HTQ reviews Joe versus Kobashi
Without a doubt, this was the most anticipated match in ROH history, and the most high profile match in Independent wrestling for a very long time. On one hand, you had Samoa Joe who is the biggest star in ROH; no disrespect to Daniels. Danielson and others, but you can tell the fan consider Joe the top name, even if he doesn’t have a title. On the other hand, you have Kenta Kobashi, who is a bona fide legend in wrestling, and is one of the biggest names in Japanese wrestling both, past, present, and, as long as his knees hold up, the foreseeable future. When the match was first announced, there was an immediate buzz among hardcore wrestling fans over the first ever meeting between two of the most physical and hard hitting wrestlers in the sport today. People were speculating that this match had the potential to be a Match of the Year candidate, with some even saying there was no chance this could be anything less than great.
With such high expectations going into this match from the fans, and both Joe and Kobashi putting a lot of pressure on themselves to produce the quality of match to meet those expectations, would the match live up to all of that?
The match itself had an electric atmosphere from the beginning, as you would expect, with the fans going crazy pretty much from the moment Joe was introduced and not stopping. The people were standing all through the introductions, and I don’t think anyone sat down until the match actually started. Kobashi, like every major Japanese name before him in ROH, got the streamers, but in a nice touch, was announced the same way he would be in Japan, with his surname first.
The match began with the expected slow build, and the first key spot was in the first minute or so when Joe knocked Kobashi down with a running elbow and Kobashi rolled to the floor and backed up. That one spot, as simple as it sounds, immediately put Joe over as a threat to the legendary Kobashi because Kobashi showed that he had to take a second, back up, and think things over before trying to take on Joe again. The building of Joe continued for the early portion of the match, with Joe knocking Kobashi to ringside area again and busting out his huge top dive and sending Kobashi, and himself, crashing into the security barrier.
While on the floor, Joe pulled out his Ole kick, but in a nice twist, when he tried a second one, Kobashi blocked it and even did what was almost a mini-Ole chop, which I know I got a kick out of and the people liked a lot.
Back in the ring, the match was very physical, and we got the expected, and much anticipated, exchange of chops, which was typically hard hitting. It didn’t look contrived and was as well executed as the same style of exchange would be between Kobashi and Kawada, and even looked like that in some ways but with Joe getting knocked down at the end of it which is usually the Kobashi role. The chops themselves were as hard hitting as you would think, with Joe’s shoulder looking all bruised up.
The match itself played out as a NOAH match, with lots of hard strikes and blows, and a few very dangerous looking suplexes, all of which Joe took. Don’t think, though, that Kobashi didn’t take his lumps, because he took a powerbomb into the turnbuckles, which he sold tremendously.
The finish itself saw Joe survive a brutal looking sleeper suplex, a series of stiff looking backhand chops, before finally going down to Kobashi’s signature running lariat.
The fans popped for the finish, and as both Kobashi and Joe were down from exhaustion, which wasn’t selling after that match, they gave both men a standing ovation. When Kobashi and Joe were finally able to get to their feet, Kobashi walked over to Joe and offered a handshake and both men shook hands a big ovation and more applause from the fans, who hadn’t sat down since match had finished. And they still wouldn’t sit down, and both Kobashi and Joe got standing ovations as they, slowly, walked to the back, with Kobashi walking off ahead of Joe, and the final scene was of Joe at the curtain turning around to acknowledge the reaction of the fans who were still applauding him.
So, after all of that, does this match live up to the hype of being *****?
Absolutely it does. This match was a tremendous story. As much of a star as he is in ROH, Kobashi is a much bigger star on an international scale, but Kobashi completely put Joe over as his equal and made Joe look like he was on the same level as him, and that Joe more than belongs in the same ring as Kobashi. Had this match been Joe’s debut in NOAH, I guarantee that Joe would have been made an instant superstar with how Kobashi sold for Joe and put him over, because this match was the perfect example of putting a guy over huge while still winning. This is the kind of match that a superstar should have with a guy when he wants to make him a star. I can’t emphasize this part enough. Everything else about this match was off the charts; the selling was great, the facial expressions were tremendous and added so much to the story, the fans were so into this it was insane. This match is easily the ***** that people have said it was, and I cannot encourage people enough to watch this match.
HTQ’s Thoughts on September 20th
I didn’t see a lot of Unforgiven because I had almost no interest in watching anything the card had to offer. What I did see wasn’t that great, but there were a few standout moments, primarily Matt Hardy’s huge legdrop off the top of the cage onto Edge. What was so great about it was that the fans went apeshit for the move, when it’s really a very low-risk move in terms of the chance of something going horrible wrong. It used to be that the fans didn’t care if you came off the top of anything, let alone a cage, unless you were doing 720 degree splashes through flaming tables. Now, they’ve been reeducated to pop for something as basic as a legdrop, even if it is being done off the top of a cage.
Other moments worth paying attention include the great sell-job done by Hurricane off of the DDT he took from Trevor Murdoch, which had one writer to the Observer website so incensed because he thought it was real, and he got so irate over that. Also fun to see that Christ Masters isn’t over a lick still, even though he’s been given the superpush this year.
Vince’s reaction to the upcoming ‘war’ between him and Spike/UFC is funny for all the wrong reasons. To combat this new threat, which is more a creation of his own mind than anything else, Vince is going back to the past by bringing back every big name he can get, and almost every minor name he can find or drag out of rehab. Instead of building to his future by building up his future superstars, Vince is instead relying on names from the past to help fight the problems of today. That never works, and while he might get a one-night boost out of this, it’ll do nothing positive in the long-term. He could have brought the names back one at a time to get a big boost out of each of them, but because he’s panicking, Vince is going for one huge boost all at once, and in doing so is throwing away whatever he could have got from those names by showing a little patience. It’s strange how Vince shows patience when you’d think he’d panic, and panics when he can afford to be patient.
Raw was Bore again. I recorded it, went through it in about ten minutes, and I don’t appear to have missed anything. We get Cena vs. Bischoff for the Raw ‘Homecoming’ on October 3rd. What a classic that’ll be(!). Can we stop with Renegade Babyface versus Evil Owner/GM part 324,686,939?
