Grilling JR - Raw 07.31.00 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Raw July 31, 2000

This is the first Raw is War since the passing of Gordon Solie on 7/28 from brain cancer. Did that weigh on you going into this Raw?

Wrestling Observer 8/7/00

Solie's distinctive voice and understated announcing rhythm was the trademark of pro wrestling in the Southeast for more than two decades and in some ways the symbol of pro wrestling in the 1970s. He commanded so much respect in the business that he was acknowledged, even for years after it was no longer the case, as the unquestioned best announcer modern wrestling ever had. His ability to give pro wrestling credibility as legitimate athletic competition was the forerunner of today's Jim Ross and made him the premiere announcer of the 60s and 70s. His rich vocabulary earned him mainstream respect as a broadcaster, even if the product he was calling wasn't always worthy of such. His underplayed style of selling wrestling was a complete contrast to the modern game.

"I used to drive 60 miles over to the nearest town because we didn't have cable where I grew up," said Jim Ross, who has credited Watts and Solie as the biggest influences on his announcing. "No matter where I was on a Saturday, I tried to watch that show. He was a big part of my early foundation. I go into my Solie mode when calling a HHH vs. Jericho or Rock vs. Benoit match."

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As that was going on the WWF/Martha Hart lawsuit was intensifying as members of the Hart family started to feed info to the WWF and it’s attorneys.

Was this just something by the members of the Hart family still in the wrestling business to get on the good graces of Vince?

The World Wrestling Federation's entree to national politics started this past week with them airing footage of the Republican National convention on Raw, an appearance by Dwayne Johnson scheduled for 8/2 at the convention and announcing a voter registration campaign.

On the same Raw episode which saw eight-year-olds outside the Georgia Dome chanting "Save the ho's," portrayed by announcer Jim Ross as an exercise in freedom of expression, Linda McMahon spoke in nearly ominous tones about 14 million voters that watch pro wrestling and will decide who wins the presidential election in November.

According to one high placed WWF source, basically two different things merged into one. The WWF was already planning its get-out-the-vote type of campaign when Johnson received the invitation late last week to help open a session with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who, ironically, is considered the strongest proponent of amateur wrestling in Congress, which no doubt will ruffle some feathers in that community. On the 7/31 Raw show, there were several cutaways, purported to be live (actually they weren't), with Linda McMahon and Michael Cole, talking about setting up voter registration booths in various places including at WWF live events. McMahon talked about her dealings with various high ranking members of the party and said she would also be at the Democratic National convention. From both parties standpoints, the WWF's core audience of voting age (because their strongest demo remains male teens), males 18 to 24, vote in unusually low proportions and the major parties have a difficult time in relating to them. Using one of the biggest celebrities in the country within that demo, Johnson, is clearly a way for the Republicans to try and portray themselves as hip and relevant to younger voters who certainly would in large proportion see them in a more indifferent light.

Since everything on a live pro wrestling show in some form or fashion is an angle, it isn't clear exactly what the ultimate purpose of this is. One can speculate that the WWF is trying to use its fan base as a lobbying group, similar to the NRA, since there were very much implied threats about the strength of 14 million voters to the politicians in both the cutaways and a television commercial that aired during the show.

The 14 million eligible voter figure is a total work, as to get to that number, one has to add up the total viewership over the age of 18 of every single WWF television show in a week. Actually, for the week of 7/25 to 7/31, that total would only get the numbers up to 12.6 million, and that counts adults who watch multiple shows as separate voters for every show they watch. Certainly the average hardcore WWF fan watches two or three shows, some die-hards as much as six, every week. In addition, a very large percentage of the television wrestling audience is not very serious about the product and watches it more as a mindless diversion, and much of the merchandise sales skew very young, much younger than voting age. A more realistic figure of eligible voters would be to take the most watched show--Raw--and look at the total audience of those over the age of 18. For 7/31, that figure would have been 4.6 million, and there are some hardcore WWF fans that are voting age, that because of work or other commitments, that don't watch Raw. Even so, it's doubtful you could push that legitimate figure up past 5.5 million as far as people who are serious WWF fans, and really that's including casual TV viewers who watch WWF programming as opposed to people who would be categorized as strong WWF fans. It is true that the WWF has tremendous power over its viewership in creating characters and responses to characters and is more effective at doing similar things and garnering strong reactions than the political parties, whose basic goals are somewhat similar to creation of characters and selling them to the public. Certainly a program that encourages very young children to chant "save the ho's" and the avowed platform on many issues of the Republican party are direct contradictions.

Certainly, at the very least, encouraging wrestling fans to act as a lobbying group, and the media will report that 14 million figure to the point it will be accepted among politicians as being a real number, has the power to scare politicians that might think of enacting either regulation of the pro wrestling industry, or even the television industry with regulations that would pertain to pro wrestling programming.

