Featuring Many Current and Past OO Columnists 
Ratings Compiled by Rick Scaia

OOficial Brand of the Week:
SmackDown!
RAW: 3.95 --/-- SD!: 4.18

RATING SYSTEM: Rather than go with the standard 1-10 integer scale for rating shows, OO has selected a 0.0-5.0 rating scheme.  Not only does this allow the reviewer to more precisely award points, but more importantly, it is our belief that our ratings will, in a way, be comparable to the weekly Nielsen Ratings.  Our ratings are based on show quality, however, whereas Nielsen's are based on eyeballs.  Just as WWE hasn't reached the real world 5.0 mark in a long, long time, it will take a monumental effort for a show to earn the highest OO World ratings...  but piss us off in a given week, and we'll be rating you like you're Nitro and it's 2001. 

RAW (1/26/03) vs. SMACKDOWN! (1/29/04)  
OOFICIAL RATINGS

Canadian Bulldog
RAW: 4.0   
A decent-to-good show with a 'day-after-the-big-PPV' feel, which.. uh, is what it was.

The good: For the past few weeks, I'd convinced myself that no matter what explanation Mick Foley gave for his disappearance, it wouldn't be good enough. That will teach me to EVER doubt the power of Foley. Not only did he give us one hell of a good explanation, but his anger towards Orton made for one of the best Mick Foley promos I've ever seen, a body of work that cover a ton of ground.... Jericho and RVD vs. Batista and Flair was a fun match that was given lots of time to play out (probably more than the first four Royal Rumble matches combined last week). The only thing I don't get is why there wasn't any tension between former enemies RVD and Jericho, being as though Y2K still hasn't turned. The promise of next week being the week where Christian finally ambushes Jericho is promising, and we also get to see more interaction between Flair and Jericho, not a bad thing at all... The three times they featured interpromotional teases (HHH-Benoit, Lesnar-Goldberg and Kane-Undertaker's Video) were solid, and it's thing like this that make me smack myself in the head and say 'THIS is how they should have done the InVasion'.

The Bad: Personally, this is how I would have booked the Benoit appearance. Get HHH out to the ring for his interview, say how he beat Michaels within an inch of his life last night, and how there are no more challenges left for The Game (DON'T WORRY - this is going somewhere). Then have Benoit come out, without the confusing and pointless introduction by Austin) and have The Crippler say how he's decided to challenge HHH at Mania. Have Triple hem and haw about how he's not a Raw guy, and THEN you get Austin out there to override on him on that. And based on THAT interaction, the later Bischoff vs. Heyman conference call would have been that much better..... What else? Why did they do Rico vs. Rob Conway? I don't understand w... Ohhh, I GET IT NOW. Still pointless.... The Orton botched RKO was king of silly.... Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Kane could have been done much better, but still used the same ending.

SmackDown: 4.5 
I really didn't think they'd be able to top Raw this week, but they pulled it off.

The good: The Royal Rumble was nearly effective as the PPV one, and that's saying something. Strangely, F'ING RIKISHI, off all people, looked especially effective in there. Of course, his performance was nothing compared to the stellar performance of Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle for the last several minutes. Outstanding work by both of them. I can't remember the last time an elimination has meant so much. If this is any indication, their WM match should be outstanding.

The bad: Not much, really. Orlando Jordan vs. Brock Lesnar was something right out of that WCW Worldwide. Same as The Bashams vs.Billy Kidman and Paul London. Would have much rather seen Kidman VS. London, but whatever... The Playboy retrospective was pointless time-filler.... the Rumble was so good that it made up for most of the flaws elsewhere.

Canadian Bulldog's year-to-date averages: RAW (3.1), SD! (2.9).


Matt Hocking  
RAW: 3.9
JR:  CHRIS BENOIT!  CHRIS BENOIT!  OMG BENOIT~!
JL:  You don't even like Benoit.  Let's talk about the REAL Stars of RAW. 
Jackie's PUPPIES!
JR:  BENOIT!
JL:  PUPPIES!
CB:  Hi.  I'm Chris Benoit.
JR:  FEEL THE CHARISMA!
JL:  Chris, how do you feel about puppies?
CB:  I want to tear their brains out.
JR:  ...
JL:  ...
CB:  How about that Undertaker thing?  Or the Foley Promo?  Cool huh?
JR:  Pretty good...I guess.
JL:  (Sobbing)
CB:  What'd I say?
JR:  Uh...1?
JL:  (sob)2(sob)
CB:  You guys are nuts.  3.
HHH:  1, 2, 3.  Just like I'm going to beat you at Mania.  How clever! 
Seriously though.  Despite the serious lack of me, and a blown spot by that
fool Orton, I'll say a 3.9.
JR:  You don't get a vote.
HHH:  Shut it.

