TONIGHT: It’s a truncated WWE Draft Raw, as it’ll only be two hours instead of the usual three. The show will feature Smackdown vs. Raw matches to decide who gets the draft picks. WWE will open the show with a Raw vs. Smackdown battle royal (Gewirtz wins again!), with the winner getting two picks for his brand.
-WWE Open.
(1) 20-Man Raw vs. Smackdown Battle Royal for Two Draft Picks The match was underway as they came to the arena right after the WWE Open. I don’t get, from a storyline point of view, beginning the show with a match in progress. Sheamus, Evan Bourne, and Vlad Kozlov tossed out Kane about 1:06 into things. Khali was tossed by most of the Smackdown participants at 2:01. Big Show was beating up poor Yoshi Tatsu. Cody Rhodes and Big Show teamed up on Kozlov. Drew McIntyre had Daniel Bryan in a precarious position. Kozlov was eliminated at about 3:08. I took two men to get him out. Mark Henry eliminated Ezekiel Jackson at 3:38. Sheamus was almost out via Brodus Clay and Rhodes. Bourne saved him. Heath Slater eliminated at 4:10. Chris Masters followed at 4:20. Wade Barrett out at 4:30 by…Ted DiBiase? There goes DiBiase via Kofi Kingston at 4:50. Henry climbed on Brodus Clay, and they both topped over at 5:03. Show threw out Tatsu at 5:23. Sheamus tried to eliminate Rhodes, but McIntyre saved him. Michael Cole even mentioned they were former tag champions. Back-drop by Sheamus as the announcers talked about past big draft moves. Sheamus was knee’d out by McIntyre at 6:22. They went to break with eight men left in the ring.
[Commercial Break]
Back to the match at 9:29. It was four-on-four until Bourne took McIntyre out at 9:57. Kofi off the top barely grazed Mason Ryan. Santino was on the apron and he tried to give Show the Cobra, but Show shoved Marella’s arm back into his face, sending him home at 10:28. Ryan threw Rhodes out at 10:54, and Bryan went out at 11:01. It was down to Kofi and Show vs. Ryan and Kingston. Show got Ryan up, but Ryan fell back over him and went to work. Kingston landed on the apron on an elimination try and Bourne tried to sunset flip Kingston out. He tried to kick Kingston’s legs out from underneath, couldn’t, then kneed Kofi in the face. Hot sequence there. Bourne went off Ryan’s shoulders but Show held him up and eliminated him at 12:35. Ryan was tossed by Show at 13:03.
Winners: Kingston and Show, at 13:03. Not much going on early, but picked up late.
Draft Pick to Smackdown: John Cena. The locker rooms were both seen reacting to the news (they were sitting in the same area, but were all sitting with their respective brands), with Raw in shock and Smackdown happy. Cena came out and put on a Smackdown t-shirt. Uhh…I thought Smackdown was supposed to get two picks? Or was Cena a big enough star to represent two?
[Commercial Break]
-Todd Grisham was backstage with Smackdown’s newest superstar, John Cena. Grisham asked for his reaction, and Cena said SyFy is partying like it’s 1999. He made a few science-fiction jokes and said Cena is going back to Smackdown. He also made a Dennis Rodman joke. He mentioned Extreme Rules, and said he’ll be bringing the WWE Championship back to Smackdown. Miz, in his red Raw t-shirt, walked into the picture. Miz said the best part is, after this Sunday, when it comes to Raw, Cena is right: he won’t see him.
-Josh Mathews, Jerry Lawler, and Cole talked on-camera about what could happen if Cena takes the title to Smackdown. Cole interrupted, of course, and talked about how he’ll be in the main event of Raw tonight against JR. Puh-lease. Mathews turned attention to R-Truth’s turn last week, and we saw what happened with that.
-Justin Roberts introduced R-Truth, who came out to no music, but was smiling. He started his usual banter by saying, “Raleigh North Carolina!” Then instead of “what’s up,” he said, “shut up.” Truth said the fans should be booing themselves. As Truth was explaining his position last week, the crowd was chanting “what!” so Truth told them to stop. They didn’t and he told them they were pissing him the hell off. The censor tried to blur “piss” (I think), but missed. Truth said the fans wanted him to accept the challenge by Morrison last week, so he lost because of them. Truth said he came out rapping and dancing every week, just so the fans could join in. He admitted the fans needed to get rhythm, because many of them are out of tune and off beat. That was funny. Truth imitated some little kid (named Jimmy) singing along with him. Truth talked to the imaginary kid, asking him if the kid singing along was putting any titles around his waist. Good line. Truth said that for ten years, he chose the fans. But now, he’s officially giving the fans the boot. Truth said that he let ten years of frustration and disappointment out last week. He said that for the first time in his life, the Truth set him free.
