So, after boasting about my "5/5", somebody decided it would be cool to rate this blog a big fat one. Heh. Walked in to that one. Anyway, SD was on here this morning, so my thoughts, which you all await, I'm sure:
- Opening package was cool. Put Benoit over, which is a plus with me. Seemed to differ from their usual video packages, with the spinning roster and the image of the WHC and all. I'm reaching. I liked it, anyway.
- JBL's promo was good, but it didn't seem to really do anything, ya know? I guess it sets up his GAB match with Benoit (?) or something. I liked the off-handed Basham comment, whcih foreshadowed the split later on. I also like that the announcers (read: Michael Cole) didn't pay attention to it, and so it seemed like more of a surprise when the Bashams "quit" later on, or would have done if i hadn't read the spoilers. Benoit's use was weird. He should have said something. Benoit/JBL could be really good. Last week wasn't too hot, but it was all about the ECW stuff then. With 20 or so minutes on PPV, I'm thinking these two could REALLY produce something special.
- Benoit/Doug was fine. They had a pretty good match in 03, during Benoit's feud with A-Train, and a really good match in 02, I think, in OVW. This wasn't as good as either, but I enjoyed it. Nice superplex from Doug. Cool snap suplex, ripping off Benoit. Ending was pretty decent, adding some "realism", I guess. Benoit disappearing for the aftermatch JBL/Taker stuff was bad, but I'm forgiving seeing as he returned later in the night. Taker and JBL should be, like, the leaders of the faces and heels on SD. Not feuding or anything, or a show-wide feud, but it should always come back to those two.
- Eddie/London was really fun and good, but too quick, and a glorified squash really. London was great. He showed a lot of fire, and his clotheslines early on were good. Nice powerbomb bump. Like that London's back became a focus as the match went on, with the TC submission as the payoff. Would love these two for 20 minutes, with London given a lot more. Ending was fantastic, with London fighting the submission and Eddie just going insane. Good stuff. Another, good, aftermatch brawl. Rey getting revenge from JD with the chair was boss. Didn't like that Eddie pretty much no-sold it, though. Good heat. Backstage brawl was nice and realistic. Also loved Eddie rolling under the garage shutters to escape Rey, then sitting exhausted.
- Eddie/Rey next week should be really good, but shouldn't be happening. Not that I endorse bait-and-switch, but they shouldn't blow this on free TV. It's the feud of the year. I have hope that they won't. Non-finish to set up an emotional rollercoaster at GAB, and then maybe hair vs. mask at SummerSlam. I dig that.
- Please don't feud Book and Carlito. PLEASE. I've no interest in it. Jobbing Book after he's just beaten Angle would be silly. There's no need to job Carlito at all. Can see Book and TBS Vs. Carlito and Morgan at GAB, which would be weak, but would solve the problem of either of those two jobbing. Of course, they really shouldn't job Show or Morgan either, and a tag match is just an awful way to capatalise on Book's momentum from the Angle victories (not the feud though). I'd prefer they had Taker return as Show's partner. Why? Dunno, but it's better than this. Segment was blah.
- Morgan/Show wasn't too bad, though I didn't really expect it to be. Liked Show throwing the punches early on, which isn't seen often from him. Showed that he was in a fight with Morgan. The sideslam counter was ok. Another nice payback spot with Morgan going through the table. Like I said, the big problem with this feud is nobody can afford to lose.
- Heidenreich's segment sucked. Badly. I don't hate him anymore, but this was bad. The divas are dreadful. I like how Michelle is always the one to attack the heel diva. Yes, I know WHY it's her, but it's still funny. Heidenreich with the chocolate around his mouth was horrible. I DO NOT need to see Heidenreich and Eugene vs. MNM. Melina making fun of Michelle was great, though.