According to another WWF official, the goal of this campaign is to be bipartisan, but inform the wrestling fans that as a group their voice is powerful. It was specifically stated this would have nothing to do with Bob Backlund's campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. Clearly, the power of wrestling fans in close elections has been felt at least twice and maybe more, in the 1968 Presidential election where Richard Nixon beat Hubert Humphrey in one of the closest elections on record where among numerous Nixon campaign strategies, was to target the huge audience and believed to be easily manipulated audience at the time that watched pro wrestling in the South, and of course, last year's election of Jesse Ventura as Governor of Minnesota in another close race. Without question, it was also the wrestling fan vote that elected Antonio Inoki into the national diet in Japan in 1989. Still, the claim that WWF fans will decide the outcome of the presidential race in November, can only be garnered through the WWF, as an organization, supporting a candidate and throwing its weight behind into many political issues.

While it no doubt will be reported that Johnson's appearance was the first by a pro wrestler at a national convention, that wouldn't be the case. Although he won't be attending, Ric Flair was also invited to the Republic Convention as guests of the family of South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell, although not invited to speak at the convention. Raymond Wagner (Gorgeous George) actually helped open either the 1952 or 1956 Republican convention and Jack Adkisson (Fritz Von Erich) attended many Republican conventions in the 70s and early 80s as part of the religious right wing of the party. In their day, both Frank Gotch and Strangler Lewis were also brought to conventions due to their friendship with powerful people and mainstream celebrity status. Gotch was invited to the 1912 Presidential inauguration and was considered a powerful political force at that time in the state of Iowa. Paul Boesch of Houston was a long-time friend of President George Bush, and attended his inauguration and Bush at one time invited Flair, who was his favorite wrestler, to the White House. Lewis was invited to at least two national conventions and was an invited guest at the White House by President Calvin Coolidge.

The announcement of Johnson attended the convention brought out an immediate response from L. Brent Bozell III, the chairman of the PTC, saying The Rock uses obscene and profane language as well as has used metal chairs, a shovel and a sledgehammer as weapons during his scripted matches as well as frequently making demeaning comments toward women.

"It is unconscionable that one of America's major political parties would give a prime time platform to someone who encourages young children to behave in such a violent and vulgar manner," he said in an AP story.

The PTC on 8/1 then urged George W. Bush to withdraw the invitation to Johnson to address the convention the next day, using Bush's statement saying, "Children deserve clear, straightforward messages about right and wrong. All of us, in our public and private lives, should help foster civility and champion positive messages." Bozell was critical in particular of the "poon tang pie" comments by Rock (which have been marketed in a t-shirt). The claim is the values promoted by Johnson contradict those espoused publicly by Bush. The PTC claimed that Hastert had told them on Tuesday they've received many calls and have contacted staff members in Philadelphia to alert them to the concerns.

How did you feel regarding the mix of politics & wrestling and considering the current mix of politics and wrestling has much changed in the recent climate?

***Ratings***

Paced by uncharacteristic growth for a main event of Rock & Lita vs. HHH & Trish Stratus, while the ratings overall were at average levels, the main event wasn't that far off record levels.

Going head-to-head with the NFL Monday Night Football pre-season debut of Dennis Miller, which drew what was considered a disappointing 7.26 rating and 13.3 share (down 13 percent for last year's pre-season opener which didn't have the hype associated with Miller's debut attached to it), Raw ended with a 6.39 rating (5.75 first hour; 6.96 second hour) and a 10.2 share. Nitro drew a 2.66 rating (3.01 first hour; 2.35 second hour) and a 4.2 share. The total wrestling audience was 9.5 million viewers during the competitive period, which was actually a lower total than the main event drew on its own.

Was there a worry about Dennis Miller being put in the MNF booth it was to take some of the viewers from Raw? Or was the real test when it was the regular season compared to the preseason?

Mark Kriegel of the New York Daily News on 8/1 ran a column on Jim Ross' thoughts about Dennis Miller announcing Monday Night Football

This Raw episode was up against the infamous Viagra on a Pole match between Shane Douglas and Billy Kidman. Blue Chew ad read?

On 7/28 Superstars of Wrestling tour of Australia began with Rodman vs. Hennig on top. Was there any eyes on this tour to see how it went?

Raw from the Georgia Dome actually drew basically a packed house since there were 26,569 in the building (so the announced figure of 25,135 on television was actually low) and they set it up for a smaller configuration. The paid was 22,828 for $557,970.

Raw at the Georgia Dome was clearly designed to continue the big push for both Lita and Stratus, as they gave them the rubs teaming with Rock and HHH and as the ratings showed, it was a huge success. As nearly everyone has figured out, Lita really has something, but it's just a question of how to actually use it because long singles matches with her will hurt her just as they did with Chyna, and she can't be pushed the same way as Sable because it's a totally different appeal (Sable was to horny guys, Lita has more of a tomboy appeal but her biggest fan base will be teenage girls like the Crush Gals from the 80s).

Crush Gals were in All Japan Women’s who drew a ton of money.

Did WWF leave any money on the table with Lita & Trish?

The head-to-head quarters saw Raw at 4.62 (X-Pac & Dogg vs. Blackman & Snow) to 2.45 (Sting vs. Jarrett)

X-Pac & Dogg beat Snow & Blackman in a hardcore bout. 

