By Jon Cudo, PWTorch Specialist

TRUE: SANTINO PINNING SWAGGER WAS GOOD BOOKING

The Halloween edition of WWE Raw had some unusual booking decisions, including lower-card comedy figure Santino Marella beating former World Champion Jack Swagger. Dolph Ziggler also lost to Zack Ryder. This was good booking.

In the match Ryder got a three count when Dolph’s legs were under the bottom rope. The ref then restarted the match. In 99 of 100 matches, Dolph would now win. The typical heel/face set-up here is reversed, but that traditional finish would give Ryder a moral victory even after Dolph won. But in this case the finish was Ryder still beating Ziggler when the match restarted.

Why are these finishes good booking? Because they break the tired patterns.

You can't bitch when Santino loses every week and also say that no one takes him as a threat, unless you relish and enjoy the odd ball week when he wins. Winning over Swagger might not my pick, but it's as unbalanced of a win as you are likely to see on TV. It’s the jobber who won a match. It’s just what people need to keep watching unbalanced matches... the occasional surprise finish.

The Dolph finish was the same thing. It’s akin to a babyface pinning a heel when the ref isn't looking. You know the heel will win the match in the end. Again, you can't complain that it's a boring formula and not appreciate it when they switch it up... even when the switch seems ill-conceived.

Santino over Swagger and Zack over Dolph aren’t my picks, but I actually liked how WWE broke of long running patterns to keep viewers on our toes.

Now I am looking forward to Christian beating Shemaus in the first two falls of a two-out-of-three falls match, then see Ric Flair land a move off the top rope.

FALSE: FANS ARE LOSING INTEREST IN ROODE AFTER HE DIDN'T WIN AT BOUND FOR GLORY

In recent ratings analysis of Impact Wrestling’s Nov. 3 edition, it was suggested fans are tired of Roode now, since he didn’t win the title at Bound for Glory. This cited a strong opening rating with Storm and Roode talking, then a weak main event rating.

There are a lot of reasons for a ratings dip, but fans losing interest in Roode due to his unsuccessful title match can’t be one.

For starters, if they were tired of him, then record numbers would not have tuned in to hear him talk with Storm in the shows opening quarter. Nothing they said would have caused 20 percent fans to lose interest in his next match. If they lost interest in him for not winning that doesn’t explain why 20 percent more people would choose to hear Storm and Roode talk, yet opt out of watching them wrestle.

TNA did a nice job with the Roode storyline and would be wise to stay their course and be patient. The ratings were not good for this main event, but one week is not a trend and one quarter hour is no way to determine success or failure. Impact has also long had problems losing views in hour two, and were faced with the regular competion on Thursday night (such as "Jersey Shore" and the return of "Beavis and Butthead").

While I disagree with the pacing of the storyline and the rapid insertion of Storm as champion, I believe it’s hard to finger these as reasons people would have decided to tune out of Impact Wrestling between 9:15 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. last Thursday.

TBD: THE ROCK WILL AFFECT THE SURVIVOR SERIES BUYRATE

I do think this is a fair question at this time... and that is shocking.

Considering how WWE is treating Rock and how inconsequential his in-ring return seems, you have to consider his return to be significantly less effective than anyone would have predicted.

If this is a grand plan to turn Cena on Rock, it could explain a lot of how this is playing out. However, with the odds of a Cena turn under 25 percent, it makes the hype for Survivor Series and the return of The Rock seem almost trivial. WWE has two weeks to make it more impactful and effective; whether or not they can remains to be determined.

Jon Cudo is the newest PWTorch Specialist, presenting the "True-False-TBD" format. Jon has worked in the sports entertainment industry for over 20 years, including major league sports teams and Nike. He has been a life-long pro wrestling fan and has attended WWE, WCW, and ROH events in person, including backstage access at multiple events. He grew up in Minnesota and now lives in Cleveland. He runs his own business, www.GameOps.com, a web site designed to connect sports teams and event producers with ideas and tools that will enhance the entertainment value for fans attending their events.

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