- Backstage segment with the Cabinet was ok. Orlando's delivery was woeful. I hope they don't split, because there's more they can do with the Bashams, and the Cabinet as a whole. I mean, if they push both Doug and Danny as singles I won't be too upset, but that's unlikely to happen. If the Bashams have quit for good, they should remain a tag team and reform the Revolution, have Danny become the Damaja, Doug grow out his hair and sign Johnny Spade. Then have Nick Dinsmore say Eugene was a hoax, Conway become the Iron Man, Lesnar return and team with Shelton, and bring the DOS to SD. OVW! OVW! OVW!
- Didn't really pay attention to OJ/Holly but it didn't look horrible, though not good, either. Holly's managed to get over again. Varying the offense is cool. I could have sworn the ending was the same to the Carlito/Holly match. OJ needs a moveset. He needs some music too. Seems silly to have him come out to a rap theme after JBL's feud with Cena. OJ is a terrible US champion, though. Either make him look credibile or switch the belt.
- Main event seemed pretty good, but, again, wasn't paying enough attention. I'm going to watch this again, when I can, and comment further. Nice and stiff, with some good, dramatic, believable nearfalls. They shouldn't have wasted Taker's first pinfall loss in 18 month on JBL because, quite frankly, he doesn't need it anymore. Orton on SD is fine with me.
Will comment further when I remember more stuff.
Well, we've had fucking all sorts of newspapers and magazines saying about how important blogs are going to be for the future of journalism, and its seriously underwhelming to be honest. Who in the fuck would be interested in anything I've got to say, let alone change events. Looking at some of the other blogs on this page, someone wants to put up a wrestling column a day, holy shit that will be fucking awesome. No doubt enforcing negative stereotypes and so on. We've got another person talking about his illness(no doubt with some shite emo band on in the background). So to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what to put in this thing, I could whine about having to work long hours(racked up 62.5 hours last week), I could whine about life, and say how suicidial I was, or pretend to be drunk and post "funny" comments. I don't know, I think I'm just going to post shite in this, and see where it takes me.
Take a look at your WWE roster...I'll give you a second...Got it? Good. As you look at that WWE roster, try to pick out some names that you think are ready to be World Champion, but haven't ever been before. I'm talking the whole package, Talent, Charisma, Over-ness, heat magnetism, look...all of that. Jot down your answers and I think you will find an incredibly short list.
3 names are on my list, 2 of them from Raw, One from Smackdown:
Rey Mysterio: Not only does Rey have the fanbase, but he has the work ethic to pull it off. Rey very well could be the smallest world champion of all time, and it could happen very soon. The fire and intensity he has shown during his feud with Eddy has shone a new light on the Lucha Libre star, and he truly has risen above the "cruiserweight" classification.
Edge: Simply due to the company's backing of Edge, it makes sense for him to win the belt this year. All personal tastes a side, I truly believe Edge is a Shoe-IN for Champion.
Christian: perhaps the most ready to take the next step in their career is Edge's storyline brother, and friend to all of us Peeps in the Christian Coalition, Christian. A year ago...hell, 6 months ago I would have laughed in my own face for even suggesting Christian could be champion one day, but he has proved me wrong. Christian's working style is very similar to a man much larger than him, and indicative of the typical WWE Champion moveset.
While not brilliant in the ring, Christian holds his own with most (if only he would quit with the damn chinlock.), however, Christian's true time to Shine is on the Microphone. "Captain Charisma" as he calls himself, could be the truest handle for a wrestler of all time. He absolutely seeps charisma out of his pores, and although he is a heel, much like the Rock (who incidentally "passed the peoples torch" to him last year) he has figured out a way for the fans to both love him and despise him at the same time.
A case in point: When was the last time Christian won a serious match? Wrestlemania 20? Christian continues to lose matches, and the fans continue to cheer him, seemingly louder every week. He has reached the point of no return, and my bold prediction is this: Come June 26th Christian will be WWE Champion, and June 28th he will be WWE Champion on Smackdown.
