CLASH OF CHAMPIONS: BALL OF CONFUSION

 

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon so I thought I would return to my posts regarding WWE PPV’s. Took some time off from these and actually cancelled my WWE Network subscription after Wrestlemania. That’s how down I was about the product. Thunderdome, Bayley/Sasha and the return of Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman was enough to lure me back in. Still not in love with the product and, I must admit, AEW is growing on me but, fuck, it’s pro wrestling and everything is pro wrestling so I’m back at least for now.

 

Here’s the thing “Clash of Champions” feels like a really shitty PPV. You have to believe that COVID is wreaking havoc on booking (AEW as well) and a lot is being made up as they go along. I mean I love, love, love Zelina Vega but, seriously what the fuck is she doing in the same ring with one of the best wrestlers in the world. Same for Jey Uso and Lucha House Party and Lashley/Cruz yet again?

 

Here’s the thing: there’s an inverse correlation between how shitty I think a WWE PPV is going to be and how great it turns out to be….so I’m starting to think, with such low expectations, there could be some real awesomeness here. Watching SMACKDOWN last night, I started to get excited about Reigns/Uso. If all the performers in the three-way ladder match bring it, and they can, this could steal the show. When Bayley dispenses with Nikki Cross and Sasha shows up to kick the crap out of the champ, that’s gonna be fun. I know, I know we’ve seen it ad nauseum but Street Profits/Andrade/Angel are four of the better performers right now and, given that this is the blow off, could be epic. Point being once again the WWE can defy expectations and deliver an excellent PPV.

 

There are several matches where the outcome seems so obvious that I would like to believe that there is one big surprise finish. Finally, there are a lot of MIA’s here, Bray, Alexa, Lee and the aforementioned Sasha so all sorts of run-ins are possible….and fucking RETRIBUTION. I’m prepared to be either elated or disappointed which is where the WWE wants us to be.

 

Here are predictions and holy shit (💩) estimates for the card

 

ASUKA over ZELINA 💩1/2 (out of 5)

Look Zelina is a surprisingly good wrestler but Asuka is elite and I can’t see them putting her in another ridiculous position to lose the belt. Hopefully this will be quick and bring on Rhea Ripley.

 

ROMAN over his cuz 💩💩💩💩 (out of 5)

I may be going out on a limb with the holy shit ranking, and it could be even better but Roman is going to put over his cousin and elevate Jey for future considerations like a shot against Lashley. I hope I’m not disappointed and I don’t think I will be and what does Heyman have up his sleeve.

 

BAYLEY over Nikki (💩💩)

I want Bayley to hold on to the belt forever. She has become my favorite wrestler. Ring skills, mike skills and she finally has the look. I feel like we’ve been here with Nikki before and, unless they’re setting up Bayley/Sasha with Banks costing Bayley the belt and Nikki/Fiend Alexa starting a program for the title….Bayley forever.

 

NIA/SHAYNA over the RIOTS (💩)

The odd couple is growing on me and the eventual breakup will be fun. This match won’t be. Make it quick.

 

ARTIST COLLECTIVE over LHP (💩💩)

Please Lord find them some talent to wrestle. These guys are so good but are rarely put in a position to show the world how undervalued they are in the WWE. I’ll assume this is COVID booking and move on. Luchadors are gonna lucha so it won’t be a total embarrassment.

 

HARDY over AJ and SAMI (💩💩💩💩1/2)

This should be fun and brutal and I hope there are no serious injuries but I would not be surprised. These are pros and they are going to entertain us with something awesome. I think any one of them could win this and I can make a case for it. Going with Jeff just because of his legacy in ladder matches but nothing would surprise me.

 

ANDRADE and ANGEL over the PROFITS (💩💩💩)

It’s time for Montez Ford to make the move up the food chain. His partner ain’t too shabby but Montez is the real thing and my fantasy booking is for him and his talented and glorious partner Bianca to hold belts at the same time and be the WWE power couple. When Becky returns, she and Seth can go at it with them. A boy can dream. We’ve seen it a million times before but four solid performers here.

 

LASHLEY over APOLLO (💩1/2)

I expect a RETRIBUTION run in here and maybe APOLLO finally realizes if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em and the Hurt Business grows to protect us all from this horrible RETRIBUTION storyline.

 

ORTON over The Champ (💩💩💩)

The only reason to make this a ambulance match is so neither has to take a pin which is why I think Drew gets carted away with the busted jaw and Randy rules the roost for a while until they give the belt to Keith Lee. Is Strowman on RAW now?

