MICHAEL'S IMPACT REVIEW #18
MAY 3, 2010
THE IMPACT ZONE - ORLANDO, FLORIDA
- Bubba the Love Sponge gets fired from TNA for calling Awesome Kong, "black". That is racially insensitive according to Total Nonstop Action. The same people who have a wrestler named the Black Pope. **sigh** Let's cross the line.
- We start with a video package from last week's show.
"HOGAN/STING - THE SUMMIT"
(Is this anything like the Savage/Crush Summit?)
So I'm watching a few minutes of NXT last week and while the concept isn't the worst thing I've ever heard the execution is very poor.
They are taking mostly developmental talent (and of course more experienced guys like Danielson) and making them wrestle each other in fairly boring contests.
MICHAEL'S IMPACT REVIEW #11
MARCH 15, 2010
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - THE IMPACT ZONE
- OK, so before we get started, I was wondering something. What is making Raw that much more appealing right now? I was thinking about this today. You have a four week gap before Wrestlemania and all they really can do is book the matches right away and then build them up for four weeks. Now, I am very excited about this time of year, more than any. With that being said, how many times can I enjoy John Cena vs, The Big Show and Randy Orton vs. Triple H? I am pretty sure that last year's Wrestlemania Rewind Raw showcased John Cena vs. The Big Show, but I could be wrong, Now before you go accusing me of saying that WWE's product is worse than TNA and that I am just "trolling"; keep in mind that I am disgusted at the way they build feuds and hype pay per views over in TNA. But, I do find their product something fresh and there is a chance for new rivalries and it is an alternative. OK, now I'm done....Let's Cross the Line.
Charlie sez…
Since your blog was interested and I have NO life, here's all the figures I could pull up on WWE DVD sales numbers. These are for North America (possibly the United States) only.
Only THREE WWE DVDs have sold over 100,000 units at the Manufactures Suggested Retail Price. This does not factor in bundle sales, clearance, etc. It WOULD factor in store sales, such as Best Buy which always has the movies on sale the first week they are released.
The top three are...
#1: The Rise & Fall of ECW (aprox 165,000 units at MSRP)
#2: Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology (aprox 125,000 units at MSRP)
#3: The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection (aprox 110,000 units at MSRP)That puts it in perspective of what the very top of the ladder is. I'm guessing wrestling fans thought these things sold millions. They don't. BUT understand that they're the WWE's most profitable division because all the stuff contained in them is just archival footage. It costs pennies on a dollar to produce these sets.
The average set sells around 25,000 units. Here are the ones that are above average performers. If a DVD released after 2008, I did a rough guess based on removing the overseas stuff using sales data from older stuff. And since you can take it with a grain of salt, I put a * next to any such set.
Bloodbath: Wrestling's Best Cage Matches (about 85,000 copies)
Tombstone: The History of the Undertaker (About 70,000 copies)
The Road Warriors (about 55,000 copies)
Bret Hart (about 45,000 copies)
Shawn Michaels: From the Vault (about 45,000 copies)
Greatest Stars of the 80s (About 35,000 copies)
Shawn Michaels: Heartbreak & Triumph (about 30,000 copies)*
John Cena: My Life (about 30,000)*
Chris Benoit: Hard Knocks (about 25,000 copies)And these are the under performing ones...
Eddie Guerrero: Cheating Death, Stealing Life (about 20,000 copies)
ECW Blood Sport (about 17,500 copies)
Rey Mysterio: The Biggest Little Man (about 15,000 copies)*
Mr. Perfect (about 7,500 copies)
History of the AWA (about 5,000 copies)
Roddy Piper (about 3,000 copies)
Dusty Rhodes (about 2,500 copies)
History of WCCW (about 2,500 copies)*
ECW Extreme Rules (about 2,000 copies)*
Brian Pillman (about 1,500 copies)
Superstar Billy Graham (about 1,000 copies)I tried to get numbers for the 2009 releases but they were all over the place. More then likely places reporting them made the numbers up based on how much they liked the sets. The WWE the actual numbers pretty well guarded. I was told that Kane's release was the lowest single-wrestler set of the last year (released in December of 2008 but they factor it into the last calendar year).
