05/01/15 – Daily News Update

Happy Friday, everyone.

Interested in hearing everybody’s thoughts and feedback on how much boxing coverage the various wrestling sites provide over the weekend. Odds are F4Wonline.com will be all over it, regardless of how popular the sport is among its subscribers, while places like PW Torch, PW Insider, WrestleZone, etc. will keep it minimal. But we’ll see. Send notes to Les@sheetsandwich.com.

This weekend’s feature story takes a look at the timeliness in coverage of major stories in wrestling, and what members of premium pay news sites should be able to expect from their coverage on premium wrestling sites.

We’ll also have the first in our 10-part series taking a detailed look at the top 10 wrestling news websites (as ranked by Alexa), breaking down not just the sites included, but the glaring omissions, too, including a look at why one of the biggest sites you’d think should be included aren’t being tracked.

Friday News Update

** Even more fallout from the recent customer service debacle unfolding over at F4Wonline.com, I’ve gotten several messages from members who are just floored by recent behavior over at the site, and its treatment of paying customers. It’s funny, because this is just the most recent in a long line of issues with regard to Bryan Alvarez’s “just shut up and enjoy what we give you” attitude.

** Dating back to 2006, when Alvarez cooked up a scheme to remove most of the archive of audio shows he was producing (everything over 3 months old, if i recall correctly) in order to burn them to CDs and RE-SELL THEM to customers who wanted the archival material. When customers (myself included at the time) suggested this was a bad idea, and at least the CDs of archived shows should come with some bonus material to make it more an incentive to buy, he lost his cool and blamed customers for “bitching.”

** While that decision at the time was simply short-sighted (and, hey, it was 2006. times were different and people thought of content online differently than they do now, when that sort of idea would be unheard of, and mocked widely as patently absurd) the most offensive part wasn’t the idea itself, but the way Alvarez fielded the criticism and dismissed customers. He didn’t get it back then, and he doesn’t get it now.

** No contest on this week’s episode of the Bryan & Vinny show with Granny. So it was only a Facebook questions format. Interesting to note, though, that when kicking over to Vinny to read the question, Alvarez’s instructions were to, “read the questions, Vinny, and skip the stupid ones!” This was the first instruction of this kind in quite some time, and reports are that Alvarez is concerned with the backlash F4Wonline is facing—and didn’t want either Todd’s departure, or SheetSandwich, mentioned in questions to Granny on Facebook.

** There are also some indications that one of the reasons Alvarez has placed limits on the call-in nature of Wrestling Observer Live on Sports Byline due to fears that people would air grievances on the nationally broadcast show that is used primarily to plug the benefits of his pay site.

** Is this what’s passing for news these days? James Caldwell over at PWTorch.com has this headline: ROCK NEWS: The Rock featured in two commercials during NFL Draft

** First and foremost, he reports that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was featured in an ad for his new HBO series Ballers. But, in even more earth shattering news, Caldwell informs readers that a trailer spot for Johnson’s upcoming film San Andreas aired during the draft, too!

** Enjoyed Wade Keller’s recent LiveCast with Mick Karch and Sodbuster Kenny Jay talking Verne Gagne, how it was to work with him, his famous temper and legacy.

** Amusing opening to a WrestlingInc report on a story first covered by the Observer newsletter: “We noted before that Vince McMahon is high up on Lana and has big plans for her push.” No details were given on how high up he was, but we know from past behavior that McMahon is a notorious boob scoundrel.

** Vince Russo is leaving WrestleZone.com or something.

** Sherron Watson at Camel Clutch really likes the King of the Ring concept and thinks it should return as a Pay Per View for some reason:

“The biggest gripe from the fans in the wrestling community today is the lackluster of week to week storylines on WWE programming. Fans want action, suspense, and the element of surprise. WWE has announce the return of the King of the Ring this week on the WWE network. Die-hard wrestling fans feel the tournament should return as a pay-per-view rather than a one night special.”

** A new low in the News vs Plugs war at F4Wonline.com… News: 674 words. Plugs: 3125 words

** But it actually gets worse, as only 318 words were in coverage of pre wrestling or MMA. The other 356 words were all covering minor trivia leading in to this weekend’s Pacquiao / Mayweather boxing match.