 

Well that’s it as far as I know and unless COVID decides to do a run in between now and the start of the festivities.

 

Bottom line: Come for the disappointment, leave feeling some elation that the WWE always finds a way.

Don Ohlmeyer

Don Ohlmeyer departed three years ago today. He was my boss along with Warren Littlefield. My favorite Don story took place early on our relationship. Don arrived in January of 1993. The May sweep that year (yeah sweeps were a big deal back then) was the first where Don could have some input. We had moved MAD ABOUT YOU to Saturday because it was evicted from it's Wednesday slot to make room for a Dateline and SEINFELD was moving to Thursday. MAD was doing quite well on Saturday especially in the 18-49 demo. It had replaced NURSES on the schedule.

I made the decision to leave MAD on in the May sweep even though we had run out of originals. I felt there were several "unseen" repeats and they would do better than the original NURSES we had pulled from the schedule. Don had told me to put original NURSES on in May. I kinda ignored him which I did on several occasions in my scheduling career.

I was in New York for some reason and took a red eye back to LA and went straight to the office. I hated red eyes. When the car dropped me off at the NBC Burbank parking lot Don was standing out there smoking a Marlboro. We were still feeling each other out. 

Don was a big guy and he walked over to me blowing smoke in my face and said "I thought I told fucking you to pull MAD ABOUT YOU and put NURSES back. I didn't budge and explained my rationale. His response was "Well it's your fucking job on the line" I told him my fucking job was always on the line so OK.

I really think that was a test to see if he could intimidate me. I passed and we had a trusting relationship until some shit happened a few years later which pretty much blew up the place. It's tough to maintain dynasties and MUST-SEE-TV was not immune to that.

I wrote this about Don on my Facebook page and added to it on TV BY THE NUMBERS when I was writing for them. Thanx to Rick Porter for digging it up.

Those were interesting times and Don made them quite memorable for many of us.

Don Ohlmeyer passed Sunday. If you have been following my posts on the history of scheduling Must-See TV, you know that Don was running NBC West Coast during the 1990s and played a pivotal role in the network’s success during that decade.

In addition to his time at the Peacock, Don was influential in the creation of “Monday Night Football” on ABC and went back to the show after his time at NBC. Don also created “The Skins Game,” and his company, Ohlmeyer Communications, produced the first MTV Video Music Awards. He also directed the Indianapolis 500 and later in his career was ESPN’s first ombudsman.

I was honored when Don called me after we were both gone from NBC and asked if I would mentor some of his graduate students at Pepperdine University. It meant a lot to me that he would trust me with his students.

I learned so much from Don Ohlmeyer, especially how to work that fine line between being a creative executive (yes, scheduling was creative) and a businessman. He instilled in all of us in his inner circle the need for attention to detail and how our decisions impacted all the NBC employees.

I still remember and live by several of Don’s words of wisdom:

“No good deed goes unpunished.”

“We’re all too stupid to be in this business.”

“Some days you’re the windshield. Some days you’re the bug.”

It was never dull.

Don’s loyalty to his friends and his inner circle of executives was both his greatest asset and his greatest flaw. Working for him was always a challenge, and I felt that if I could survive and succeed under Don Ohlmeyer, I could do anything in this business.

Don, you changed my life forever. One Love to a larger-than-life figure in the television industry.

I posted this on Facebook last night:

“I had the privilege of working with Don Ohlmeyer for seven years at NBC. They were the most exciting and historic years of my career, and Don played a major role in making them that way.
Don was an extremely competitive person and that influenced many of us. He drove us to be the best at what we did and to be driven to be No. 1. I brought that attitude over with me when I joined FOX, so the success we had over there had a lot to do with Don.

“Don was a populist programmer and believed in the big tent approach to television. He encouraged showmanship in everything we did, from theme nights to big event miniseries. He always believed that the viewer was a lot smarter than all of us executives. He valued research. In May when we set the schedule, the final meeting would generally end with Don asking, “So, who should I fire if this schedule doesn’t work?” I would raise my hand, he would nod and off we would all go to the upfront in NYC.

“I could regale you all with hours of Don stories, but one of the highlights of my career in broadcasting was bringing together Don Ohlmeyer and Mike Darnell for a lunch in the FOX executive dining room. Don accused Mike and FOX of making snuff television. I encouraged him to sit down with Mike. It was like bringing peace to the Middle East and I wish that you all could have experienced that conversation.

“Thank you for everything Don. I hope that you are at peace on One Love to your family.”