The prospect of Brock Lesnar wrestling for New Japan appears to be far more likely than a lot of people think. On The LAW radio show this weekend, Dave Meltzer speculated that WWE legal got word that they would likely lose the case, which they probably would have done had the case gone to trial, which would greatly weaken the strength and validity of the no-complete clauses in their contracts, and so are going to try and avoid that by making some sort of settlement to allow Lesnar to wrestle in Japan. If this happens, and Meltzer does think we’ll see the proposed Brock Lesnar vs. Masahiro Chono vs. Kazuyuki Fujita ‘dogfight’, and Lesnar is given the green light to compete for New Japan, then it could be that big boost the company needs to really turn the corner.
Any guesses for the finish to that match?
Over in TNA, they’re about to debut on Spike with Jeff Jarrett as their world champion. Yes, they put the NWA belt back on Jeff. Dixie Carter recently gave a lengthy interview about the company, and her remarks about Jeff make it clear as to why he got the belt, and it might not be entirely down to how he works in the ring. I don’t know what the relationship between Jeff and Dixie is like, but she came across as a lovestruck teenager in the interview when talking about Jeff, and it confirmed once and for all, as if any but the blindest of people had any doubt, that TNA will forever be a vehicle to push Jeff Jarrett as the superstar he can never be.
Ring of Honor changed their main title too, as Bryan Danielson is the new ROH Champion, taking the belt from the soon-to-be departing James Gibson last Saturday night. This is a great move by ROH, because they’ve put the belt on arguably their best in-ring worker, and it’s on someone who isn’t set to leave anytime soon, which I think took away from the recent title reigns of CM Punk and Gibson. The only question now is how long of a reign Danielson will have. With the short title reigns of Punk and Gibson, I’d like to see Danielson keep the belt until at least the end of the year.
I don’t ask for much out of my wrestling shows. All I want is good wrestling, good storylines and good angles. No one specific aspect need be focused on more than any other, but they should all be good, or at least enjoyable to watch in some positive manner. In the event that one or two of those things I want out of a wrestling show are sub-par, then the third aspect should be good enough that it carries things. It should be so great that it makes up for everything else not being up to par. A couple of examples would be a Raw that had some terrible skits and angles but was capped off with a MOTY level bout between Edge and Kurt Angle, or a Raw with shoddy matches and skits, but with a returning Matt Hardy cutting a blistering worked shoot promo on Edge and Lita. That’s all I want out of a wrestling show. Is that too much to ask? Is it really too much to ask that the people doing their jobs do them to an acceptable standard?
Vengeance PPV
I’ve seen clips of the PPV which is all I care to see of it. The Foley/Flair angle looked well execute and as heated as anything WWE have done in a while that didn’t involve John Cena. Flair bled like crazy, which, to be blunt, is about the only thing he can do and not look like the 57-year-old that he is. RVD’s WWE Title match against Edge, apart from being criminally placed in the middle of the card, looked pretty good, and from Jim Ross’s comments after the pin, it seems like Van Dam’s win was booked purely to surprise people because it was felt the original plan was too well known. I ignored the DX vs. Spirit Squad main event, because I have less than zero interest in anything DX-related. It also didn’t help that DX have humiliated and embarrassed the Squad, and Vince McMahon, for three weeks in a row, so quite why they expect people to pay for what they’ve already seen for free I don’t know. The highlight for me was Fake Kane pinning Real Kane clean in the middle of the ring. Why? Well, it’s because of…
Fake Kane storyline gets dropped
Less than 24-hours after Fake Kane beat Real Kane, clean, the entire character and storyline was dropped, due to the complete apathy the Vengeance crowd had for their match the night before. I can’t remember if this has happened before, where a wrestler was put over a big name clean and then promptly got dropped and the whole angle scrapped. What makes it funny is that the deal got dropped because the crowd didn’t care about it. The crowd has crapped on a lot of angles and storylines before but the usual Vince McMahon MO is to push back even harder and force the angle or storyline down peoples throats. My guess on why things happened differently this time is that Vince wasn’t happy with the first angle to begin with, and probably from the get go he was looking for some reason to end it. With the crowd at Vengeance sitting on their hands for the Fake Kane vs. Real Kane match, that gave Vince the out he was looking for, and the whole mess, which was meant to stretch until Wrestlemania, was dropped.
’ECW’
This week, it was revealed that Vince McMahon is going to turn ECW into a complete WWE-style third brand and anything even remotely resembling the original ECW is going to slowly dropped. It seems Vince was upset with how the current ECW is faring and has decided against doing something different with it and instead ECW is going to be more of the same. While it’s not a surprise that Vince is turning ECW into the WWE ‘C’ show, it is a little baffling that this is happening; 4-hours a week of WWE-style programming isn’t exactly setting the world on fire as it is, so quite why another hour of the exact same product is expected to fare any differently, I don’t know. The best thing to have done with ECW, which meant it had zero chance of being done, is to have made it into a ROH/TNA-style product, with the emphasis on the wrestling, with angles and storylines as the garnish to the main course of in-ring action. From a business standpoint, it makes more sense to offer two different styles of product, because then you can draw in the Sports Entertain fans with Raw and Smackdown and you can bring in the wrestling fans with ECW. That way, you’re getting more pieces of an already small pie and you can make more money. With ECW being made into another WWE-style brand, it’s going to attract the same viewers who would have been attracted by Raw or Smackdown, and there’s only so many of those viewers around right now. Instead of gaining new viewers, WWE may either split the viewers they have into three groups, or simply burn them out altogether to where they stop tuning it completely.
Kenta Kobashi has cancer
My thoughts are with Kobashi right now. Kobashi has long been one of my all-time favorite wrestlers and I’m really hoping he pulls through. My first thought on finding out about his condition was what happened with Shinya Hashimoto, who was another favorite of mine. We can only hope that Kobashi’s story has a happier ending.
Kane vs. Kane II: This sounded interesting enough that I made the time to watch a clip of it. It was well executed, in that it played out exactly like Kane’s debut; Kane was on the verge of victory when Kane II came out, and Kane looked at Kane II not knowing what was going on. The one thing I take issue with is that the scenario as it played out made Shelton Benjamin and the IC title come off as secondary. Shelton pulled a David Copperfield when the angle started, vanishing from sight and was never seen again. If they were going to have Kane II debut in the same manner as the original, they could have at least had Benjamin drape an arm over Kane to get a win. That way, Kane II would, not only have attacked Kane and laid him out, but would also have cost him the IC Title. It would have given them more an issue to fight over, and would have done something to make the IC Title more important, because Kane would have, theoretically, been angered over being cheated out of the belt.
