Hola, mi amigos! I have returned for what will be a guaranteed weekly installment from now until the possible end of wrestling times (more on that later), and it doesn’t matter if the competition is doing anything worth talking about, as I have been instructed to include the goings-on within the PWI-HCW bubble in my weekly rantings and ravings should we see nothing from either EWA/AEW or WWE/HLW/AXW/LWF/whateverthefuckwilliamzabkaisdoingnextweek!
So, let’s get back into the thick of it with your favorite countdown in wrestling, Lenny’s TOP 10!!
10. WWE defeats AEW (& PWI-HCW stays behind)
Well, it has been a long time coming, but the elite suffered their first official ratings defeat since 2010 when WWE’s Raw edged out AEW’s Dynamite this past Monday. Murrey pulled off what Mickey and Brown couldn’t over the past 4 years of this Sixth Era of professional wrestling: he defeated Benny’s company!
WWE found 9,687 more fans to watch their two-segment broadcast which featured some off-the-wall stuff (more of which we will delve into shortly). Murrey has been here before (think about his storybook return to promoting in 2004 with the LWF after a year long hiatus following his controversial selling of the UWA North Division to BWM Inc.), but it is worth noting that this is the longest he has been involved with running his own independent wrestling promotion since the Second Era!
Murrey is correctly credited with mainstreaming and pioneering what we now know as the industry of Sports Entertainment, so it shouldn’t be surprising that he would have some ideas for how to keep things fresh until he gets bored with this.
Over the last 18 months since the announcement of the short-lived HLW (then-owned by Murrey fanboy and former podcaster, Camden Cross), many people within the industry recognized Murrey’s signature approach, which led to a lot of rumors about Murrey’s involvement behind the scenes until his hostile takeover and rebranding of the company from HLW/AXW to the WWE last Spring.
A lot of those same commentators thought pretty loudly that Murrey’s age-old crash-TV approach to entertainment would lose its muster, and it is possible that this mindset lulled AEW into a false sense of security about the stability of their claim to the top of the mountain. It likewise deceived PWI-HCW into thinking they could easily topple Murrey’s project in head-to-head ratings battles, but WWE/AXW/HLW (like AEW/EWA) is undefeated against PWI-HCW. Stay in your lane, Mmouse Enterprises. We will come back to you in a sec.
Not only has Murrey’s chaotic and over-the-top comedic style not lost any traction, but it has served as the primary fuel propelling Murrey back to the top of this industry. At the very least, it opens the door to a si-saw battle which may be on the horizon between WWE and AEW over the course of the next few series of ratings battles.
Meanwhile, PWI-HCW is left with the scraps (it would seem), grasping at straws to try and remain relevant as Mmouse Enterprises and Brown Inc. scream out weekly for attention. The constant instability in our neck of the woods has produced the latest doomsday story which may or may not bring at least this brutal marriage to a fiery end. The detractors of PWI and HCW remark that we are imploding, and Mickey would have it no other way.
9. Everyone reacts to Mickey!
Then again, while some of you reading this and hate-watching the product emanating from Columbus and Memphis may think that it is a product of an imploding set of companies, it is also equally possible that Mickey is getting precisely what he wants: your attention.
Comically, just this week, we saw both WWE and AEW make it a point to reassure their audiences that the big bad Mickey’s evil plan would not destroy all of professional wrestling. I mean, why give his threats any attention at all? If you are so confident that the death of PWI and HCW (if Mickey gets his way) would not influence the fate of your own company, then why waste your valuable airtime giving it any attention?
I know, I know, the wrestling audience has many gullible idiots who will believe everything that they see, but didn’t Murrey and Benny learn in their childhoods that the easiest way to defeat a boogeyman is to ignore them? This is Monsters 101, man.
Unless…
…maybe Mickey’s threats really do endanger the entire industry. Think about it, Mickey may have some insane delusions of grandeur, but he also may be on to something. Are Murrey and Benny worried that wrestling really will wither away without Mmouse Enterprises and Brown Inc.? It’s very possible, and I will defer to them and our perpetual Chicken Little to explain their thinking. I just wanted to point out that Mickey is actually succeeding where his enemies would honestly like him to fail: and that is, being the talk of the town. Again.
8. Where the WWE Women at???
Have you noticed that outside of some brief moments in the backstage area, women in WWE are being relegated to silent partners in the success of their male counterparts? I mean, who even is the Women’s Champion? Asuka? I forget. Seriously (Ok, just checked the website to confirm that it is Asuka). Could someone send a search party?
