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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: The Ross REPORT | ||||
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| Vapour | posted on 08-27-2001 @ 5:07 PM |    | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01  | J.R.'s column from Aug. 24: Random thoughts from under the black Resistol hat while in route from Denver to Connecticut on my second "redeye" this week. SmackDown! was a very solid effort with some good to excellent in-ring product. A much different broadcast than Monday's RAW IS WAR, which seemed to have more talking and attempts at humor than my old-school tastes are comfortable with. Humor is challenging to execute on any platform; however, I realize our product cannot be all "blood and guts" and that we need various forms of entertainment, especially for casual fans. In fact, SmackDown! could have probably used some more humor Thursday night, in my view. Still, I thought SmackDown! was a good show that I personally enjoyed more than RAW. This week's two broadcasts created some questions in this Okie's mind. For instance: Will Kurt Angle get a return match with Stone Cold Steve Austin in Kurt's hometown of Pittsburgh at Unforgiven? What will the stipulation be, if any? Is Kurt due for another title run? Does The Rock defend the WCW Title at Unforgiven or will he lose it before our next Pay-Per-View? Who poses a viable challenge to the Undertaker and Kane in the tag team division? What does the WCW Title mean to the Rock? Is Rob Van Dam already one of the most popular guys in either organization? Will he be in the World Wrestling Federation sooner rather than later? When does Edge really get his Intercontinental Title run on track? When does the inevitable occur with Christian? How do we get more people talking on air? Do the Hardy Boyz stay a team or go as singles? What do our casual fans want from our female superstars? Steak or sizzle? Would creative vignettes help many of our "unknown" superstars? How far can Test carry the ball if he gets the "push" many feel he deserves? How do we get more talents to develop their personalities and eventually become marketable hands? Who is a better pure tag team in our business than the Dudley Boyz? Is Raven underutilized? Are there too many titles? Does Kanyon need to pick up his in-ring aggression? What's next for Diamond Dallas Page? Is the light heavyweight division beginning to interest you more? What does Chris Jericho need to do to elevate and stay at the next level? Injury update: Diamond Dallas Page had his knee scoped this week to repair a torn meniscus. He will be out a few weeks while a new creative direction for him is being developed. He will return, contrary to what some have speculated, and will be given the opportunity to contribute. Chris Jericho had a minor concussion at SummerSlam. A CAT Scan Monday was negative. Very gutty athlete. Kane's lower back is improving but is not 100 percent. He's working through his discomfort. A stud. Booker T is still in some pain in his calf but is vastly improved. Billy Kidman goes to therapy three times per week for a minor knee injury. He could be released from doctor's care within the next couple of weeks. He'll go to our developmental territories in Louisville, Ky., or Cincinnati to get his timing back. Triple H's rehab is going great. The Game looked physically super when I saw him last week. November or December return. Rikishi's shoulder rehab is going well. Weight issues are being addressed positively. Still two months away from returning. Trish's ankle is improving. Will co-host the new WWF Excess TV show that debuts Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT on TNN. Chris Benoit is about seven months away from returning, but rehab is going super. Jerry Lynn is having patella surgery today. He will be out three months. Regarding Ohio Valley Wrestling stars, Brock Lesnar is getting therapy in Minneapolis for knee injury. No surgery is necessary, and he'll be back in OVW in early September. Dr. Jim Andrews successfully scoped Shelton Benjamin's elbow, and this blue chipper is scheduled to be back in action in eight weeks. Flash's torn triceps is healing, and he'll begin rehab next week. Eric Angle is rehabbing at home, and we'll get an update next week. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Paul Bearer and Mrs. Charles Robinson during their challenging times. Mrs. Bull Buchanan gave birth to an 8-pound, 12-ounce son this week. Congratulations! Why does Perry Saturn love his mop? Am I too old to "get it"? Strange that so many of the WCW talents are getting so banged up. Could it be because of the near half-speed style they utilized in Atlanta? This ain't ballet. What female superstar will have the next "affair"? Our demos like aggression, sex appeal and soap opera intrigue. The lay of the land is ripe for a hot TV love affair. Who do you predict will be next to jump to the Federation or to the Alliance? I don't expect to see an Unforgiven lineup until two weeks or ten days before the Sept. 23 Pay-Per-View. Is that bad? Maybe the new live Saturday night TV broadcast on TNN will provide the opportunity for more talents to be introduced, to talk, etc. This format will be a work in progress and will probably be "tweaked" for several weeks. Going live presents lots of opportunities for lots of talent, from where I sit. Please be patient. My Oklahoma Sooners open their season this weekend at home versus North Carolina. It will be hard to top 13-0 and a National Championship but I am really looking forward to this college football season. Win or lose, OU is my team! Eat more JR's BBQ Sauce (ShopZone) and I'll see you next week! J.R. HA HA HA HA | ||||
