A couple of interesting things from the sheets this week.

First, RAW plunged dramatically in the ratings (to 4.1). "Time to take stock" said the sheets and began looking for someone to blame. The consensus was Stephanie McMahon.  So far , so good.

Then suddenly, mid week, a number of writers switched attention to Paul E Heyman. The problems besetting WWF, they argued, bore the hallmarks not only of Stephanie but of Paul E. Both Stephanie and Paul E, they opined, should be taken off air.

Nothing too remarkable abut that - until you locate the attack on Heyman in the context of the not-so-silent campaign against RVD,  and the question arises ......

Is Jim Ross preparing to strike against Paul E.?
 

(1) Suddenly its Steph ..... AND Heyman !

The week started with a 4.1 rating for RAW.

Suddenly everyone was saying mean things against poor Steph.

For example, Dave Whitaker on 1wrestling.com -

It seems as if Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley just cannot keep herself off TV. She's  got to be on every week, allowing the guys to take shots at her chest, squawking  about how "great" she feels, and basically just generating the kind of "get off my TV" heat Deborah used to generate as "Queen" in WCW.

'The WWF has a serious problem.  .... .... [Vince] needs to look at his daughter and her creative team.... of Paul Heyman and Brian Gerwitz ....They are the  primary reason that people have been tuning out the WWF instead of tuning it in. ....  [Stephanie] doesn't add anything to the story lines ..... she actually takes away from them ... Heyman is also on camera more often than he is not....  If Vince makes the move, he can soften the blow by also pulling Heyman off of TV as well to show that he wasn't singling his daughter out.  Heyman has said for months that he doesn't want any part of being an announcer, so he shouldn't much care if he is pulled off TV. ......Wade Keller (Torch)

Get[ting] tough with the creative team .....means taking Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman off TV. Stephanie, because her character is annoying anyway, and because she needs to be taught commitment to booking. Paul, because he's not irreplaceable on TV, would be more use backstage, and because it'd be consistent about getting bookers off TV.

(2) The not so silent campaign against RVD
 

In the Ross Report for August 3, 2001, Jim Ross was among the first to raise doubts about the 'durability' of RVD in the WWF -

RVD has "it" and I only hope his high risk, physical style doesn't shorten what should be a stellar career.

"RVD is .... another one who has a very unorthodox, albeit a very marketable, style. My only concern with him is certainly with that style, you just hope he can lessen his injuries."

RVD NOT A VERY GOOD PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER

by Bob Ryder  (1Wrestling.com) 10/15/2001

.....Professional wrestling is not supposed to be a full contact sport.  People aren't supposed to get hurt from kicks and punches or from other careless acts.

Wrestlers are supposed to protect each other. Van Dam hasn't seemed to grasp that concept.....

Rob Van Dam is clearly a great entertainer and is a tremendously charismatic performer. He's not a very good professional wrestler, though....he won't be until he learns that the most important thing in professional wrestling is to protect your opponent.

Kurt Angle took a shot to the nose from Rob Van Dam Tuesday night at the Smackdown tapings that produced "lots of blood" according to a backstage source. The source tells 1Wrestling, "he mushed Angles nose tonight...it's not broken, but sure looked it. There was lots of blood, I think from a kick."

This marks the second time Angle has been bloodied in a match with Van Dam in recent weeks. Other Van Dam victims include Steve Austin, Test, Chris Jericho (twice), and Raven. [Bob Ryder  Updated: 10/17/2001]

 It appears that Angle also has some bad feelings towards RVD due to the fact that he has been dead weight for his suplexes, meaning he hasn't been going up for them thus making them look weaker. Because of this, Angle gave RVD two hard suplexes to send him a message.

Although Rob Van Dam is over with the crowd and a fan favorite, his position within the company and other WWF talent is quite different. During the Steve Austin/Alliance promo on RAW, RVD was not in the ring when it started according to 1wrestling. Justin Credible reportedly left the ring, went to the back, and returned with RVD. Austin then added a little shoot aspect to his promo when he told Rob that it was nice of him to join them and told him he was going to buy him a watch for Christmas so he could be places on time. Lateness and not being ready for segments are things that don't sit well with those in power positions in the WWF as well as those in the locker room.

The word going around the locker room is that Rob Van Dam's recent actions (the potato shots, missing his cue on Monday) have rubbed both the Undertaker and Steve Austin the wrong way. Those are two guys whose bad side you don't want to get on.

BJ SAYS "DON'T BLAME RVD, BLAME YOURSELVES"

I hate to disagree with the consensus opinion, but if these WWF wrestlers weren't
wrestling so "half speed" would they wouldn't be getting banged up so much? This isn't ballet after all. That's what we were told just a month and a half ago. The WWF wanted guys who would wrestle physical...... [BJ Bethel  10/17/2001]
 

You'll probably remember those 'on the sauce' comments by Jim Ross a few months ago. When the WCW talent was getting banged up, Ross told the fans "This ain't ballet."  No, JR, indeed it ain't. So why all the fuss about a few 'mushed noses' among the WWF talent? I'm sure Kurt Angle got kicked harder when he went for gold. And RVD's style looks much the same as when he worked Japan and ECW. His opponents managed OK then. Professional workers adjust their style automatically. So,  RVD's a stoner (or was) and he throws blind kicks. So does Kawada. So what? You adjust your style.Or give it back a bit snug or stiff. Or maybe,these days,  you walk up to Vince and beg him "Please don't make me work with RVD. He can't work and he won't get over" ........bearing in mind there are plenty of other boys happy to take your spot!! Seems to me, either the top guys at WWF don't know how to block and protect themselves - or the fuss about RVD is a smokescreen  for something else.

Maybe it's the top guys getting jealous? with the fans chanting 'RVD' and not 'Austin' or 'U/Taker'...... But hardly!! The top guys know RVD is fresh meat for HHH when he returns.  After that, it's back to the mid card for RVD like the two Chrises before him.

No. Linking up the dots - the stories that try to sink Heyman with Steph -  the campaign to level the playing field against Heyman's protégé RVD -  my guess is, we could be witnessing the first strikes in Ross versus Heyman. "Changes in directions seem to be on the horizon," says JR in his report this week. The ground war may be months away. But I'm looking for Lawler to stick his head above the parapet, very soon.

‘Payback can be hell’ - Flair, Austin, HHH
and remembering the wrestler ‘sexually molested’ by Vince! [11-29-01]
The Fat Controller, the Fat Ass and Scotch Hall [11-22-01]
Vince's $250 Million Silent Witness [11-15-01]
Ross' War on Heyman
Time to fire up the Invasion ….[09-21-01]