Kurt Angle joins ECW: Kurt Angle was vociferously anti-ECW last year, and got choked out by Tazz, so why would he join ECW and not seem to care? Would it not have made sense for him to attack Heyman on Raw or do something to show how unhappy he was with being drafted to ECW? For all intents and purposes he seemed quite fine with being drafted and was more than happy to attack Mick Foley, a staunchly pro-WWE person, someone who Kurt should have sided with? I’m guessing, or more accurately hoping, that this gets explained in some fashion, but I won’t hold my breath.
Sabu vs. Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight title at One Night Stand: It doesn’t make sense on the surface for Sabu to get a World title shot at One Night Stand. After all, from a storyline standpoint he’s done nothing to earn a title match, and Sabu isn’t winning the belt which means he’s very likely losing, and given that Sabu is meant to help ECW draw on the road beating him clean, one assumes, on his first match back as part of the reformed ECW seems totally illogical. However, from an ECW standpoint, it makes sense. It will be the first ever match between a guy who helped make ECW what it was and is an ECW legend, and a revolutionary high flyer who ECW fans loved and took to their hearts. For ECW fans it won’t be the result that matters, as long as Sabu looks competitive against Rey before getting beaten. What matters to them is that they are getting to see a historic match and as long as the match isn’t terrible, I think ECW fans will be happy enough with seeing history being made, rather than unhappy with Sabu losing.
ECW’s summer tour schedule: WWE announced a 28-date ECW for the summer, from June 20th to August 15th. In the fifteen days from July 15th to July 30th, there will be ten dates, with two runs of four dates in a row. As anybody who worked the ECW style can tell you, working that style more than twice a week takes its toll, not only on the body but on the quality of work. If this ECW is, from a style and presentation standpoint, going to anything close to how the original ECW was, then the guys on the roster are going to hurting a hell of a lot when the summer tour ends. ECW was more than just crazy brawling and weapon shots mixed in with insane spots. It was also a work ethic that made the wrestlers give everything they had for the fans, night in and night out, and, for better or for worse, that isn’t something a wrestler can do for four nights a week and expect to have prolonged career. And that’s just for the ‘safe’ WWE style. Imagine what’s going to happen if the new ECW style is even half as punishing as the old ECW style, and you’ve got wrestlers working that style four nights a week, combined with the oft-forgotten work ethic that prevailed in ECW? We could see a lot of battered and broken people come August 15th, and if you think the Smackdown roster was decimated in recent weeks, you might have only seen the beginning.
Smackdown’s depleted roster: Smackdown has had the heart of its roster taken out in the last two weeks. They’ve lost Kurt Angle, JBL and Chris Benoit, with Angle having been drafted to ECW and JBL and Benoit out with injuries, and neither man coming back any time soon. Without those three, the top pushed talent on Smackdown is Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry, and The Great Khali. Mysterio has been so badly booked the last three months that his value is nowhere near what it could or should be. Henry, despite what the bandwagon fans think, is below average at best. And despite the awe some people have for Khali, he is not someone you can build around or really push in the main event scene; he’s just far too terrible and limited in the ring. What can Smackdown do? Well, Batista is coming back in about six weeks, which is good for Smackdown, but carries a lot of risk. Batista is coming back around two to three months sooner than his doctors advised him to just after his surgery, which, combined with his fragility, means that building around him, which seems a forgone conclusions, is an incredibly risky thing to do. When it comes to elevating people, the most likely candidate seems to be Mr Kennedy, who is a favorite of Vince’s. Kennedy is good enough in the ring that he could be carried to something decent, has a great presence and is very good on the mic, which are two factors that WWE favor over ring skills, so he has a great shot at getting pushed enough to the point that, eventually, he’ll catch on as being credible in the main event scene. Apart from Batista and Kennedy, and Batista won’t be returning for over a month, who else is there for them to elevated on Smackdown? Booker T? He’s a good hand, and makes for fine midcard comedy, but he doesn’t have the talent or credibility to play any more than a passing role in the main event.
Matt Hughes destroys Royce Gracie: I gave Gracie far too much credit when I thought he’d last at least a round or two with Hughes. Matt just took Gracie apart and it was clear from watching the PPV, and the reaction on various MMA boards and sites, that a lot of people were genuinely shocked and stunned that Hughes, not only beat Gracie, but did so in such a decisive and dominating manner. As much of a legend as Gracie is, it was clear before he even stepped into the octagon last Saturday that time has passed him by and he is no longer this great fighter who can beat just about anyone. Times change and standards improve, and Gracie, while a great fighter for his time, just doesn’t have the all-round skills to hang with top fighters like Matt Hughes. Gracie is great at Gracie Ju-Jitsu, but just being great at one discipline, even Gracie Ju-Jitsu, isn’t going to cut it today, and Royce showed that his time has long since gone.
Despite what some people have said, it was monumentally stupid and idiotic, if expected, for Hunter to bury Cena on Raw. You NEVER highlight the legitimate weaknesses of a babyface, especially your top babyface. A heel should never say something that the people can agree with. Hunter did just that, in spades, on Monday, and in one fell swoop cut the legs off of John Cena before their Wrestlemania main event. Yes, this segment, where the heel exposed the weaknesses of the babyface, was meant to draw buys for Wrestlemania. Quite how making your main babyface look like shit is meant to draw, I don’t know, but I don’t think that matters with Hunter. Maintaining his death grip as the top star of the whole company as always taken precedence over building stars for the future. And no, Batista doesn’t count, because he is zero threat to Hunter’s spot. The chances of Hunter doing what he did for Batista with Cena or anyone who could be long-term star are nonexistent.
The new WWE Talent Wellness Program is a step in the right direction, but it’s ultimately just pissing in the wind as long as the real problems, such as the hard road schedule and Vince wanting the kind of look out of his top guys that can only come out of a syringe or bottle of pills, are ignored and brushed under the carpet. Until those issues are tackled, the program, for all its good meaning, won’t do any real good in the long-term.
The Spirit Squad is a half-decent opening match comedy gimmick, but it should not include guys like Johnny Jeter or Ken Doane, who actually have the ability to be solid and possible top line members of the roster. The Spirit Squad gimmick is a modernized version of The Red Rooster, in that if it has any length of time, whoever gets saddled with it can never be taken seriously again, no matter how talented he is. Terry Taylor was still a good worker post-Red Rooster, but the gimmick killed his career because was never taken seriously again.
The Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club segment to end Raw was just stupid, pathetic and was yet another example of Vince booking Raw for ego and kicks. Nobody gives a flying fuck about Vince’s ass, his talentless son (it doesn’t take talent to fall onto airbags), or this stupid angle that should have stayed dead. Instead of something that might have helped build real interest, we’re going to be stuck with Shane doing his stupid routine of shitty dancing, over-contrived bumps, and no-selling. And he’s going to be facing a guy who already has that covered. Yes, Shane is wrestling Shawn Michaels at the first return broadcast of Saturday Nights Main Event. The only highlight of this train wreck will be who can do the most nonsensical bumps and who can sell the least. Shawn’s performance here is likely to be similar to his show, and I emphasize the word show, against Hulk Hogan at Summerslam, just turned down a notch or two. Vince might have been fine with Shawn’s business exposing antics against Hogan, but he’ll not stand for that against Shane.
If you were a wrestler, would you:
Prefer to be given only finish and call everything else in the ring? Lay the entire match out beforehand?
Like to have your promo's scripted? Or just be given a couple of bullet points, and wing the rest?
Blade often? Only on occasion? Would you rather never blade at all?
What style would you like to wrestle? Why would you prefer to employ that particular style over others?
Refuse to take certain moves? Only take them when working with certain wrestlers?
Are there any match types you'd like to wrestle in a lot? Some match types you'd rather never have to work in?
What style of normal match would you like to do the most? Would you prefer to sell or to dominate? Would you like to do long matches?
Would you like to have a manager or valet to work spots with or would you rather just do it all yourself?
Are there some types of angles that you would refuse to do? Some types of angles that you'd love to do?
What promotion would you like to work for the most? What promotion would you hate to work for?
What promotion of the past would you most liked to have worked for? What promotion would you have hated working for the most?
Any wrestlers today that you'd like to work against? Any you would avoid working against at all costs?
What wrestlers from the past would you like to work against? What wrestlers from the past would you not want to work against?
Booker T and Batista: It's a work, pure and simple. It's a nice attempt at trying to make a worked angle seem legit, but it's a complete work. That said, at least the resulting matches should be good.
Rey's treatment as World Champion: This has been beyond horrible. Since just after the Rumble, they've booked Rey just about as bad as you could possibly book him, especially as World Champion. He was mistreated before winning the belt, being beaten just the week before he won the World title, and since then Rey has, outside of the match with Randy Orton, been treated as an absolute joke. His size, which can either work for him or against him, has been handled in such a terrible manner as to make it an albatross around his neck rather than something positive, which it could be. Worst of all, he's been beaten clean two weeks in a row, by Mark Henry and Khali, and it's not even to set up a future title match; Rey's next PPV match is against JBL, and he's set to lose the belt there. There is no way to credibly rationlize or justify this treatment of Rey, but it is, sadly, no real surprise when you consider the size-obsession of those in charge of the decision making process in WWE.
The 'return' of ECW: With this being a pet project of Vince McMahon, this has every possible chance of succeeding, because Vince is going to put all of his muscle behind this. That said, there are still a number of pitfalls for this project to overcome. First of, while Vince is apparently gung-ho on making this work, the biggest chance of this succeeding is also the biggest chance it has of failing, and that's Vince. For this to work, and I mean really work, Vince has to think differently to how he usually does, but with the same drive. He can't use a WWE mentality to make an ECW (even if it's really WWE) project work. For this to work it has to be different to WWE in as many ways as possible, or it'll just be a third WWE brand, and we don't need another one of those.
The return of DX: This will be a short-term success, but it has no legs if it's the same DX from 1997-1999. That DX, as hot as it was, was part of another era, and to try and recreate that success today just isn't going to work. Shawn and Hunter reuniting will get a huge pop, but for this to have any kind of lifespan, it cannot be the same DX it used to be. For one thing, Shawn and Hunter are now nine years older and, lilke it or not, fans just are not going to be buy people of their age, almost 41 and 37 respectively, playing at being young punks. They could, just about, get away with it during the original run of DX, but it simply won't work now. I'm not even sure Shawn and Hunter can pull of being punks, at least in the vein that the DX name will warrant, but for it to work they need to make this version of DX a new variation on an old formula, but if it's the same DX as from 1997, then it will be a bomb.
Jim Cornette in TNA: This could have been a good thing for TNA, but it won't be, simply because for TNA to really hit it big the kinds of changes needed, especially taking Jeff Jarrett out of the main event scene, just are not going to happen. Whatever positives could come from Cornette being part of TNA are going to be more than offset by the simple fact that until TNA makes fundamental changes; Jeff Jarrett out of the main event scene, a proper structure to the X-Division, more believable/realistic angles,etc, then nobody who gets brought in is going to have any kind of long-term positive effect. TNA needs to change from within before it can anything other than a distant, and cold, #2.
Matt Hughes versus Royce Gracie: I think time has passed Royce by, and unless something very strange happens, then Hughes is going to win, and I would not be surprised if he mananges to get Gracie to tap out. Hughes in the 4th round by stoppage.
TUF 3: Ken Shamrock is either a bad coach or he's been edited to look like one. Add to that the fact that Tito is so much better at coaching, and Ken comes across as a behind-the-times old guy who seems unable or unwilling to modernize his approach to teaching the fight game.
HTQ Op Ed #1: Some People Are Really Stupid
I know it’s not the most groundbreaking of statements to make, but some people out there are really stupid. What makes some of those people even more stupid is that they should know better. Yet, for some reason, they don’t. Why are these people stupid? Well, these people think it’s a good thing that Vince McMahon, for the Raw ‘Homecoming’ on the USA network is flushing away around $7.5m in potential PPV revenue for a show that, A: Is part of a ratings war that he was going to easily win anyway, and B: No matter how high ratings are, he won’t make any money from them, because USA handle all the ad work, so they keep any and all ad revenue that Raw makes.
“Ah, but if he can get lots of people to tune into Raw, then Vince can get them to buy the PPV/PPV’s”
Nice idea in theory, but let’s look at it a little closer.
In one night, Vince is giving away, on free television, the returns of Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley. Now, each of those people could have had their returns built up for a PPV, the revenue of which Vince would be able to keep, and Vince would be looking at three different sets of bumper PPV buys. Now, he won’t get any of that. Sure, he can bring each of them back for a PPV later on in the year, but the return on bringing them back won’t be anywhere close to what it could have been, because he just gave away their return on free television. It’s like trying to sell a thirsty man a glass of water when you’ve just let him drink his fill for free. He’s had his thirst sated, so why should he want to pay for more water?