Then, from behind, Morrison went on the attack. Referees broke things up between the two, before Morrison could do much damage. Then, Morrison broke free and jumped Truth again in the aisle. Lawler said it was similar to Truth’s attack last week, where Truth would attack, stop, then attack again. Finally, refs got hold of Morrison for good. Truth was pretty over as a heel, but he had a lot of crowd interaction that helped.
[Commercial Break]
-The Awesome Kong video aired where she popped a head off a blonde doll. They showed her face as she laughed, then they showed the word “Harm,” and filled it in with “Kharma,” Kong’s new name.
(2) Eve Torres vs. Layla- One Draft Pick At Stake They showed Michelle McCool attacking Layla during therapy on Smackdown this past week. Thirty seconds in, Cole got the mic and began talking. McCool was out at ringside and she distracted Layla, allowing Eve to roll her up for the win.
Winner: Eve, at :37.
Cole continued up the ramp, saying he had to get ready for his match. He talked about what he’d do to JR, then said Mr. Wrestlemania has left ringside. They went back to ringside where Layla got in McCool’s face. McCool pie-faced Layla, but Layla fired back with a slap. She slammed the back of McCool’s head off the barricade a few times then told her “I’m sick of this!” Layla was half-crying, then tossed McCool over the announce table and into the lap of the announcers. She was full-on crying by that point.
Draft Pick to Raw: Rey Mysterio. Why is Teddy Long in the mix, he’s a GM? And is the Raw anonymous GM available now too? Mysterio came out and posed for the fans. He took a deep breath, then put on his Raw t-shirt. Rey didn’t look thrilled about this.
-JR was warming up backstage, doing some calisthenics that made him look ridiculous. He faces Cole tonight.
[Commercial Break]
-Mathews plugged WWE.com, where you can draft your own dream roster.
-Backstage, Cody Rhodes was with Todd Grisham. He asked for Cody’s opinion of Rey being drafted to Raw. Rhodes promised to give Rey a going-away gift after their Falls Count Anywhere at Extreme Rules. That present is going to be: a new mask. A mask that an anesthesiologist puts on him before he’s wheeled into emergency surgery. He said Rey can do all of his moves, sending people to the hospital. “Booyaka booyaka…bye, bye, bye.” Another solid promo from Cody.
(3) Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus- One Draft Pick At Stake Sheamus was on the attack to start. Hard forearms to the chest of Kingston. Sheamus flew over the top with a shoulderblock for two. He moved into a rest-hold, which Kofi quickly fought out of. Sheamus missed a shoulder in the corner on Kofi, and Kingston went to the top to retaliate. High cross-body for two. Sheamus fired back, almost taking Kofi’s head off. Both of Sheamus’ finishers were dodged and Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise. That staggered the big man, so he hit another one to put him down for good.
Winner: Kingston, at 2:20. Decent enough for as long as it lasted.
Draft Pick to Smackdown: Randy Orton. More reaction from the locker rooms. Orton was thrown a Smackdown tee and he prepared to put it on. Hey, he’s got a beard going!
-Next, Sir Michael Cole vs. JR.
[Commercial Break]
(4) Sir Michael Cole vs. Jim Ross Swagger was out with Cole. JR had on his Oklahoma Sooners football jersey. Booker was at ringside on commentary and Lawler went to stand in JR’s corner. It was like NXT with the pros in the announcers’ corner. I guess this is what announcer NXT would look like. Cole made fun of JR’s size before they locked up. Cole imitated Kamala and said that was JR. Cole went to Swagger and stretched in his corner. We’re a minute in at this point. JR missed on a few punches as Cole was shucking and jiving. Cole went to ringside and grabbed JR’s hat and put it on. He walked around ringside and patted his stomach. He got back in the ring around two minutes in. Cole stepped on JR’s hat and the crowd booed. That hat was over! Cole went back to the heel corner and got patted down with the towel. He then did some push-ups. JR got hold of Cole by the straps on his wrestling uniform, then threw him down. Cole called for a time-out and Swagger put a stool in the corner for him to rest. I hope Lawler makes fun of him for resting in the middle of the match, like Cole did to Truth. 3:30 into the match, Cole stood back up. Cole tried to bodyslam JR, but JR landed on him and laid the right hands in. Cole escaped and left the ring. Lawler grabbed him and tossed him back in. More beating from JR as Swagger blindsided Lawler. Swagger then came into the ring and attacked JR for the DQ.