I think actually the WWE likely has readjusted their expectations for what a DVD is expected to sell. And mind you, in the music industry a concert DVD that says 5,000 units is considered to be a MAJOR success. So the WWE isn't exactly hurting from this drop in sales. This is all stuff that is 'in the can'.
Sources: Billboard, Video Shop Magazine, WWE's pre-2008 sales figures.
The SmarK Rant for WWF Royal Rumble 2002
- Live from the Underwater City of Atlanta.
- Your hosts are JR & The King.
The Netcop Retro Rant for Royal Rumble 1990.
- Live from Orlando, Florida.
- Your hosts are Tony Skee-A-Vone and the Governor of Minnesota.
(Apparently this Bret Hart guy is all the rage right now among the kids, so here’s a repost of the DVD rant from 2004, with some formatting and spelling errors fixed)
The SmarK DVD Rant for Bret Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be.
So here's how this is gonna work -- I've of course been hit by endless requests for this DVD, but didn't get the DVD until recently. I managed to watch the documentary portion previously and posted thoughts to the blog, but everyone wanted rants for the matches included, too, and I didn't really feel like going back to take notes on the documentary portion to do the entire DVD set. So the documentary portion is going to be a guest rant by longtime blog contributor and friend of mine Princess, who covered most of what I would have written about it anyway, and then we'll hit the matches with fresh rants for stuff I haven't done before or haven't done in a long time. For time reasons and for reasons of efficiency, I copied stuff where my opinions haven't changed or where an updated version wasn't going to be different enough to warrant a redo.
OK, so after giving this about 5 minutes of total thought, here’s my 64 team field for the first annual Scott’s Stupid Dream Tag Team Tournament. This is not in any particular order, it’s just 64 teams I could think of off the top of my head who are pretty cool and probably deserve slots here. If there’s any more deserving you can think of, now is the time to nominate them. I’m just gonna end up randomly seeding them and letting people vote in a poll to determine the winner. The criteria will be entirely up to you. Vote for your favorite, the ones who were the best workers, the ones you’d think would win a real fight, whatever.
The nominated teams:
The SmarK Legacy Rant for Monday Night RAW - November 15 1993
- Taped from Bushkill, PA.
- Your hosts are Vince & Bobby, as Randy Savage is suspended for his attack on Crush last week.
Hi, it's Josh again (thanks for printing my e-amil aboot the Irish Whip). I just saw a match on 24/7 in which Bruno Sammartino pinned Mr. Fuji following(GASP) a backdrop. Yes, a back body drop was the finish. Just thought this would be somehow relevant to you. Maybe this is the reason why it's still used so frequently these days, sort of like how nobody buys the rear chinlock as a finish anymore, when at one time it was like, "oh Rude's got Jake, he's goin out". Ya dig?
Also, wondering if you had any thoughts about the multitude of shoot interviews out there: if you've ever seen any at length, ever considered any for review/ranting, etc. I really dig 'em, and though I never believe a story unless I hear it from two different dudes, they are invaluable to gaining perspective of the business when it was interesting and fun (y'know, everything it ISN'T now).
First of all, ANYTHING can be a finisher. It’s not like Cena’s crappy death valley driver is any more visually impactful than a simple bodyslam, but he pins main event guys with it, so people buy it as a finish. JBL used a friggin’ clothesline for 10 years and people bought that as well. There was a period in 2000 when HHH was putting people down with spinebusters and sleepers and for a while THOSE got over, too. Of course I mocked them for that, but that’s me. Point being, if Undertaker started pinning guys with a backdrop tomorrow, it would suddenly get over as a killer finisher and no one would blink an eye after a while.
As for shoot interviews, I’ve done a few rants (Cornette, Raven, Shawn Michaels pre-Jesus, Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes, Bill Watts) and while they’re great for stories a lot of times, you kind of have to keep in mind the source of info as far as reliability goes. Plus the RFVideo ones were hampered by interviewers who didn’t really know how to lead interviews and offer followup questions and such. Generally your best bet is Jim Cornette, because he’s generally 100% truthful (having no tolerance for bullshit) and knows how to steer the conversation where he wants.
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Kevin Nash Shoot Interview DVD WWE TNA US $4.99 |
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Team 3D Shoot Interview 2 Disc DVD Set WWE TNA ECW US $5.99 |
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WWE DVD Lot 5 DVDs US $22.00 |