Till Next Time,
Gabe
THe purpose I've taken to writing in this Blog is because I need an outlet to hone my writing skills, plus what's better than writing about the number 2 passion in my life (behind my fiance) in pro-wrestling? I understand that the blogs are new, but Id REALLY REALLY appreciate any comments or reaction to what I write, critique my style, my points, flame me if ya want to, but I'd appreciate some constructive criticism most. I am going to be writing part time sports columns for the local newspaper this fall, and this will really help out. Thanks,
Gabe
Given the intelligence, or lack thereof, displayed in a lot of the posts made here, I’m often wondering how the people behind them have the capability to breathe, let alone operate a computer.
Billy Kidman v Yoshihiro Taijiri, 03/01/02 - WWF Tour Of Japan
This is pretty decent, but also rather disappointing. There are a couple of nice exchanges, like a sweet little powerbomb reversal sequence, though that predictibly ends in a Kidman facebuster, and a nice chop-fest, but that's about it. Kidman varies his offense a little, which was nice to see, using an inverted DDT into a facebuster (something I don't think I've seen before), as well as a Kryptonite Krunch. The opening mat work is pretty OK as well, with Tajiri busting out a lot of funky leg locks which I've never seen him use.
I didn't enjoy this as much as I should have due to my high expectations - it was listed as a ***3/4 match. It was probably **1/2 tops. It was fun, just nothing memorable. Crowd is hot for Tajiri, as to be expected, and they go insane when he hits the Asai Moonsault. There's also some decent comedy as well, with Tajiri rolling all the way across the ring to escape Kidman, and Tajiri's crazy little chicken dance before delivering a simple chop (which is great). The ending's cool, with Tajiri "matrixing" his way out of a rana pin, in to a couple of stinging kicks for the victory. They hinted at this a couple of times prior, but Kidman managed to thwart it both times, having Tajiri well scouted.
Kidman's character has some decent development during this contest. The opening work sees the usual exchange of arm drags, hip tosses, pin attempts, etc. We get a handshake afterwards. A little while later, Tajiri gets the better of the mat work and Kidman's frustration is evident. On his next opportunity, he decides to attack his opponent with punches and kicks, instead of wrestling him (I'm reaching here). Later on, when he gains close nearfalls off the KK and the inverted DDT thing, his frustration is at an all time high. These two manoeuvres followed the other facebuster and a dropkick, so it was a case of "which move will be enough to beat Tajiri?". As it turns out, none of them are. Kidman loses his cool and hits the Rana more in desperation than anything. He doesn't have nearly as much leverage as he'd like, which is why Tajiri can elevate out of it and get the victory. I'd have liked to have seen Tajiri bring a deeper attack with him, just as Kidman did. I was expecting him to bust out the Dragon Suplexes, Tiger Suplexes, and the Germans, but it wasn't to be. Alas. Still, this is an OK match, just nothing special.
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Posted this at another board. It's only a quickie, but I thought I would post it anyway. I've got Eddie/Rey from 04 lined up, and Liger/Pillman from the first Nitro. Look out~!
I have no idea what the title means, btw.
Oh, and a big thanks for whoever rated this blog 5/5! You rock! I may have fewer views, but I have the highest rated blog! I so rule. You know it.
The concept of a yearly draft lottery has always intrigued me, it offers up a real dose of unpredictability that, at times, the WWE lacks. Last year's draft was great, but in retrospect it has lost some of its luster. IT was a one-night shot, HHH never ACTUALLY left Raw, and Smackdown was Neutered beyond repair. This year, we have seen 2 picks per show and so Far things seem to be as even as we can expect from the WWE, although I believe Smackdown has, yet again, gotten a "Raw" deal.
Raw picking up the WWE Champion John Cena and perennial upper card superstar Kurt Angle has left Smackdown pretty much directionless. Smackdown picked up Chris Benoit and Randy Orton-both big name guys and former World Heavyweight Champions-but neither truly impact players as of late. Benoit has lost much of his luster since losing to Orton at Summerslam, and Orton is hurt and won't be back full time until October. While Orton is an Obvious pet project of Vince and Co. his fan reaction isn't all that hot outside of the 14 and younger female set. So This begs the question...Is Smackdown doomed for good this time, or are we in for a few more big shockers in the young draft lottery of 2005?