WWE has gone so long without women’s action that the most quality time the vagina-having humans get on the air over there is being portrayed possibly as cheating harlots getting stuffed by Austin Theory while Gargano-nads is none-the-wiser.
Look, I don’t mean to rant too harshly on WWE here, because they really only have 15-30 minutes of air time whenever they choose to treat us (which is about 3 times as frequently as the Erratic-er, Elite). I know that time is money and when you give us the quality time of a hooker during a rush hour marathon, I can see why the women are often forgotten.
Of course, when WWE and AEW see how the women-centered segments in PWI and HCW are often the lowest-rated parts of said broadcasts, it doesn’t inspire a change of heart. Hell, I even learned of some critics remarking that PWI may, in fact, feature the women a little too much, and this critique may have played a slight role in the coming demise of the women’s tag division. Tsk tsk.
All I am saying is that WWE has an incredibly-stacked women’s roster, and the people would love to see what they’ve got! Maybe the recent hiring of Miss Elizabeth by WWE will help lead them down a more amenable path.
7. Inner Circle v. Bloodline
I have honestly been psyched for this rivalry since we first saw some signs of it coming back in July. So, apparently, after sending mean texts to each other over the past 6 months, the blood is finally boiling to the point that the two factions can’t keep their hands off of each other! On top of that, the Usos toppled Proud & Powerful for the Tag Gold and it appears that the Samoan Connection may be in hot water with Roman.
Good stuff all around, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for this. Though, I can’t help but feel that Roman is in danger of falling into the same pit that he did in PWI. You see, Mickey and company were very fond of him here, but they never quite understood why he waltzed around claiming to be some kind of mob boss with few accomplishments. Part of this is because he had some work to do to improve some of his in-ring work, and he was also partially a victim of getting left behind while management looked to push a lot of the other talent.
My point is that I hope we see more from Roman soon to avoid this trap from being revisited. Roman is a great talent, but he needs to be able to showcase it. I’m sure we will see him get the chance to shine soon, as this will help establish him as a legitimate threat to Jericho and beyond!
6. Celebrity Shakedown
I love celebrities, and this era has had no shortage of special appearances and roles for the rich and famous invaders such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Ralph Macchio, Logan Paul, and more prominently: William Zabka.
WWE has led the way with this Hollywood incursion into the world of wrestling by first bringing aboard Mr. Fox as part of his short role in the torture of Aiden English. The ratings gold seen by that led Murrey to invite more celebrities, but none have made a bigger and more lasting impression than the insane William Zabka.
Zabka, an actor who apparently slept-ran into morning traffic and left his semi-coma with permanent brain damage brought upon by thousands of simultaneous concussions, has become convinced that he is Johnny Lawrence. Yes, he literally believes that he is the character that he portrays in both the Karate Kid and the hit Netflix/YouTubeRed series Cobra Kai.
Zabka has been such a ratings magnet that he has been solidified as the star of the show for each WWE broadcast and now his star has risen so much that some fringe fans are openly pining for him to become WWE champion soon. NOTE: DO NOT DO THIS!
Zabka’s success has been near-impossible to overcome for the competition, and it arguably contributed to AEW’s signing of social media bombastic influencer, Logan Paul. To be honest, there seems to be no end in sight, and I am not sure that I ever want to see an end to this.
5. Ultimate Blunder!
The January 8th installment of the ratings war was very special, indeed. WWE, AEW, and PWI each spared no expense in pulling out all the stops to win the coveted prize of claiming “number one”. It truly was an historic night for many reasons…but no reason was more evidently historic than the conclusion of WWE Raw and PWI’s The Wrestling Show.
Every once in a great while, the competition will produce similar content, and each will from time to time be duped into signing the same talent. Yet, no two companies have seen the same talent DEBUT in a massive surprise twist in eerily similar fashion on THE SAME NIGHT…until January 8th. Or, so it seems…
Raw emanated from Portland, Oregon. The Wrestling Show aired from Kennewick, Washington. The two locations sit around 215 miles apart, or a less than a 25 minute private flight between them.
No one except a handful of people know what really happened, but this is a brief summary. Raw – the shorter of the three broadcasts that night – ended about 40-45 minutes earlier than PWI’s show. Raw saw an opening wherein Jeff Murrey promised to sign three legends to WWE. First legend revealed was The Rock, then came Batista, but the third legend waited until the end to rush in and save the day…the Ultimate Warrior!
