SmackDown Storyline Plans For Murdoch & His Release, Judgment Day Buys, More

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— Prior to his release last Thursday, there was an idea for Trevor Murdoch to be involved in a program with MVP on SmackDown. An angle was proposed for them to do another “Odd Couple” angle. The idea was for them do some comedy segments, and then feud with Murdoch as the babyface. However, it probably didn’t get off the drawing board because it would have been too similar to MVP’s drawn-out program with Matt Hardy that only recently ended.

Regarding his release, it came as a surprise to a lot of people since he was booked on some house shows with MVP. Also, SmackDown head writer Michael Hayes specifically requested him before the draft. Johnny Ace called Murdoch to inform him about his release from the company, although Vince McMahon must approve of all terminations. Ace essentially told Murdoch, “Your character is going nowhere and creative has nothing for you.” The “creative doesn’t have anything for you” line, which Johnny Ace often uses, and Jim Ross did before him, is used to let people down easy because in many cases being fired from WWE is the end of their childhood dream. It sounds better than saying “we don’t need you anymore” or “you’re not very good.” People close to Murdoch are saying he’s taking the release surprisingly well.

On another note, Hayes had booked some mid-card ideas for Murdoch, but was not aware of his release from the company until the company sent out an internal memo right after Murdoch was informed. Some people would normally know ahead of time about a release, but they didn’t see this one coming.

— The preliminary buy rate for Judgment Day stands at 244,000 total buys and 154,000 domestic buys. The pay-per-view featured Triple H vs. Randy Orton in a cage match for the WWE title, Edge vs. Undertaker for the vacant World title, Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho, and John Cena vs. JBL. This year’s numbers are almost identical to last year’s, which did 240,000 total buys and 158,000 domestic buys, although those were the final totals. As a general rule, you can usually count on an 8% average growth from the preliminary figure, so the ’08 number should be even bigger. Last year’s show featured the first Cena vs. Great Khali match (for the WWE title), as well as Edge vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight title, Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels, and Bobby Lashley vs. ECW Champion Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon & Umaga. Even though ratings & web traffic were down in May compared to last year, you can say that WWE did a way better job of promoting Judgment Day this year.

— The 6/30 Raw in Oklahoma City drew 11,000 total fans for a $400,000 gate.

Click here for the list of all 20 WWE releases/firings this year (>>)