Looking at the in-ring action of Raw, it’s just as bad, because they’re giving away a Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels Iron Man match, and a Matt Hardy vs. Edge Loser Leaves Raw ladder match, both of which could have drawn some PPV buys, on separate PPV’s or one loaded one, and the company could have made some serious coin off of them. Now, if they bring Kurt vs. Shawn back to PPV at any time before the end of the year, it won’t mean as much because people just got it for free on television.
As for getting the people to pay for the PPV’s, they’re giving away a (over)loaded night of Raw for free, so to get people to shell out $34.95 for a PPV, it would have to be something really special after the Raw, and what are the chances of that happening, especially after giving away for free the kind of stuff that people would have paid for?
With the glut of fantasy booking that has started springing up all over the place lately, I've decided to take a crack at it. I'll be taking hold of the NWA starting in the middle of 1989. If you've read Loss's blog, and if you haven't I recommend you do, then you'll have read him mentioning that we batted around ideas for booking the NWA in 1989 based off of Ric Flair being able to lure away a group of wrestlers from the WWF that he was after. With Loss taking a shot at booking WCW from early 1999, I've decided to stay with the original idea of booking the NWA in 1989, and see what I can do with it.
I'll post the background to this shortly so you can get an idea of where things are going to be starting from, but things will be markedly different from how things went down in real life.
That means no Ding Dongs.
For fun, and to spark debate, I’m going to be watching all the matches on the Best of Japan 2002 - Complete Edition tape set, that you can find at Highspots. It’s a 13-tape set of 86 of the best matches in Japan in 2002. I’ve watched the set once, so I’ve already rated the matches, but for this venture I will be giving a new rating, and I shall also list some of the key moments and spots in each match. The recaps won’t be too in-depth; there are 86 matches to go through, and if I went into too much detail I’d never get finished in a timely manner. However, I will give enough notes so that, hopefully, a lively and intelligent debate will be sparked.
For a couple of the matches, such as Osamu Nishimura vs. Manabu Nakanishi from the G1, the tape set has the clipped version, but if I have the complete version of the match in question, then that is the version I shall be recapping and rating.
This is how Volume One looks:
I’ll review the matches in Volume One, list the matches in Volume Two, review those matches, and then do the same thing for each of the subsequent volumes.
With little else to talk about right now, I've decided to amuse myself, and maybe others, by saying what I really think about certain people. If you'd like to be one of these people then post here, and I'll tell you what I really think of you.
Yea, Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Suck – Part 1
The Undertaker and Kane v Kronik – Unforgiven 2001
Oh dear lord, did this much suck the big one, and then some. Here we have a match where three of the four involved are infamous for their reluctance to sell, with the fourth participant, Kane, getting caught up in the Vortex Of Suck™ that is Undertaker, Brian Adams and Bryan Clarke. There is absolutely nothing resembling psychology in this match, with the closest thing to it being how one team will punch and kick a lot, then the other team will punch and kick a lot, before the other team resume punching and kicking, and the whole thing starts again. All through the match, it becomes glaringly obvious that nobody wants to sell anything for the other team, with the closest thing to selling being each guy nodding their head in a rather vigorous manner when getting punched. What non-punch/kick moves that did happen were executed with such sloppiness and hesitation that you’re left thinking that either this match was called on the fly, and so nobody was prepared for what the other guy was going to do, or that if it was laid out beforehand, everyone developed a case of amnesia and forgot everything that had been agreed to. There were a number of blown spots, leading credence to the theory that the match was laid out beforehand but that those involved just forgot what had been planned, some of which were blown with such mind numbing incompetence that, not only were you left with no clue what was meant to happen, but that those involved were so bamboozled that they had no idea on how to salvage things. Case in point being Adams hitting the ropes and Undertaker swinging for what I guess was meant to be a clothesline or something, but he barely grazes Adams, who then turns around to face Undertaker before they stare at each other for what seems like an eternity before Undertaker decides to just punch Adams, and get on with things.
The biggest example of someone being totally unwilling to sell came in the big babyface comeback, if you can even call it that, being that the babyfaces sold almost nothing, when Undertaker was punching away at Kronik. While Bryan Clarke took a flatback from each blow, the best we got from Bryan Adams was on instance of him going down to one knee for a bout two seconds. Apart from that, he wasn’t selling a thing during the big comeback, which takes away whatever fire this suckfest of a match was able to generate in the first place. Eventually, Adams deigns to sell a punch by dropping to the mat and rolling out to the floor, on his feet, naturally, leaving Clarke to get chokeslammed by The Undertaker, which mercifully ends this absolute travesty of a match.
Afterwards, Steven Richards, who was managing Kronik, but played no part during the match, goes to hit Undertaker with a chair, but gets caught, and winds up getting chokeslammed by Kane, and takes the best bump of this whole sorry mess, and sells that one move better than anything ‘sold’ during the match itself.
This match was without a doubt one of the very worst matches of all time. It was horrible beyond belief, and after watching it you can understand why Kronik were summarily given the boot the next day. I don’t know if the star rating scale goes as low as is needed to rate this disaster, but if it does, the rating this abomination would get undoubtedly be minus infinite stars.
Vengeance
Shelton v Carlito:
Decent match, but decent doesn’t cut it on PPV. Also, putting the IC belt in the opener just further entrenches the idea that the IC belt means very little. True as that is, it’s a perception that needs changing, and putting it in the first match doesn’t help. The loud crowd made the match, with chants for and against both wrestlers, with no rhyme or reason.
Christy v Victoria:
I skipped this.
Edge v Kane:
Far better than their match last year, and shockingly good considering, but why is a heel with real potential, and who is gaining a lot of momentum, jobbing clean to a guy who, in all fairness, ceased meaning anything many years ago? Would it not make more sense to build up the guy who, it seems, will be challenging for the World Title soon?
Shawn v Kurt:
Good stuff, but nowhere near great, and Shawn’s usual no-selling took things down, as it did in the first match at WM. The usual main event WWE style stuff, but with a finish so damn hokey, it just killed the match dead.
Viscera and Garcia segment:
Skipped this, but I did see Viscera blow off Garcia, so I guess the writing team get to have their revenge on all the women who blew them off in high school.
