HAH!!!
I actually did look at the ratings.
The Benoit vs Bret Nitro got a 2.9 rating, not a 2.6. Now, he could have been referencing the week after that match, in which case, he should get his facts straight. Not really my problem. Whether he got those two weeks mixed up is irrelevant however to most of the upcoming Vince Russo stupidity I am about to unleash.
So, it went up .6 in that three months. Which is good for Russo... until you actually look at the fact that ONE month before Benoit vs Bret, Nitro got a
4.1 rating....
So Russo took over after a bad week for 3 months (Of course he'll ignore that it happened to be a worse than usual week considering the rating a month earlier was better than anything in the upcoming 3 months that he was responsible for).
During Russo's 3 months, the highest rating was that 3.4. The lowest? 2.8... that was 2 months into his "reign of excellence". Oh, and if you don't wanna do the math, that's also lower than that pitiful 2.9 that the Benoit-Bret Nitro got before he came in to save the day.
So Russo leaves for 3 months. When he is asked to come back, the rating is "back" at 2.5. That would be the 4/17 Nitro. Of course he fails to mention that the week before that, the rating was 3.1. And the highest rating during that Russo-less 3 months? It came a month after Russo went home...
3.6. That's right. .2 points higher than the highest rating during that three months WITH Russo.
Man, when you just say the things that help your case and leave out the details, it is REALLY easy to skew things in your favor.
Sources:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2nskfq.jpg
http://www.twnpnews.com/information/WCW/wcwnitro.shtml
http://cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=4310