SmackDown!: 4.0 
MC:  Tazz, how about this!  Eddie Guererro is going to No Way Out!
TZ:  That mini-Rumble was rocketbustas, Cole!
MC:  Smackdown's finally got some momentum!
CGS:  And you have ME to thank for that!
MC:  Chavo Guererro Senior?!
CGS:  Damn straight you stupid yuppie!  ME!  I'm a friggin' ratings
juggernaught.
TZ:  But...Chavo....
CGS:  Forget about Benoit, you've got good ol' Chavo Sr. on your side!
TZ:  Now only if we could get the tag titles on somebody...else.
MC:  Ratings time!  82.7!
TZ:  Uh...oh never mind.  4.0.  I love me some battle royals.
CGS:  I'm still on top!  5!
UD:  You're my Dragonriffic hero, Chavo Guererro Dragon.
CGS:  You're not the REAL Ultimo Dragon, are you?
UD:  Shut it. 

Matt's year-to-date averages: RAW (3.3), SD! (3.7).

Big Danny T 
RAW: 4.0
Jericho is interesting again, Benoit is gonna kick HHH's ass, and FOLEYFOLEYFOLEYFOLEY!!! And Jeb save my tortured soul, Randy Orton is becoming pretty intriguing.

Chris Jericho is THISCLOSE to becoming fully over as a babyface, and I think that Christians imminant turning on him will be the catalyst. Until then, it's unfortunate, but Trish should take a back seat until the blowoff match, never fully showing us her feelings until she screws Christian to give Chris the final victory.

Benoit coming out was expected, yeah (rumor mill had him jumping brands ever since he was put in the #1 spot), and above the fact he wants the title, we actually have a few different routes that they could go with it:

1) WAAAY back in the day when The Radicals jumped to the WWF, Benoit lost his first match to HHH, and the next week, essentially became a sellout to HHH. Benoit has been holding his resentment at that situation for a long time, and now, he gets to take HHH down one on one.

2) As Brad joked about in his "Cheap Heat" comic, Benoit has always wanted the WCW title, and now that he's in a position to pick and choose, he's chosen his 'first love.'

3) Come on, if Heyman had fucked with you as much as he did Benoit, and there was only the promise of more to come, wouldn't you jump?

Foley's return to Raw was nothing short of awesome. His promo about finding his own personal Heart of Darkness is quite possibly the best promo cut in the past 6 months, IMHO, and his decimation of Randy Orton (and subsequently Evolution) was either icing on the cake or the appetizer for the soon to come main course, take your pick.

Rest of the show was pretty there. The womens match was good, and Victoria looked good in it, and the potential for Jackie and Stacy in Playboy might actualy impell me to buy that issue. Oh, and the return of the Undertaker sounds pretty cool too. The constant Psyching out of Kane is going to get old pretty quick, tho.

SmackDown!: 4.0
Great promo to start, great Cruiser title match, and great Royal Rumble match. Don't forget to check the recap.

Danny's year-to-date averages: RAW (3.3), SD! (3.7).

Rick Scaia  
RAW: 3.9
Seems like I said this already, but what the hell: Monday's RAW was a really good show, just sort of told in reverse:  very good main event match went out first, big ass killer promo went on last.  The results were good, though: a kind of barely-off-kilter, edge-of-your-seat kind of vibe.  Good stuff with Jericho/Christian/Trish, too. I'm not a huge fan of Benoit jumping to RAW, and also think the (lack of) explanation for his arrival was weak in the middle portion of the show, which would be my primary complaint, were I forced to offer one.  Which I just did.

SmackDown!: 4.2 
An excellent show in every regard.  Great opening promo, outstanding 40 minute main event, quality humor/throw-away segments, and a well-executed angle to make Eddie's eventual Rumble win seem even more amazing and heroic.  Oh, and Rey/Noble and Nidia's face turn, and a solid opening tag title match, too.  What sucked last night?  I'm hard-pressed to think of anything...  ah, I got it: what in the blue hell was the point of that thing with Rue?  She's easy on the eyes and all, but c'mon, give her something to work with... 

Rick's year-to-date averages: RAW (3.3), SD! (3.7).

FINAL OO RATINGS, WEEK ENDING 1/30/04

RAW average: 3.95
Actual Nielsen Rating: 3.4 (converted to broadcast rating)  
RAW OVERdelivers versus actual rating this week.

SmackDown! average: 4.18 
Actual Nielsen Rating:  3.5    
SD! OVERdelivers versus actual rating this week.

BATTLE TO DATE TALLIES

Average OO Rating for RAW:  3.18 
Average Nielsen Rating for RAW: 3.11 
RAW is OVERdelivering, on average, versus actual ratings since the start of the Battle.

Average OO Rating for SD: 3.37 
Average Nielsen Rating for SD:  3.34 
SD! is OVERdelivering, on average, versus actual ratings since the start of the Battle.

Rounds Won by RAW: 12 
Rounds Won by SD!: 21  
Current Streak: 4 by SD! (Since 1/9/04) 
Longest Streak: 7 by SD! (6/27/03 thru 8/08/03)

BROWSE PAST WEEK'S BATTLES OF THE BRANDS  

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