Many speculate that Christian or even Chris jericho will be moved to Smackdown after dethroning John Cena at Vengeance, thus restoring the WWE Championship to Smackdown. Others say we will see either Triple H or Batista-whoever wins- moved after the hell in A Cell Match, essentially swapping belts to the opposite show. A third school of thought has recently crossed my mind, however.
Smackdown has floundered for much of the last 2 years, mainly due to the company's own view of the show as a "B" show. Could we be witnessing the last days of the Smackdown Brand? On this week's television-coming off of a Red Hot ECW Pay per View, very little mention was made of it on Raw, Smackdown, on the other hand, started off the show with a long-winded "shoot" promo about ECW by our beloved JBL. Could this be the first sign of an ECW "invasion"---now, I know you just cringed, I did too, and I'm sorry for using that word, but what if...what if, Vince sees those dollar signs in his eyes? Maybe Vince looks at the success of ONS and Paul Heyman and says..BINGO! What if ECW wins? With Smackdown moving to Friday's this fall on UPN it would be a bit of a Hardcore Homecoming (Sorry Mr. Douglas, Mr. Borash) for our beloved Black and Purple crusaders, wouldn't it?
Til next time,
Gabe
UFC:
Best knockout from a punch: Brad Kohler on Steve Judson at UFC 22
Best knockout from a kick: Yves Edwards on Josh Thompson at UFC 49
Best submission: Matt Hughes on Frank Trigg at UFC 45
PRIDE:
Best knockout from a punch: Igor Vovchanchyn on Francisco Bueno at PRIDE 8
Best knockout from a kick: Gilbert Yvel on Gary Goodridge at PRIDE 10
Best submission: Ryo Chonan on Anderson Silva at PRIDE Shockwave 2004
Hi, this is my first post on my blog. Uh...I watched the two movie DVD that features Doctor of Doom and Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Women. They're both dubbed lucha libre movies put out by some dude named K. Gordon Murray who was at one time a major player in the exploitation movie scene it seems. The first movie is better than the second, but neither are great and nothing really stuck out to me other than the sheer badness of the wrestling scenes. First off, the two lead wrestlers(both women) wear full body suits, the likes of which I have never seen in a wrestling ring save for Goldust's outfit. But costume was at least interesting to look at, these girls wear completely plain outfits that come up as gray in these black and white movies. They seem to use more judo than wrestling, with lots of arm throws and stuff. This is made even more apparent when they fight two women who are called judo champions. No actual wrestling rules seem to be in effect here, and during the course of the two movies, there is only one pinfall attempt, everything else is won by submission. The second movie's title is very misleading, as the two women never even attempt to fight the mummy.
Paul London Vs. Akio (PART IV!!!) - Saturday 12th February 2005 - WWE Velocity
Dang, this rules every bit as much as their previous matches! It's sad that these guys go out their everyweek, kill themselves for OUR enjoyment, and yet, still, the company doesn't give a crap about them. There is an upside to this, however - not caring about them means that they don't get restricted to the usual "WWE style". They can go out there, mess some shit up, pop the crowd, have a great match and go home happy. Well, WE go home happy, I doubt they do after the nutty bumps they take.
They go at a slower pace than their previous bouts here - they know that they're getting the time that they didn't have in those encounters, so it allows for better pacing. This is evident when London teases a dive early on in the match, only to hit it at a later point. He went for the same dive (somersault plancha) in one of he earlier battles between these two. This time, however, Akio has it scouted, and manages to regroup before London can hit it. He isn't prepared for the second attempt later in the match, though, when London DOES connect with the flip.
It's nice that the crowd is with them from the start here, unlike previously when they had to win them over (not that that is really a bad thing). It translates well to the wrestlers, who seem to give that little bit extra with the hotter crowd on their side. London's stomps just seem to make more sense when the crowd is actually clapping along, rather than sitting on their hands, ya know?
One minor gripe with this is the lack of throwbacks to the other matches in the series - I thought when London went for the double axe handle that they were going to play into a nice nearfall or counter off the top rope DDT in match number two, but that didn't happen. I'd have liked to have seen some stuff like this, but there is always room for more matches in the future and, hey like I said, it's only a minor gripe, and it'd e harsh to really criticise them for anything here.