| Vapour | posted on 08-27-2001 @ 5:14 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01 | quote: Looks like Ross is taking a shut at the WCW guys. quote: I think thats easy RVD joins WWF, Christian Joins WCW No question as to when WCW/ECW break away from WWF. HA HA HA HA | ||||
| Fighting Hellfish | posted on 08-27-2001 @ 5:31 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | "Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Paul Bearer and Mrs. Charles Robinson during their challenging times." What's up with that? | ||||
| JackDan1974 | posted on 08-27-2001 @ 6:08 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jul. 01 | If you look at the current Ross Report, he has since apologed for the statments that he made about Billy Kidman, and the WCW wrestlers. | ||||
| Fighting Hellfish | posted on 08-27-2001 @ 8:20 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | I saw on WWF.com that the prayers for Mrs. Paul Bearer are because she has breast cancer. She had a radical mastectomy (?) and should be ok. Paul also said he will be coming back to the WWF soon. No idea what is wrong with the wife of Charles Robinson. | ||||
| Vapour | posted on 08-31-2001 @ 12:39 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01 | Ross Report -- UPDATED Aug. 28, 2001 It's Tuesday, and as promised, here are my post-RAW IS WAR thoughts. Overall, RAW was a very solid show that we were pleased with. The talent gave great effort, which we're becoming accustomed to. We don't take it for granted, but it's no surprise that this group works hard. The show had less comedy than last Monday. It's a question of personal taste -- and everybody can be a Monday Morning Quarterback -- but it seemed to me that last Monday's RAW had too much comedy. Comedy is hard to execute if you're a stand-up comedian or a sports entertainer. Last night we had a better balance. The show had drama, suspense, intrigue and surprise --- balanced with the humor. That's what we're trying to do. The genre has changed so much, and even those old-school folks who grew up on more in-ring product know that, in this day and age, the in-ring stuff has got to be balanced with behind-the-scenes and out-of-the-ring things. But to be entertaining you don't always have to make somebody laugh. It could be drama, suspense, etc. It looks as if there will be significant in-ring product on SmackDown! as well. But we're not going to disregard the out-of-ring stuff. Going into SmackDown!, our game plan is to have a balance between in-ring and extracurricular stuff that's logical and palatable to the viewer. The staff was pleased with RAW. It gave some talents the chance to shine, and it built some rivalries that could culminate at Unforgiven. We're in a very pronounced rebuilding process here -- or not even rebuilding as much as building these new guys and ladies -- considering we have so many new talents that our viewers don't know yet. We're trying to get people to know the Shawn Stasiaks of the world, the Hurricane Helms of the world, the "Who Better than Kanyons?" As we get the characters more introduced, the viewers will start caring more. There will be more emotional attachment. That just takes time. Some guys, depending on creative and execution, will advance faster than others. Rob Van Dam is already well on his way to becoming one of our most marketable players. Booker T is already well on his way to becoming one of our most marketable players. Other guys need some more reps, as the say in football. We're not trying to shove somebody down the viewers' throats. Fans don't respond positively to that. But the thing I've always said is that this group will always give viewers and ticket buyers their effort. It's a positive group to deal with. We have a lot of young guys who haven't developed fundamental skills, and we're trying to work with them to get them where they want to go. We're encouraged that in time we'll have a significant, deep lineup. It's a work in progress. But this company has never been afraid to work.The Shane McMahon-Rock promo that kicked off RAW was very entertaining. It set the stage for the Rock-Rhyno match and was a good opportunity for Rhyno. It certainly accomplished what we were looking for. We liked Undertaker vs. Albert. In hindsight, it might have been better if it had a little more time. But that's often not feasible because there's so much we're trying to get in in two hours. It was good exposure for Taker. We have been very pleased with Albert's progress. The way the match was done, it didn't do anything detrimental to Albert's progress. As it stands now, there's going to be a return match on SmackDown!, which should also be a very competitive match. The Hurricane Helms presentation is one that some are going to like because of entertainment, while others that prefer the straight-ahead, less-humor approach may not like it. But the bottom line, in our view, is we believe that Hurricane Helms has a great attitude, a significant upside in terms of in-ring abilities, and is a very intelligent young man. We believe this presentation will help the audience get to know him better, and allow him to develop a personality -- something that he hasn't had the opportunity to do up to this point. So it's a step in the right direction for the long-term building of Hurricane Helms. The situation that developed on RAW also gives us an opportunity to get Lita and Ivory more exposure. And Matt Hardy gets into an issue with a guy who he matches up with well in the ring. We're trying to accelerate Test's growth. His match with Bradshaw certainly had a story -- Test cost the APA the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Titles -- so it wasn't a cold match. We're pleased with the way Test is progressing. He's going to become a significant player on the Alliance side as time goes on. It was a good, hard-hitting match, finished off with an impressive kick to the face by Test. Rhyno and The Rock had an excellent match. Rhyno improves his credibility and marketability with the audience by going toe to toe with Rock. Certainly our philosophy is that sometimes even in losing, a character can be enhanced, depending on the competitiveness of the match. The Gores that Rhyno delivered were extremely impressive. There's no doubt that Rock is supremely popular. The Rock acknowledging the history and legacy of WCW Title was a good thing. It makes the WCW Championship have importance, not that it didn't before. But certainly with Rock as WCW Champ -- and with him identifying the importance -- it's great for the title, no matter who holds it in the future. The Edge-Christian storyline is developing well, and it continued to do so in the Edge-Hugh Morrus confrontation last night. It took another step in the right direction, wherever it goes and whenever it culminates. We were pleased with it. We want Hugh Morrus to be a little bit more aggressive. He's working on that, and it showed last night. Both the Big Show and Booker T had a good night. We're seeing improvement out of the Big Show -- albeit slow, but at least he's moving in the right direction. His intensity has increased. He's moving better than he has; sometimes we forget just how big he is. He's trying to get there, and that's half the battle -- the effort and the mindset. He's putting in significant effort. Booker T, meanwhile, has improved tremendously since he first came here, not unlike a lot of guys. It's hard to be too aggressive. It's hard to be too intense. It's rare that you see somebody that's too aggressive in the ring. To say he needs to become more aggressive is not a knock on Booker. Most talents can serve to be more aggressive and physical - and that's what Booker did on RAW. That's what we're looking for. He's learning. Unfortunately, in the old WCW, there was not a lot of teaching of the fine points and subtleties of the business. That's unfortunate for a guy like Booker, who has a wonderful attitude, is extremely athletic, and has a great look. He also does exceptionally good promos for my money, and they're getting better as well. We're really pleased with his progress. Last night, we accomplished what we wanted. The Big Show was aggressive, and came off as difficult to handle because of his size and strength. Booker was resourceful, resilience, and he showed his mean streak. It forwarded the stories that it needed to on that occasion. We were happy with both guys' effort. The Rob Van Dam & Tazz vs. Chris Jericho & Kurt Angle match told a real good, old-school story. Jericho was the guy that Alliance guys isolated, and Y2J never quit fighting. He showed great heart for his character, finally making the tag to Kurt. Y2J's popularity and competitive nature are right where we want them. RVD has been exceptional. His popularity continues to grow out of respect for his ability and uniqueness. Kurt is there. We think Kurt is on target to continue to grow and be one of our biggest all-time superstars. There were some exceptional moments in the match last night, and the end result was Stone Cold Steve Austin being the antagonist again. After his match with Jericho on SmackDown!, and the milk truck situation on last week's RAW, Austin got back a little bit of fire last night, and establish his presence in a physical way. He was being the aggressor again. It allowed us to keep Austin and Kurt on the same page, storyline wise. There are still several television shows to go until Unforgiven on Sept. 23 in Pittsburgh. With this amount of time to continue an issue that started before SummerSlam -- and they certainly had a tremendous match at SummerSlam -- last night's match was one of the vehicles we're using to have Kurt and Steve on the same page without having them battle in a one-on-one or even a tag match. It's a creative balancing act. f they do indeed wrestle against each other at Unforgiven, the match still has to have freshness, and there still has to be anticipation for the match because it hasn't been overexposed. SmackDown! will be continuation of the Kurt-Stone Cold relationship. Fans can watch Thursday to see if we accomplished our goal. There were no significant injuries coming out of last night. We're knocking on wood that we get through tonight's Detroit SmackDown! taping with a clean slate so that everybody can get ready to return to work on Saturday in Worcester, Mass. Kane is hospitalized in Des Moines, Iowa. He cut his elbow at SummerSlam. It didn't look significant at the time -- certainly nothing that would prevent him from the ring. It got infected. But as big and as strong as he is, it didn't have an adverse effect until two days later. Oral antibiotics were going to be a real slow process. So on doctors' advise, he was admitted to hospital and hooked up on IV. I talked to Kane today. He feels great. He's very restless. He'd like to be back on the road. But we certainly don't want to rush him and see him develop staph infection, or for the infection to move into the bone. The swelling in his arm is going down significantly as the antibiotics kick in. He'll be off the road this weekend. It remains to be seen if he'll be able to come back to TV next Monday and Tuesday in Toronto. We won't know for a few days if he'll get a clean bill of health. See you Friday! Take care! J.R. HA HA HA HA | ||||
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