Winner: JR, via DQ, at 4:32. Surprised they didn’t just have Cole go over cleanly here.
Haha, Cole’s got a bloody mouth! JR gave’em hell, good for him. Swagger took JR’s belt off and gave it to Cole. Swagger put JR in the ankle-lock as Cole whined about his busted lip. He began whipping JR in the back….like a government mule, I suppose. Finally, Lawler ran in and knocked Cole down, then clotheslined Swagger over the top rope. Lawler got the belt as Booker implored Jerry to “put it to him.” Crowd was hot for this. Lawler grabbed the belt and whipped Cole a few times with it, before Cole snuck out. As Cole and Swagger high-tailed it up the ramp, the anonymous GM buzzed in. He said the match would be a country whipping match.
-Scott Stanford was backstage with Miz and Alex Riley. Miz talked about how everyone else has been the center of attention lately, except him. He said he’d find a way to win Sunday, because that’s what he does. He said that every USA network executive should be praying he doesn’t get drafted to Smackdown, because if he does, Monday Night Raw, within one month, will be cancelled.
[Commercial Break]
(5) Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton- Two Draft Picks At Stake Neckbreaker by Ziggler for two. My girlfriend likes Ziggler’s new look, for what it’s worth. She said he doesn’t look slimy anymore. Ziggler grabbed a side headlock, but Orton worked his way out, including a headbutt. Ziggler was taken to the outside, where his tic, his main squeeze, Vickie Guerrero checked on him. Orton ended up on the wrong side of the barricade. The ref was counting him out, but he charged back into the ring with new life. He hit Orton with clotheslines, then a scoop slam. Olympic Slam for two. Ziggler got his foot up on a charge, but fell victim to Orton’s unique back-breaker. Vickie distracted Orton and Ziggler rolled him up for two. As Ziggler got to his feet, he walked into an RKO for Orton and Smackdown.
Winner: Orton, at 3:24. Ugh, I like Ziggler’s new look even less this week.
As the draft pick was being generated, CM Punk interrupted and said the draft pick can wait. Punk said this Sunday will be extreme, but there won’t be many rules. He said Orton will have to answer the referee’s count. He said a simple RKO will not get Orton the victory on Sunday. Orton said there will be many things he’ll miss on Raw, but one thing he won’t miss will be hearing Punk ramble on and on and on. He said after this Sunday, Punk will be doing nothing but sleeping…unconsciously. Orton said he will be the last man standing. The random generator was going through the roster as Mathews said the picks would be revealed next.
[Commercial Break]
-Lawler was back at the announce table.
Draft Picks to Smackdown: Mark Henry and Sin Cara. That Rey vs. Cara idea didn’t even last an hour.
(6) Wade Barrett vs. Rey Mysterio– Two Draft Picks At Stake It was all Barrett early on. Rey came back with a springboard cross-body for two, but he couldn’t capitalize as Barrett slammed Mysterio into the buckle. At 2:00, he went to the top to meet Rey, but Rey headbutted him down. Headscissors into a 619. Off the top, splash, cover for three.
Winner: Mysterio, at 2:30. Surprisingly quick loss for someone like Barrett.
Draft Picks to Raw: Big Show and Alberto Del Rio. Well, the second one is much more interesting than the first one. Del Rio didn’t come out though, as he was talking in Spanish to Ricardo Rodriguez backstage. He was not happy. Brodus Clay was standing by and he asked what about him? Del Rio just ignored him and continued ranting to Rodriguez. I wish WWE would just switch it up from all these big names moving (coincidence, I’m sure) and just throw in a Zack Ryder or a Yoshi Tatsu.
[Commercial Break]
-Rev Theory’s “Justice” is the official theme song to Extreme Rules.