Cena v Jericho v Christian:
Decent enough, with Jericho and Christian making Cena look good, though that fact seems to have gone over the head of most people. As expected by anyone with a brain, which means a lot of people on here didn’t think it would happen, Cena won clean, pinning Christian. I would have expected Jericho to lose, given that Christian is the one with momentum and potential, but killing off momentum and potential seems to be a theme of the undercard.
Batista v Hunter:
I skimmed this one. Batista seemed to sell a lot less than I expected, but given that the damage from his selling too much in their two previous matches had already been done, it does make sense. From what I saw, it seemed like a good brawl, and it had all the usual shortcuts you get from a match that really needs them. Batista got put over strong here, and his winning clean was no surprise to those with a brain in their heads.
Overall:
It was a decent PPV, and it was enjoyable enough, but people shouldn’t pay $34.95 and get decent and enjoyable. I’m glad I’m not one of those people.
HTQ in TNA’s debut on Spike
The opening video package was great, and it really made TNA seem like something special and, more importantly, different to WWE.
The Impact opening is great too. It looks similar to the opening for Smackdown, but it blows that one out of the water.
First up, AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong, and the crowd treated AJ like a superstar when he came out, and that really came across well on television, which is important. We need more shots of that blonde chick holding the action figures. The match itself was a squash designed to get AJ and his big moves over, and it succeeded in doing that. Christopher Daniels came to ringside to help set up their Iron Man match at Bound For Glory, so TNA are already starting with making the new fans aware of the upcoming major matches.
I liked the Monty Brown video, as short as it was.
Monty Brown’s interview was ok, and I think they need to make something out of the “most territorial, predatorial” line, because it could become a good hook.
The Raven angle backstage was ok, and at least they didn’t just go to it and had Shane Douglas act like he was being told about in his earpiece.
Monty Brown vs. Lex Lovett was a pure squash. The Pounce might not seem like much at first, but neither did the Stone Cold Stunner or the Jackhammer, but those moves got over in the same way The Pounce can; booking it like a death move. Give it a month or so of booking The Pounce like that, and it’ll be over like crazy to the new fans.
I loved the X-Division video. It highlighted all of the big moves from the X-Division, which is exactly what it should be doing.
Petey Williams vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin was a very entertaining, high-impact spotfest, and I think it helped establish the X-Division as something a lot different from the WWE’s watered down cruiserweights. The Canadian Destroyer was showcased, which it needed to be. When they went to a commercial during the match, I liked that when they came back the commercial music was still playing. That was a nice touch that I hope they keep doing.
The backstage deal with Douglas, Zbysko and Ortiz was fine, and I got a laugh out of Zbysko mouthing off to Douglas at the end.
I liked the 3 Live Kru video piece.
Rhyno vs. Jeff Hardy was ok, but if they were going to end it in a disqualification, then I would have put another match in the main event slot that they could have ended cleanly. With that said, at least they did a big angle afterwards to try and take attention away from the non-finish. Rhyno and Abyss could make a great monster heel tag team.
I liked that you heard Hardy get booed because TNA could have easily edited it out, but they didn’t, which I think is important when it comes to letting the fans know that if they don’t like a babyface, you’re not going to censor those feelings.
The NWA Title change looked a little low-rent in terms of setting, but at least it shows that title changes can happen at out of the way places.
Jarrett is meant to be a world champion, so why can’t he dress like one? I skipped his promo, so I have no idea what he said, and I really don’t care what he said.
The 3 Live Kru-Jarrett and Lackey’s confrontation was nice, with the Canadian team coming in because of their association with Scott D’Amore, and The Deadly Brothers were very over with the live crowd. Unfortunately, Kevin Nash was presented as the top star, with his coming out last and hitting his big move last, and that’s not what TNA needs. Nash looked like he was having trouble just standing there let alone walking, and I dread to think how bad his match at Bound For Glory match with Jeff Jarrett will be.
Overall There was more good than bad from the debut. TNA looked very different from WWE, which is they absolutely have to do if they are to show any kind of growth and turn into a potential competitor for WWE. It’s by no mean guaranteed that TNA will evolve into a competitor, but the only chance they have is if they are something totally different to WWE, and I think, for the most part, they succeed with their debut on Spike. The negatives are the obvious, with Jarrett and Nash on top. I can understand TNA wanting ‘star power’ on top to try and draw people in, but couldn’t they have come up with a star who doesn’t look like he’s about to break his legs just from standing still? That doesn’t make them look good when one of the guys fighting over their main title looks like he’s about to fall apart at the seams.
HTQ on the G1 Climax Tournament Finals
This years G1 Final was a heated and emotional night, but not necessarily one where sensible booking was prevalent.
Was there a reason Nakamura wasn't allowed to last any longer? It's not like they were short on time with the other G1 matches...
I can see the logic in Fujita going over, but can anyone tell me the logic in beating Kawada in little over six minutes? Was it really necessary to beat Kawada like this? Could they not have gone at least over ten minutes? Beating Kawada like this, especially when you add in the loss to Kashin, just diminishes from the lustre of any future Kawada matches, no matter how the NJPW devotees over at SSS try to spin it.
And this lead to the final of:
Yes, they built up Fujita all tournament only to have him go down to Chono in less than ten minutes I'd like someone to explain the logic in this. I know people are going to bring up the Hashimoto factor, and Chono did reference him in his post-match micwork, and it makes for a great sentimental story, but if the negatives outweigh the positives, as they usually do in this situation, then business has to win out over sentiment. People will also bring up the brutal nature of Fujita's match with Kawada, but like with Kawada in the semi's, couldn't Fujita at least have gone past the ten minute mark?
Overall, this years G1 Tournament has been a mix of hot matches, heated crowds, and some really baffling booking. As you might expect, the NJPW devotees over at SSS are praising the G1 up and down, calling it tremendously booked, and saying it's one of the best of all time; one even tried to justify the booking by saying, and this is a verbatim quote:
He quickly got support from another devotee:
Yes, there are other levels than just good or bad booking, but why should I have to accept booking that is just 'acceptible'? Why shouldn't I expect and demand, from the most prestigious tournament in wrestling, good booking? Why shouldn't I expect or demand booking that makes sense? New Japan is one of biggest promotions in the world, and the G1 Climax Tournament is the most prestigious tournament in wrestling. Anything less than spot-on booking doesn't cut it, and is far from 'acceptible'.
And I'll finish up my G1 entries with this gem from the boys over at SSS:
Yes, poor booking doesn't matter. Bet you didn't know that, did you?