The chop-fest is awesome, and is similar, again, to the one we saw in match number two. That time they went in to a kicking frenzy, whilst here, London gains the upper hand and proceeds to burn Akio's chest with about twenty consecutive chops.
You get the feeling that as much as this breaks from the usual company style constraints, it's still being held back just a little bit. The neck and head work from Akio is good, and gives him an obvious traget and focus point for the rest of the match, however, it's as if he's not doing all that he can do. He makes the chinlock work more than most guys on the roster can, but ot would have been nice to see a little more variety in the submissions - maybe a Dragon Sleeper as a nice nod to the country that they're in?
The tease of the steel steps bump is as nice as the fake dive - early in the match, Akio backdrops London over the ropes, only to see him land on the apron and come back with a headscissors from the apron. Later in the match, Akio manages to add a little extra power to the backdrop, and this time London can't hold on. The result is the insanely dangerous, yet really fuckin' cool, crash into the steel steps that should be enough to warrant a coffin for Paul. Yet still he goes on. Because he's Paul London, and he really, really rules. More than you, in fact.
The fact that this is going to be longer, as opposed to a sprint, allows them to not necessarily use more stuff, but pace it better. If this was a six - seven minute match, they'd probably use all the offense that they use here, but they'd burn it up quicker, and wouldn't get the chance to tease it like they do with the dive and the stair bump. The doubled time also allows them to use a longer opening stretch. The matwork shows how equal these guys are, whereas in the other matches, we'd gage that equalness from the trading of nearfalls, but we didn't really have a platfrom to show it. Now we do.
What sets these two apart from the rest is just how well they do the little things. London shaking his hand every time he throws a punch, Akio being tossed out of the corner flat on to his back. They are only minor details, but the small stuff helps a decent match become good, make a good match great.
London's "undressing" from the cross-armed choke in to one of his own is fantastic. It could be percieved as comedy for the live crowd, but it shows the struggle that these two guys are in. They fight for every hold, the right to throw a punch, the right to go to the top rope. This wasn't as nutty as their other matches, but it didn't have to be. Both guys know each other so well that simply flying about the ring wouldn't be enough. They had to break each other down until the time was right and THEN take to the air. This was a battle and a struggle. They'd proven they could fly, now they were going to fight. It's fitting that London FINALLY managed to defeat Akio with his patented 450 Splash, a manoeuvre which he had attempted or teased in all their past encounters, but never managed to hit. Now he has, the best WWE feud today maybe over. (Winner: Paul London @ 14:06 with the 450 Splash) ***1/4 (WWE MOTY to date)
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This isn't so good now that I look back on it, but after reviewing this match I decided to make it a permanent thing (match reviews), so some good came from it. Huzzah! It's no longer the company MOTY, for me, with Angle/Eddie, Benoit/Edge and Shelton/Shawn all being better than it, to name just a few. It's still very good, though. And, no, it didn't end up being the last match in their "feud". Far from it, in fact, as they've had about 5 more matches since, and London's gone over in all of them. None of them have been close to this level.
More tomorrow!
So, yeah, it's my blog. I guess I had better make the most of it after bitching about them recently. It's weird. I have no interest - at all - in a "real" blog at livejournal or whatever, but I wanted this one. Maybe because it gives me a forum to shout shit about wrestling, and only wrestling. There's TSM forums, of course, but I always end up getting dragged in to silly arguments in there, and there's too many annoyances to deal with.
It's, like, 1am here, so I better wrap it up. I doubt many people know and/or care about me enough to come read my blog, but I'll win you over yet with my RANDOM WRESTLING MATCH REVIEWS~! MWAHAHA. And other stuff, too. I've got a lot already reviewed that I'll post soon. One was already posted on the main forums, that being a London/Akio match from this year, and it got some decent feedback, so I'll post it here so that a larger audience can read it (LOLZ2005).
Now I go.