-They showed the exterior of the RBC Center on the campus of North Carolina State.
-Michael Cole was back ringside inside his box, with gauze in his mouth.
-The announcers discussed the Extreme Rules card.
-Teddy Long, Smackdown’s GM, came out. He announced the main event, a six-man tag match that would be for the final draft pick. It must be a big one if they’re gonna end the show with it. It’ll be CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio and The Miz against Christian, Mark Henry and John Cena.
-The Miz and Riley came out for the six-man tag. It’s next.
[Commercial Break]
-Tomorrow at noon, the draft continues on WWE.com
(7) The Miz & CM Punk & Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian & Mark Henry & John Cena- One Draft Pick At Stake Miz and Christian started things off. Forearm to the face by Christian, who tagged Cena in. Miz rolled out of the ring at record speed to avoid one of his Extreme Rules opponents. They went to break 53 seconds into the match.
[Commercial Break]
Back at the 3:47 mark. Henry took Punk down with a right hand, then stepped on his chest. Christian tagged in and tagged Punk with a right. He perched himself on the second rope and gave Punk a flying European uppercut. Punk and Christian avoided each other’s finishers, but Christian ran into a boot. Del Rio tagged in and fired at Christian with a low dropkick that showed a little light. Miz came in and booted Christian right in the mush. The heels traded off working over Christian. Corner clothesline on Christian for two. Another kick by Del Rio that didn’t even come close. He worked Christian’s arm, but Christian got to the ropes. Christian sat atop the top rope and Del Rio went up to meet him. He was taken down, and Christian Tornado DDT’d Del Rio. The announcers were cheering for their respective brands (with Mathews for Smackdown and Cole for Raw). Cena finally tagged in just past the 11 minute mark of the match. Cena was all over Miz, until Mark Henry just ran him over. Henry picked Christian up outside the ring and slammed him. SCF on Cena and Raw wins.
Winners: Miz, Punk, and Del Rio, at 11:20.
Draft Pick to Raw: John Cena. Of course. Cena then attacked everyone on Raw left in the ring. He gave the Five Knuckle Shuffle to Miz, then tossed him onto the heels at ringside. Cena celebrated after the match.
-An ad aired for Rock's birthday celebration next week on Raw.
Ladies and gentlemen, the following public service message is brought to you by your friends from D-Generation X, who would like to remind each and every one of you that if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you... It should have been obvious to all that Cena would get drafted back at the end of the night once Orton went over (to SD, not in his match).
Once again, although the draft was allegedly rushed due to Edge's retirement and was ostensibly to boost SD's star power, RAW came out ahead from a quantity standpoint. The only real boon for SD is Orton, and you can argue SD "won" the draft from that standpoint, but RAW gains both from Big Show (even though he'll probably straddle brands until he and Kane lose the tag titles) and from Rey Mysterio, while Mark Henry adds nothing to SD (as he's failed a million times when they've tried to push him as a top heel, and he'll fail again) and Sin Cara is a project and probably can't be counted on to provide immediate value in the upper half of the midcard until the kinks are worked out of his WWE Style, so for me at least, RAW "wins" again.
smark/net attack Advisory System Status is: Elevated (Holds; June 18, 2006) While the switch from Cena to RVD should alleviate some complaints, the inevitability of the belt's return to Cena (note where Summerslam is this year) and the poor initial showing by the new ECW are enough to keep the indicator where it is for now. The pieces are in place, though, especially on RAW, for improvements to be made to the IWC's psyche in the near future.
My God did that Battle Royale drive home just how green a lot of the guys on this roster are. Mason Ryan was just LOST in there, and Mark Henry literally had to climb over the ropes himself while Brodus just kind of hung there. The Kofi/Evan segment was awesome for sure though.
Great promos from Truth and Cody tonight. Using a sliding scale, Cole/JR was also "great". It was bowling shoe ugly for sure, but I enjoyed the hell out of it and so did the crowd.
Did they ambush guys with where they were going again this year? Both Rey and Randy looked less than thrilled.
ADR/Punk/Miz/A-Ri should be a stable just for the glory of their post match celebrations alone. What a bunch of hams.
What a great show ruined by a shitty ending. Instead of two world title matches that would be truly suspenseful and in doubt, they now have one that's entirely obvious and another that has a clear front runner.