HTQ on the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament Finals
The 2005 G1 Climax Tournament concluded today at Sumo Hall, and we saw one of the most heated and brutal finals of recent times.
1. G1 Climax - Block A 1st place vs. Block B 2nd place: Toshiaki Kawada beat Shinsuke Nakamura in (17:22) after a backdrop driver
Another dream match here with the battle of former promotional aces, with Kawada a multiple time holder of the Triple Crown, and Nakamura the youngest ever IWGP Champion. Nakamura wrestled the match of his life as he fought his heart out against the outsider Kawada as he sought to make it to his first G1 final, and Kawada fought back just as hard to make to the final and it was Dangerous K who came out on top after stunning Nakamura with a high kick before hitting Nakamura with a brutal looking backdrop driver to get the pin and make it to the G1 finals.
2. G1 Climax - Block A 2nd place vs. Block B 1st place: Kazuyuki Fujita beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan in (14:03) after a running knee strike
Fujita and Tenzan went at it at a fast pace, looking to end the match as soon as possible and enter the finals as fresh as possible. Tenzan was looking to avenge his IWGP title loss last month while Fujita was aiming to maintain his perfect G1 record. Tenzan gave Fujita a hard battle, and almost pulled off the upset with a TTD, but Fujta came back with a wild knee that winded Tenzan and Fujita quickly followed up with a running knee that hit Tenzan right on the jaw and knocked him flat out. Fujita got the pin almost casually, and Tenzan needed to be carried out of the ring.
3. G1 Climax - Final: Toshiaki Kawada beat Kazuyuki Fujita in (12:15) after a high kick
Sumo Hall was loud and heated for this one, as New Japan ace Kazuyuki Fujita took on the outsider Toshiaki Kawada and both men were coming in with perfect records. The match itself was brutal and intense and a lot of fans said it resembled more of a fight than a wrestling match as Fujita and Kawada kicked and punched away at each other with few actual wrestling holds used. Neither man was going down easily here, and when Fujita finally knocked Kawada down to one knee with a straight right, it left Kawada with a glazed look in his eyes. Fujita looked to capitalize on that with his running knee but Kawada fired back with a spinning back kick, that staggered Fuijta a little, and Kawada was able to knock Fujita down to his knee with a spinning back fist. Kawada waited for Fujita to get to his feet before hitting him with a stiff shotgun lariat, which staggered Fuijta again. A second shotgun lariat staggered Fujita a little more, and a third shotgun lariat put Fujita down to one knee again. Kawada then pulled Fujita up to his feet and hit him with a big high kick to the back of the head that put Fujita down and Kawada covered and got the pinfall win to end a brutal but exciting match, and even though Kawada was an outsider on New Japan turf, the Sumo Hall fans still gave him a standing ovation.
After the match Kawada told the Sumo Hall fans that he was honored to have been invited to participate in the G1, and that he felt his winning the tournament was an endorsement of opening up promotional borders. Kawada spoke highly of Fujita, and said he was his toughest oppponent of the G1, and may have even been his toughest opponent ever. Kawada said that after beating Fujita to win the G1 tournament he now wanted to go after the IWGP title, and that he looked forward to meeting Fujita at a future date for the IWGP title. Fujita responded by telling the fans that Kawada was a very tough foe, and that he looks forward to defending the IWGP title against him. Fujita finished by saying that he knows New Japan has a Dome event coming up, and that he thinks the perfect main event would be Fujita taking on the 'Dangerous Outsider', Toshiaki Kawada, which drew cheers and applause from the crowd, and both Kawada and Fujita received a standing ovation from the Sumo Hall fans as the 2005 G1 Climax Tournament drew to an emotional close.
The first show of the new ECW era was one of the most terrible, mind-numbingly awful one-hours of television in modern wrestling history. Looking like something excreted by Vince Russo after he overdosed on LSD and caffeine pills, the first television show of the ‘new’ ECW could only have been put together by someone with absolutely no real clue or concept about what made ECW. It was filled with the kind of craptacular gimmickry that was the hallmark of Vince Russo, along with the kind of nonsensical booking that is fast becoming, if it hasn’t already, the hallmark of Vince McMahon.
Within ten minutes of ECW restarting, their two faces, Paul Heyman and Rob Van Dam, had been outsmarted and reduced to second tier status in favor of the WWE top guns John Cena and Edge. Edge and John Cena almost effortlessly outsmarted and beat up Heyman and Van Dam, before casually walking off without a care in the world, while the rest of the ECW locker room sat in the back with their collective thumbs up their collective asses. In the next segment, which literally reeked of WWE, we had Heyman rallying the troops and declaring that if WWE wanted to bring it to ECW then ECW would bring it to WWE this Monday on Raw. The first plug for a television program on the new ECW and it’s for a WWE show. How about doing something to plug for the next ECW show first?
The first match featured what could go down as one of the worst gimmicks of the modern era but, fingers crossed, will only go down as a one-night aberration the likes of which harkened back to the dark days of WCW, as The Zombie came shuffling out, complete with powered face and B-movie make-up. When The Zombie started grunting, literally, into the mic, I was immediately reminded of an Ultimate Warrior promo. Thankfully, it didn’t last long as The Sandman, along with his generic sounding uninspiring music, came out and caned The Zombie into the ground and quickly pinned him. That right there was the first ever match of the ‘new’ ECW era, and I don’t think I could come up with a worse way to debut the new ECW.
One of the worst booking disasters was having Paul Heyman announce that, due to what Cena and Edge had done to Van Dam, he was scrapping what he had planned for the rest of the show and was instead going to have a battle royal, under extreme rules, with the winner going on to face John Cena at Vengeance, and also coming with the rest of the ECW crew to Raw on Monday. The major problem I had with this was Heyman shouldn’t be coming on and telling people that whatever he had planned was scrapped because of what WWE did to them. It makes Heyman and ECW look like pussies for caving in to the attack from WWE and abandoning whatever plans he had made to make the first ECW show memorable for the fans. Shouldn’t the ECW fans be dictating what happens on ECW television? Heyman should have come out and said to hell with WWE, we’re doing what ECW does best, an extreme battle royal, and I’m now going to put the winner of that battle royal into a match with Cena at Vengeance. That way, you still wind up with a match set for Vengeance, but it puts ECW over stronger because they’re not seen to give in to WWE and are also the ones forcing Cena into a match. The way it was played out made it appear as if ECW were doing something they didn’t really want and they came across all the weaker for it.