Batman was good, my favorite movie of the summer so far. We made sure we got there about 10 minutes late to try and avoid those same damn commercials before every movie, but still had to sit through another 5 minutes before the movie started. Getting back together with an ex was pretty damn good too. The two of them together worked pretty well too, not quite as well as in that Alanis song, but can't complain. Even nearly running out of gas due to driving past 6 closed gas stations was a bit of fun. Oh, make sure you get ahold of Kotz's new mix, good stuff. It's too damn late for this now.
The evocation of emotion in professional wrestling has been lacking for quite a while now, I think the last time I was truly emotionally involved in a match was at Survivor Series '03 when Shawn Michaels was bleeding profusely from his forehead, and basically got splattered to the mat via the Batista Bomb. The last time I was emotionally involved in a storyline? I can't remember off the top of my head. I LOVE wrestling, so I will always watch, emotional draw or not, but I have to admit, and so will you, I believe, that when the people running the show hit an emotional button-the kind that makes you believe in the "fairy tale"-that is when you are affirmed by the sport that we love.
I think that emotion is the primary reason the ECW One Night Stand Pay Per View has gotten the acclaim it has. All of a sudden, we have something new on our TV's-men who feel passionately about something, who look back at something in their past with true reverance, and men-like Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer- who when they talk about their past they look into the camera, and straight into our souls with that love, and that raw(no pun intended) Emotion.
The WWE in the past 3 years has taken many attempts at engaging the emotion of its viewers-The one thing that comes to mind is the Ric Flair night in Greensboro S.C.-trying to capitalize on the nostalgia Ric Flair carries with him, and for just that one moment we believed ol Flair could do it just one more time. But therein lies the problem: They never give us what we want to see. Not anymore at least. Like the lyrics to the old song go: "Why do ya build me up, buttercup baby, just to let me down?" Replace "Buttercup" with "Vince" and you'll get the idea.
This is why the ECW PPV was different. It did everything but disappoint. We were given expectations, and it came through on them We were told it would be bloody, insane, EXTREME, and it was. We were told we were going to hear things UNSCRIPTED...and we did. We were told to brace ourselves for the most entertainment on the lowest budget the WWE has ever dished out, and we got that too. They called it One Night Stand, but in the pit of my stomach I believe that we havent seen the last of ECW and with any luck, Paul Heyman will finally rub off on Mr. McMahon, and we will see the E(motion) put back in the WWE.
Till next time,
Gabe
Sometimes, so-called ‘smart fans’ get so caught up in being smart, that they become so very dumb, and lose sight of the point in being a wrestling fan in the first place. The point of being a fan is to have fun with what you’re watching, enjoy what you’re watching, and have enough fun and enjoyment that you come back the next time to have more fun and enjoyment. It’s such a simple concept that it flies right over the heads of some ‘smart’ fans, who are so busy trying to be smart that they forget about actually being fans. They get so caught up in being ‘smart’ and showing everyone else how smart they are, that the only thing they show people is how dumb they are, and how they’ve missed the point in being a fan.
Try being a fan again. You might like it more than being ‘smart. And you might actually become smart once again.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan be-be-beats people up.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan be-be-beats people u-u-u-u-up.
U-S-A U U U U-S-A
U-S-A HOOOOO! HOOOO!
That's quite the catchy song, eh? Wonder if WWE will ever produce the quality of WrestleMania: The Album again, complete with Roddy Piper inquring if we are ready for Survivor Series to open a song about WrestleMania.
So that Knights of the Old Republic game is pretty sweet eh? I'm just playing through it now, I've done 2 of the 4 planets that you have to go through after completing Dantooine... I hear KOTORII isn't as good but I'll play through it anyway after I finish this game.
Here are two terrible jokes!
What did they call the first Pac-Man game? Episode I: The PHANTOM Menace
What did they call the similar Ms. Pac-Man game? Episode II: Attack of the CLONES
Not only are those jokes awful, but they make no sense... the games were called Pac-Man and Ms. (Mrs.? I'm probably forfiting my Gaming Card for not being 100% sure about this) Pac-Man! How do I think up such awful jokes?