Can we please have a Kofi vs Evan Bourne match that lasts at least 5 minutes? Their short exchange on the apron during the battle royal was awesome.
I presume that Del Rio will be feuding with Cena (probably for the title) after Extreme Rules with R-Truth advancing his feud with John Morrison. I'd much rather see Truth go after Cena, talking trash to the invisible little kid was an easy setup for that. If Cena does win the title, though, where does that leave Miz?
CM Punk really must be the most important man on television if he's able to interrupt a random computer selection. Now I'm envisioning someone (Arn Anderson) standing back stage getting ready to slap the button on the draft computer, shouting NO WHAMMY!
I popped every time I saw Kaitlyn on the draft spinner.
They seemed to be pushing Kofi strongly tonight, having him survive in the battle royal and also pick up a win over Sheamus. Hopefully they're going to start up his push once again. Also nice to see that Evan Bourne was at least given a significant elimination in the battle royal.
Originally posted by geemoneyWhy is Teddy Long in the mix, he’s a GM? And is the Raw anonymous GM available now too?
Paul Heyman got drafted to Raw while GM of Smackdown but he quit rather than switch brands. The bigger question is why is Michael Cole draft eligible?
Originally posted by Texas KellyIt should have been obvious to all that Cena would get drafted back at the end of the night once Orton went over (to SD, not in his match).
I thought perhaps they would have Cena and Del Rio win their respective title matches and then initiate a trade between the GMs to get their preferred belts back.
Meh. At this point, unlike in past drafts, the sad fact is there isn't enough overall roster depth to really make anyone switching shows matter too much. Orton to SD is at least an attempt to have a major star on each show, and Mysterio to RAW will hopefully go better than it did the first time they tried it, but he's still small and Vince still finds burly juice-heads sexually attractive, so his fortunes aren't any better on Mondays. Heel Truth has potential, but since Miz's heel run is continuing and Del Rio is clearly next in line, I can't see that going anywhere either.
I hated everything about this show except Truth's promo and Ross busting up Cole. They built up one whole new guy and it was Mark Henry. I'm guessing lots of semi-important people will be shuffling around in the SUPP once they take all of tonight to figure out what they want to do.
Ladies and gentlemen, the following public service message is brought to you by your friends from D-Generation X, who would like to remind each and every one of you that if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you...
Originally posted by Hogan's My DadMysterio to RAW will hopefully go better than it did the first time they tried it, but he's still small and Vince still finds burly juice-heads sexually attractive, so his fortunes aren't any better on Mondays.
I think Rey to RAW only happened because it was clearly necessary to put Sin Cara on SD from the standpoint of not exposing the business, and they didn't want to have both small Mexican guys in masks on the same show. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they had no clue what they're going to do with Rey. They'll probably put him with Sheamus for a lack of any better ideas.
smark/net attack Advisory System Status is: Elevated (Holds; June 18, 2006) While the switch from Cena to RVD should alleviate some complaints, the inevitability of the belt's return to Cena (note where Summerslam is this year) and the poor initial showing by the new ECW are enough to keep the indicator where it is for now. The pieces are in place, though, especially on RAW, for improvements to be made to the IWC's psyche in the near future.
So two faces and a heel swap with two faces and a heel. With midcard fun TBA.
Cena couldn't go to SD! when he just debuted all his new red gear. And Mr. Birthdaytainment (best line of the night) is coming to visit RAW next week...
Second best line of the night: "Booyaka booyaka…bye, bye, bye."
They just turned Truth and now they turn Henry (again). There still seems to be way more heels than faces running around and that further adds to the pile...
I really thought Dolph was Evan Bourne when they first showed him.
Originally posted by CxMorgadoADR/Punk/Miz/A-Ri should be a stable just for the glory of their post match celebrations alone. What a bunch of hams.
Punk and Del Rio even kissed each other on the cheek celebrating that win!
"You’ve got the crazy eyes." - RAW GM Laptop, 9/27/10
So much for the draft fixing SmackDown's problems. I was hoping for a breath of fresh air and I wind up with a GIANT FLAMING TURD in the form of Mark Henry turning heel. And that ending gives me a really bad feeling that the first move is to feud him with Christian for the World Title.
Way to REALLY hammer home SmackDown as the B-show. We know it is, but they don't have to be so damn obvious about it!