It’s mind boggling to see those numbers between WCW’s franchise player in Sting and an opening hardcore bout that features Al Snow & Steve Blackman right?

Stephanie & HHH did their soap opera. I swear that's the most realistic part of any wrestling show because every guy can relate to a girlfriend who blows a gasket and refuses to watch the tape in its proper context. Loved the line by HHH--"I would never lie to you," I mean, coming from someone in pro wrestling. Finally they kissed and Foley came out with fake buckets of tears and basically ripped on the segment saying it was boring.

Raw at 5.93 (HHH, Stephanie soap opera) to 1.86 (Kronik vs. Vampiro & Muta vs. O'Hare & Jindrak, beginning of Kidman vs. Douglas)

What did you think of Stephanie & HHH”s acting here? Too much promo time as it ran into the next segment? Good counter programming by WCW here with Viagra on a Pole match don’t you think?

Raw at 6.22 (ending of HHH, Stephanie interview with Foley out, Edge & Christian vs. Hardys) to 2.03 (ending of Kidman vs. Douglas, Hancock vs. Gunns)

Hardys beat Edge & Christian via DQ for a chair shot. Weak finish to their typical good match. They did a front-and-back chair shot on Jeff after the match, and a post-match angle where Matt went after them, but they doubled on him and left him laying. Hey, who wouldn’t mind another E&C vs. Hardys at SummerSlam?

Was this the debut of the Con-chair-to to your knowledge (I looked it up and it seems like it…) Considering this is going to lead to the first unofficial TLC match (it wasn’t called TLC until much later) how primed were all of these guys for a run? 

Raw at 5.63 (Dudleys vs. Angle & Benoit) to 2.63 (Steiner vs. Nash, beginning of T vs. Sting).

Angle & Benoit beat Dudleys in a damn good match. They gave Benoit the 3-D, but Show came out and choke slammed Buh Buh and put Benoit on top. For a guy who was just in the PPV main event and seemed to improve his standing with a great match and a surprisingly strong buy rate, Benoit has seemed really toned down over the past week. Acolytes beat Right to Censor (Buchanan & Goodfather) in a match that by all rights proved that Richards was right all along because this needed to have been censored they were so bad. Rikishi beat Tazz clean with the Samoan drop. Tazz looked so small next to the 420 pound man. Guerrero & Chyna beat Saturn & Venis when Guerrero pinned Saturn. Guerrero looked real good. Chyna looked bad. Show vs. Kane never got started as Angle, Benoit and Shane all attacked Kane and Dudleys saved. Even though it'll probably be a real good match, I'd hate for Benoit to be used with the Dudleys over the next month.

Regarding the plight of the former Radicalz in WWF, most of the thoughts about any of them having second thoughts about making the move to WWF are created rumors. Although all liked wrestling, each to a different extent, dreaded going to work when they were in WCW because of all the backstage politics. Malenko is said to be not thrilled with his angle with wrestling women but is very happy where he's at. Saturn and Guerrero are wrestling through nagging injuries which take their physical and mental toll, but neither has requested any time off. Saturn has a nagging low back problem he's had for some time and is working through and Guerrero's knee and back are in bad shape as he's never fully recovered from the lingering effects of the injuries when he was thrown from his car on New Years Eve of 1999

Do you agree that Benoit looks to have been de-featured just coming off of the Fully Loaded PPV? Was Vince the only one who enjoyed RTC? The gimmick with Eddie and Chyna gave Eddie such an opportunity to show off his charisma that it really started his main event run that wouldn’t happen until years later but was the first signs of it. The schmozz wipe out of a match was a main stay back then and still kind of is today. Do you see any place in wrestling for it still?

The Raw main event drew an 8.46 over-run with a 15.4 share, which translates into 9,965,000 viewers, making it the fifth most-watched wrestling match in the history of cable television. The top four are and June 28, 1999 match with Undertaker vs. Austin at 10,721,000; The May 1, 2000 match with Rock vs. Shane McMahon at 10,576,500; the May 10, 1999 match with Rock & Austin & Vince vs. Undertaker & Shane at 10,452,000; the April 24, 2000 match with Benoit & HHH vs. Rock & Jericho at 9,984,000. Nitro, which showed a very strong pick-up after the football game ended at 9:52 p.m. Eastern, did a 3.11 for the Booker T vs. Sting title match.

Rock & Lita over HHH & Stratus was about what you'd expect. The guys were good and the women were passable and the crowd was very into Lita, who scored the pin with a moonsault. Show ended with Rock hitting HHH with a chair, and he fell KO'd onto Stratus in a 69 position.

Is the rating a sign of great creative, 4 hot talents, 2 hot talents with good side pieces and a good story? How impressive is it for this match to be at the time the fifth most watched wrestling match in the history of cable TV?

WHAT WAS THE REAL PLAN FOR TRIPLE H - STEPHANIE - TRISH - ANGLE? SPILL THE TEA ABOUT STEPHANIE AND HUNTER CUTTING IT OFF BECAUSE HUNTER SAID IT WASN’T REALISTIC HE WOULD LOSE STEPHANIE TO ANGLE!