I blame the internet. And the popularity of swing music.
After recently viewing the prequel trilogy, my first time seeing 1 & 2 since in the theatres, I've come to a conclusion after factoring in all the positives and negatives of each movie. That being that the best thing to come out of the whole new trilogy is my new red lightsaber spoon from that cereal promotion.
BLOOOOOOOG!
I played Pong today.
I also cut one of those little round watermellon's to look like Pac-man and ran after my cats going "whoka whoka whoka whoka".
Yep.
A blog eh... so I guess I can sorta write "Shades" again but in a totally condensed random whatever comes to mind format... which is kinda how the full fleged columns were if I had enough ideas and time to write one.
So last night some people were throwing a bit of a fit over Vengeance and demanding no one order a PPV that was "obviously being booked in an attempt to outdo ECW's PPV", apparently forgetting it's all the same company.
In return, I became somewhat frustrated and made several posts about how retarded this theory was and for whatever reason decided to use PPV buyrate figures for ONS that are so preliminary that Dave Meltzer (the most respected source for fair and balanced wrestling news on the internet) has pretty much said "they could be right, but the figure could just as easily be 300,000".
Well, I still don't put any merit into the "WWE is trying to kill ECW's PPV success" theory (HHH? Maybe. Vince and/or 'WWE'? No.) I guess I shouldn't have used unproven numbers to back up my point. However, I would like to point out that after whatever page contained the many posts (or perhaps one or two that were quoted frequently and thus appeared a lot) calling for the boycott, the later pages all seemed to back up the "that theory is dumb" idea.
And hey, I also managed to make a reference to the early 90s "McWorld" commercials that people seemed to enjoy so that made my night.
I enjoyed this PPV a great deal, and more so than any wrestling PPV for a very long time. The last PPV of any kind that I've been this excited about both while watching and afterwards was UFC's Unfinished Business from last year. As far as wrestling goes, the last PPV to have this kind of buzz about it was WM X7. Since then, wrestling has been totally lacking the kind of emotional connection that allows for this kind of reaction, and the fact that a promotion that has been dead for five years elicited such a response while WWE is getting so apathetic that the people who hate it can't even be bothered to rip into it is sad in so many ways.
The matches were mostly secondary, which would have been obvious going in had people thought about it. The only real standout matches were Tanaka v Awesome and Dreamer and Sandman v The Dudley's. The rest were just kind of there, with Storm v Jericho was the most enjoyable of the undercard matches. Benoit v Guerrero was a letdown in some ways, and really came off as filler, but in no way was it bad. I know some people have torn into that match something fierce, but those people should take a look at themselves and think about things a little more clearly, rather than trying to be some sort of 'super smart smart fan' or whatever their gimmick is.
The highlights were easily RVD and Paul Heyman's promo's, with RVD shattering the myth that he can't speak. If anyone thinks RVD can't talk after his promo at ONS, then must be really wanting to believe a myth that everyone else has had the good sense to see through. Heyman's speech was great stuff, and, again, showed how great someone can talk if you let them talk about a subject they are genuinely into and really want to talk about.
Joey Styles was great on commentary, while Foley wasn't all that hot, which you could tell he was aware would be the case going in, and he stayed in the background for most of the PPV. The highlight for Styles was his shooting on Mike Awesome during his match, and when Eric Bischoff was at the commentary table for the show ending angle, and Styles just tore into him with, "You are without a doubt the worst goddamn color commentator I ever heard in my life.” For me, that was the line of the night, as it came out of nowhere, and there was no real set up to it, unlike with RVD's and Heyman's stuff, though that was still great.
There were a few minor points I didn’t like about the PPV, most notably Steve Austin leading the ECW charge against the WWE ‘Crusaders’ and him getting the last attack on Bischoff, but they were minor enough, and the strong points strong enough, such as Sabu showing up, that this PPV is the easiest thumbs up I’ve given to a wrestling PPV for so many years that I don’t even remember the last one.
