ktc

Dueling Chair Shots
by Kurt La Mont
column date 06/05/2000

He shoots.......but does he score?

Paul E’s was recently quoted as saying..."They are continuing a campaign of intentional neglect and negative positioning regarding our show that we find intolerable. I have submitted the show. I like the show. I think it's compelling television, because it's so f****** real. It's a shoot. It's a promotion telling the truth. It's the little guy not allowing the multi-billion dollar conglomerate to damage it any further, and it's the position they have forced us into. They buried this program. They have done nothing although they promised us the world...... But this network has been mad at us since day one because we came on the air and garnered an audience without any help from them at all, and RollerJam continued to lag even through they were spending millions and millions of dollars to promote, market and advertise it. We made them look like schmucks, which they are, and they didn't like the fact we exposed them. So they haven't done a damn thing to promote, market, advertise, or spread the word on out show, and they have damaged us greatly. And we're sick of it."

I have a hard time having sympathy here for Paul E. He says that he was ‘promised the world’ and given nothing. Well unless ‘the world’ is in writing, TNN has no obligation to deliver. That’s why you have a contract. If it’s not in writing you have nothing to complain about.

This is something Paul E fails to grasp. He’s an old school guy. To him, a man’s word is as good as a contract. While this is an admirable trait personally, it’s not good business. It’s was the reason for the talent raids of yesteryear and it’s the reason they feel they are getting screwed now.

Now while ECW continues to complain about poor promotion they are not blameless. Off of the top of my head, I believe the TNN ratings peaked in January at about a 1.3 (give or take 0.1). From the debut in September until that point the ratings gradually increased. The ratings increased because the shows were interesting, new viewers like what they saw and stuck around, and from positive word of mouth. Sometime between the peak in January and now, ECW has declined back to the level they were when the show first arrived on TNN. ECW can whine all they want about not being promoted correctly but they lost roughly 40% of their peak audience over the past 4 months and it had nothing to do with poor promotion from TNN. That audience knew where and when to find ECW and they choose to leave. They left because they weren’t interested enough in what they were watching to continue watching and that is no fault of TNN.

To get on national TV Paul E had to ‘sell his soul to the devil’, and he agreed to do that for 3 years. He now knows that this deal isn’t what he thought it was going to originally be. He now knows that he can get a considerably better deal from another network. He now knows that his promotion is more valuable than it was a year ago. And this is all a result of the 9 months spent on TNN. So while Paul E moans about the TNN relationship, it is that relationship, however strained that it is, that will help him out with in the long run.

Now while I think that ECW has no one to blame but themselves in this TNN fiasco, I can’t say what Paul E is attempting to now do is the wrong strategic move. It’s pretty obvious that Paul E is trying to divorce himself from TNN and is doing everything in his power to accelerate that process. He knows that another network will promise him 'The World’ if he is “freed” from TNN. Hopefully next time he will get ‘The World’ in writing.

And even if they remain on TNN for the next 27 months at least it will make for interesting TV.

So has Paul E scored with his latest 'shot'? We’ll only really know when this whole deal shakes out but I think that these ‘shots’ can only benefit ECW.

Next week I will focus on what ECW needs to do to build that dwindling audience back up. If you have any suggestions feel free to e-mail me at the bottom of the page.

Random Thoughts:

What does it mean when the only time that I could lip-read Paul E during his ‘silent shoot’ was when he was swearing?

It’s good to see Simon on TV, even if it was just a during a vignette that made little sense.

I think I could watch a whole show of Mikey and the Sinister Minister laughing and burning things.

Is Tony Mamaluke (or whatever is name is/will be) dead? And if he doesn’t become a regular in ECW now don’t you feel bad for him?

The Grimes and Kid Cash TNN match was a really good big man-little man match. And it’s good to actually see Grimes wrestle and not brawl. Hopefully, ECW signs this guy when his WWF contract is up soon. There’s money in him.

I want to go back to the days when every match in ECW had a winner and loser. I knew that there was no chance there would be a clean fall between Rhino and Sandman.

I’m pretty sure Dawn Marie will manage Tommy next. Tommy may job to just about everybody, but he always gets the chicks.

I usually don’t like it when something big happens in ECW and I can’t see it, but I’m glad I didn’t get to see Sandman last night.

And how come Bob Ryder was outraged at puppygate and not at this?

More good stuff next week. Feedback can be sent to [email protected]