Warrior had not been seen in action in about 13 1/2 years. So, this was a seemingly random and BIG deal. Then, just over half an hour later and over 200 miles away, Randy Orton entered the PWI ring to demand that Dragonfly grant him a rematch for the gold. Randy was interrupted by a diatribe by Mickey (from an undisclosed location with a version of his lair) wherein Mickey explained his evil plan to humiliate Randy (the “first champion of the elites”) and destroy him and the industry with the use of “EVERY WEAPON”…including the Ultimate Warrior!
Again, Warrior rushes to the center of a wrestling ring – ostensibly for the first time in over a decade – to cause destruction, but this time the perennial hero is corrupted and made the villain.
Very uncanny? Or, was something else afoot? For pure speculation, let’s delve into some of the rumors about what happened:
- Mickey scouted Warrior from WWE’s locker room just before he appeared on WWE TV to close their show and flew him on a private jet or helicopter to the location of The Wrestling Show.
- Murrey learned of the impending debut of Ultimate Warrior through the grapevine and hired the “Gold’s Gym Warrior Impersonator” Flex Fuller to take on the likeness of Warrior to steal Mickey’s thunder.
- Murrey hired Fuller to save face after Mickey successfully signed Warrior to a better deal after Murrey failed to secure one with Warrior on Monday.
- Warrior misled both companies into signing him and decided to go to PWI instead of WWE, thus appearing at both within the span of 50 minutes, and triggering Murrey to save face by making a mockery of the whole thing via Fuller.
There are more rumors, but these are the more popular ones that I am hearing. Regardless, Murrey has moved on from Warrior, hiring Fuller in his place and Mickey has awarded Warrior with an undeserved ranking which grants Warrior with a World Title shot coming soon.
This definitely made for a crazy and exciting – albeit unique – moment for the era and the entire history of the business!
4. The Megan-Benny Game (+ Splinter)
Like the Catherine and Mickey saga, BWM Inc. has portrayed its own variation with the drama between Megan and her adopted father Benny. We haven’t seen Megan since Starrcade back in June, and Eric Bischoff – Megan’s loyal lackey – was just canned by Benny in favor of Sami Zayn. Now, as of the most recent episode of Dynamite, Sami and Benny’s power grab has been threatened by the promise of a major revelation by the legendary Master Splinter!
This has consistently been one of the best parts of BWM Inc. programming since the beginning of the era. The people love them some Mouse Family Drama, and I can’t get enough it either…and I’m related to these people!!
Whatever it is that Splinter has to say tomorrow he will most certainly give us something that will be Earth-shattering and which will not feel like a big waste of our time. I will be all ears on Monday. Now let’s hope that AEW doesn’t rediscover their inner-EWA and go AWOL for another year just because we are now looking forward to something. Ugh. Trauma.
3. The Strength of the Comeback
Speaking of my trauma as a viewer of wrestling not associated with Mmouse Enterprises or Brown Inc., I know that I have commented about this phenomenon in the past, but it is absolutely true that part of why BWM Inc. has such a good track record is because they have mastered the art of the comeback, which is easy to do when you take more breaks than Hanz Gustav in a shopping mall.
Yes, PWI (and HCW) are most certainly to blame for not being consistent in their ratings performance so as to be insulated from the sudden appearance of AEW or EWA. Part of that inconsistency, though, is due to the lack of timely ratings reports on recent events. You know, reports which could enable a company to make necessary reactionary adjustments so as to appease the demands of the fickle audience, but I digress.
Making a comeback gives a promotion an opportunity to wow the audience with stars that they haven’t seen in a while and with PPV-level matches. It also permits a promotion to present surprises that can’t be done every single week. No ratings adjustments are necessary when all you have to do is stay away for a while as the audience is subjected to only one consistent option on television for weeks or months at a time.
Granted, this sounds like an excuse, but bear with me. I am not done yet. There is troubling news on the horizon for AEW with respect to this strategy: it is starting to lose its impact. Dynamite’s viewership dropped for two consecutive broadcasts; which led AEW to lose for the first time ever this era to WWE.
Also, as part of that decline, it is pertinent to note that the return in July received a higher rating than the return on New Years Day. Yes, the rate remained higher than the competition, but the other part of the troubling trend is that the gap between said competition and AEW has likewise narrowed between the return broadcasts. In July, AEW defeated PWI by almost 90,000 viewers. On New Years Day, the victory margin was less than 50,000. This past Monday, the gap was less than 30,000 between AEW and PWI. In other words, there are signs that PWI-HCW is gaining or even just sustaining traction while AEW is losing some steam.
