Nah, I think it's entirely possible Rove could have gotten word in advance of the intended "surprise" and forced it to blow up while they could have time to respond to it.
The reason weekend surprises are so effective is that some of our alternative media takes those couple of days off, and normal conservatives are out with their families and at Church unavailable to counter attack the charges while they simmer.
I believe I saw a report which stated the New York Times asked the White House to coment on the report the day before it broke. I suppose Rove decided "No coment for now".