won fans over quickly. This could mean that there is a possibility of CM Punk doing the same.

Sources feel that ratings and merchandise sales will be a determining factor in CM Punk’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign.

Justin Barracosa

Nineteen out of this week’s top forty cable shows were SpongeBob.  Five were Law & Order (four SVU airings in syndication on USA, plus an original CI) Three were WWE RAW, and two each for iCarly and Mighty B! That gets you to 31 out of 40 shows right there!

On a household ratings basis, Nielsen had NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing as number one, but in viewers it was third proving once again the main live hour of WWE RAW is more of a family affair (more people watching in the same house) than NASCAR.  So too was the BET Awards Show which trailed both RAW and NASCAR in household rating, but edged out NASCAR in overall viewers.

USA’s Sunday night lineup of Law & Order: CI (#8) and In Plain Sight (#5)remains potent.  Another airing of Camp ROCK landed at #6 for Disney.  An airing of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory also landed Disney in the top ten at #9.

Army Wives couldn’t make it to 4 million viewers  but was still strong for Lifetime at #13.   The only shows in the top 40 not previously mentioned were the movie The Tenth Circle on Lifetime, an airing of Family Guy and the NBA Draft on ESPN this past Thursday (#39 out of 40).

Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 6/29/2008:

link tv by the numbers