Is it time for Benny and company to panic? I think that may be premature, but I wouldn’t rule out a possible ratings victory – or even string of victories – before Armageddon 4 on Memorial Day!
2. The Diminishing Ratings Deficit (can PWI-HCW catch up?)
It is a far cry from the state of the war back at the outset of this era, when EWA pummeled PWI in back to back battles with victories which saw over 100,000 more viewers choose AEW over PWI. Hell, EWA’s Retro Revolution crushed PWI Champions Showcase by almost 200,000 viewers on May 4th, 2020! The fact that PWI and HCW (because it is a joint effort, at the end of the day) have a closed the gap from those 100,000+ viewer blowout margins to the ever-thinning margins we see presently is nothing short of impressive for a supposedly-imploding set of promotions.
The next test for the ratings war is tomorrow night in what will only be the 25th direct ratings battle of the era (tragic, I know). Now, no one is seriously expecting PWI-HCW to pick up the win here, because it is Monday Night Mayhem, after all, but I would still recommend keeping an eye out for what each promotion has in store for us:
AEW is promising to have that big reveal in addition to an intriguing tournament-style contest to determine the challenger for the world title at Genesis. WWE is offering Elias, Ryback, Greg Valentine, and a contract signing, and HCW will feature an Extreme Title match between LA Knight and Karrion Kross.
By the looks of it, HCW is a far weaker show, but there is a chance that we can at least see that si-saw battle between WWE and AEW. With this on tap, will we possibly see that ratings gap continue to narrow or is the 6th Era HCW cursed?
It may be called “Monday Night Mayhem” but it is far from the juggernaut created by John Brown in the 4th Era. Still, I look forward to possible twists which may make tomorrow night more interesting than we think.
As long as WWE and AEW remain consistent, this stretch could prove to be the most exciting of all in this entire era. Let’s hope that we can see it live up to the hype!
1. Will there be a 7th Era?
Is it premature to ask about a seventh era when we are presently in the ongoing 6th Era? I think not. The changes in eras have always been marked by major transformations in the landscape and overall foundation of the industry.
The 1st Era was the birth of the industry, tipped off by Murrey’s creative genius until a couple months into 1997. Mickey’s rise to prominence with the revolutionary approach of the eventually-named USWA in the Spring of 1997 established the 2nd Era, which led not only to the tectonic shift in regards to the leading promoter, but in creating the first competitive landscape. The 3rd Era began when the USWA collapsed and the battle lines were drawn between warring factions of the promoters of the 1st and 2nd Eras teaming up to take on the emerging powerhouse of BWM Inc.; which led to the first era wherein the ratings war was more longstanding and the participants were more organized and clearly defined.
HCW saw its own so-called Era when it filled the void in the aftermath of the Mouse Brothers temporarily stepping away from wrestling. This was immediately followed by the age of “From Dusk Til Dawn” – which itself spanned 3 Eras –, and the insertion of HCW into the war following the first installment of that famous event. The first ever interpromotional draft in 2008 saw the 4th Era kick into gear as the first era to be fully defined by 3 warring promotions on an equal footing; an era undeniably dominated by HCW.
The 5th Era was an attempted and failed era. It never really got off to an appropriate start, and it had a very sloppy ending. BWM Inc. and Mmouse Enterprises tried to move beyond Benny and Mickey, but the creation of Benny’s NEW and Catherine’s PWI unfortunately saw little more than trash talk and absolute inconsistency from both sides between 2011 and the bitter end in late-2014.
That brings me to the current and 6th Era. This Era has been far more consistent than the 5th, but it has only lived more up to its potential in the past 18 months with the heightened competition. It’s been dominated by the mostly-absent AEW/EWA, but looks to be stolen by WWE while the only consistent promotion since the era began just over 4 years ago – PWI – has yet to win a single contest.
If PWI and HCW truly self-destruct not only their respective promotions but their parent companies, then there may never be a 7th Era. However, if Mickey’s plan fails, then there may be a glimmer of hope for a new seismic paradigm shift to tip off a brand new Era…and it may be coming soon.
Either way, whether this is the end or not, I hope we remember to have fun and to enjoy every damn second of it!
Conclusion
This Era has been the longest-lasting since the 5 year-long 2nd Era and the 3rd longest overall (only the 1st Era is longer than the 2nd). I don’t want it to end, but it definitely feels like a sea change is coming. For now, though, we look to next week’s installment of this article wherein I will offer a Top 10 Review alongside a Top 10 set of predictions!!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 