I can't help but think the Orton move came because they want to separate him from Cena so that they could eventually try Cena/Orton again down the line, thinking it'll be a fresh matchup by that point.
It won't work.
EDIT: The Supplemental Draft is still coming Tuesday morning, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that the undercard gets a good shaking up, because...well...I'm pretty sure Kofi Kingston is STILL the show's only midcard babyface.
Didn't watch it but read the excellent recap here... with del rio going to Raw, everyone assumes Christian wins title... But I think this means 100 percent Christian won't win it.. either they will have two belts on Raw, Del Rio will be allowed on both shows, with a future unification of the two belts..
One of the big benefits of Rey on RAW is a possible big-time main event for SummerSlam between he and Cena. Have those two ever faced off at all, let alone on PPV? It's a fresh match and it would definitely be worthy of a Big Two headliner.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball
Originally posted by Big BadOne of the big benefits of Rey on RAW is a possible big-time main event for SummerSlam between he and Cena. Have those two ever faced off at all, let alone on PPV? It's a fresh match and it would definitely be worthy of a Big Two headliner.
I know they wrestled on Smackdown right after Cena first turned babyface. But I think you've got the wrong new Raw Hispanic as Cena's opponent.
I swear I almost posted something this afternoon predicting that Cena would be drafted to SD, but that it wouldn't take. I was actually more thinking he'd be drafted tonight and then traded back in a couple of weeks--they did that with Triple H once, IIRC. (I think it lasted less than a couple of weeks, but similar idea.) When they were building to that first pick, I actually fully expected it to be him. I wonder if there will be any sort of trading.
I do wish they'd come up with a storyline explanation as to why the big names all go on Raw and the lesser names all go in the supplemental draft, but that would require actual thought.
From Geemoney wondering if the Raw GM was available, I'm thinking it would have been funny to have an icon for him when the faces were shuffling by. And then a separate one for his laptop. I'm also amused by the thought of Teddy Long having to negotiate trades with him entirely over email. Or maybe he'd be willing to do chat.
I thought it was a gutsy move to draft Cena to SmackDown, and then an absolutely chickenshit move to move him back over to RAW.
The R-Truth promo was brilliant, and he played off the crowd very well. Though you really have to call the referees out on their inconsistency: They didn't come out to John Morrison's defense last week when he was getting brutally attacked for several minutes, but they were on Morrison like white on rice within seconds of his attacking R-Truth. (I know, it's a heat-building technique designed to piss me off kayfabe and make me interested in seeing Morrison beat R-Truth's ass, but still).
Surprisingly good showing from Evan Bourne-- I mean, that they let him last that long in the battle royal. For that matter I was tickled pink when Drew McIntyre eliminated Sheamus. Now if they can just let the man have his full entrance now and then...
They ought to break up The Nexus and make the Miz/Punk/ADR/A-Ri stable permanent. Of course you'd have three leaders and one follower in that stable, which means that it probably wouldn't last very long.
I loved how Cole got his mouth busted up by Jim Ross. And he can't even claim an undefeated record anymore, since he lost by DQ! (Of course, he also lost a tag-team match back in '08 that CRZ has frequently mentioned).
"Nobody ever came out and said, 'Please pass a law so I can be forced to stop doing something I shouldn't be doing,' no, it's always 'Please pass a law to force them to stop doing something that I don't like.'" --Manny Garcia, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Fan of the Indianapolis Colts (Super Bowl XLI Champions), Indiana Pacers and Washington Nationals
Certified RFMC Member-- Ask To See My Credentials!
Co-Winner of Time's Person of the Year Award, 2006 Pacers Playoffs: 15 to Go
Originally posted by CerebusWhatever happened to Smackdown being the 'hispanic' show? Did the move to Syfi change the demographics that much?
Probably. The difference between a cable show and a network show is significant, and while I'd have to see some breakdowns to know for certain, moving your show to a station that people specifically have to pay for is likely to switch up your demographics. That's why when you figure out ratings, a network rating actually counts for more than a cable rating (I believe the ratio is 1 to .8, but it's been a little while since I've studied this).
This was the eighth Impact in a row that I loved. I'm excited that they're on such a roll again. It's interesting to note how powerful the 10/10/10 legacy still is. TNA certainly knew how to build up to a major moment and pay it off properly back then....