I don’t know what the point of Kelly was. A big-titted bleach blonde bimbo teases going naked and then does one of the least-sexiest dances I’ve ever seen and doesn’t even show her ass or full breast, after two big teases that she would. I know nudity wasn’t going to happen, and the people at home probably knew that the nudity was never going to happen, but why on earth do you tease something like that that you aren’t going to deliver? Sure, it might peak the ratings for one segment, but it sure will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.
And what was the deal with that vampire-like clown half-way through the show?
Heading into the debut of the ‘new’ ECW, some people were holding up hope that it would at least show that WWE Creative were capable of trying something new, and that there might be a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. Instead, we got all that worst elements of WWE, WCW and ECW rolled up into one giant piece of shit.
I’m not going to name names, but someone actually said that, in his head, John Cena logically has to lose the WWE Title this Sunday at Vengeance.
Yes, the same John Cena who WWE has firmly and most definitely put their infamous promotional machine behind. Now, obviously John Cena is going to lose the WWE eventually, and it will in all likelihood be Triple H he loses it to, because that’s just how things are in WWE. But can someone tell me the logic, because that’s the buzzword of the moment, in John Cena losing the WWE Title to either Christian or Chris Jericho, two guys who have zero credibility? Do remember that such a move would make Cena look like a chump, and while Cena is going to get made to look like a chump eventually, at the hands of you-know-who, it isn’t going to happen at the hands of two perennial midcarders like Christian or Jericho.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the definition of logic, as one person clearly is, here is some help from our friends at the Oxford English Dictionary:
Logic
1. Reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity. • the quality of being justifiable by reason. • (the logic of) the course of action following as a necessary consequence of.
Can someone tell me the validity in the idea that WWE would sacrifice the merchandising potential of one of their hottest acts to someone who isn’t Triple H?
Raw Is Statutory Rape
Hulk Hogan on Carlito’s Cabana
So, now we’re making matches from statutory rape angles?
Edge and Snitsky v Kane and Show
I avoided most of this. Edge should be getting primed for a program with Cena, not bogged down with a feud that nobody gives a shit about.
Main event announcement:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The Heartthrobs v Viscera
A can’t miss gimmick that isn’t over a lick versus a can’t hit gimmick that that the people actually cheer for thanks to creative getting behind the gimmick that won’t draw a dime. Naturally, the woman feels sorry for the man who humiliated her on PPV in front of the world. End this shitty angle, now.
Chavo Guerrero becomes Gunther from Friends
Kerwyn/Kerwin White? WTF? And the bastard made Maria cry.
Hurri-shits segment
Bleh
John Cena peps-up Maria
Maria is happy again, and all is right with the world.
John Cena on the Highlight Reel
Why does Raw have two talk-show segments? They can both talk, I’ll give them that much. Would be nice, though, if the WWE Champion got put over in the main event slot for a change, instead of in a midcard segment with a midcard wrestler,
Diva Boot Camp
You expected me to watch this shit?
Fu Macho Man Chu Renee Dupree v Val Venis
Crisp while it lasted, but why are they protecting Val Venis? Is he so big a star that he couldn’t do a clean job?
Carlito and Angle v Shawn and Hogan
I skipped the match, and turned back literally as Shawn’s foot hit Hogan’s chin. I loved the turn, and what I liked most was Shawn not saying a word, and just staring down at Hogan. The way Shawn walked off and just had no emotion on his face was a great touch too. The only down side to this is that it means Hogan v Shawn, most likely at Summerslam, which will totally overshadow whatever match John Cena is going to have, and Batista too for that matter, and they’re meant to be the guys that are WWE’s future.
Raw
Carlito and Jericho argue
I had this feeling Piper would show up with what Jericho and Carlito were saying. Piper looks ancient. Hey, how about pushing someone who doesn't need Rogaine? Well, at least it was a surprise.
Chris Masters v Tajiri
"Listen to what Chris Masters is about to get?" That would be apathy, Jerry. The biggest pops from the crowd were for the guy not getting an almost relentless six-month plus push. Even the light "ECW" chant was louder than any reaction Masters got. He isn't getting over, and it's been six-months already. Give it up. End the Masterlock Challenge so this dead weight can be sent back down to OVW so he can get back to school.
Edge, Lita and Snitsky backstage
Matt Hardy better be coming in tonight as rumor suggests, or at least be signed to be coming in soon, or them bringing his name up again is stupid.
HHH update
Well, whoever had three-weeks on how long it would be before Hunter's name was mentioned again, you win. And they're laying the foundations of a babyface turn as well.
Shelton Benjamin v Carlito
Did anyone else get a Sting v Ric Flair vibe off of that no-sell spot from Benjamin early in the match? And did anyone else get a Money Inc. v Natural Disasters vibe off of that lame finish?
John Cena promo
The babyface champion being dictated to by the heel GM? Man, that's a cutting edge and original angle right there. And Cena v Jericho at Summerslam? Didn't one of the pop-up and spyware ridden sites claim that it would be Cena v Edge? You mean they were wrong?
Diva Search
Pass.
Kurt Angle Invitational:
I guess this means that Raw, not only has two talk show segments, but now two segments where a wrestler makes an open challenge. At least the interplay between Angle and Striker was funny. Angle shouldn't be submitting the guys with one second to go. He should be submitting them with one second gone.
Matt Hardy attacks Edge backstage
At least it was executed in a realistic fashion, with Hardy literally coming out of nowhere.
Kane v Edge
Just a backdrop for the Hardy v Edge angle. They are doing it the right way, and executing it like a shoot. No music videos, no catching Hardy on camera behind Edge and Lita, or anything like that. Hardy hits the ring out of shot, and the actual security staff are the ones to try and drag him down. Yeah, it's not a shoot, but the way they are playing things will make it easier for people to suspend their disbelief. The Ring Of Honor mention and the lack of commentary while Matt was getting taken away were a pair of nice touches. While the angle is getting handled like this, the right way, this will get Matt super over.
Piper's Pit with Shawn Michaels
No shirt, just a cross this week for the Holy Roller Kid. Shawn Michaels is not used to this type of reception???. The kiddy chaser was calling the action when Shawn was the hottest heel in the company. What brain surgeon fed Lawler that line? And if Lawler came up with it himself, he's once again made a fool of hmself.
Shawn can talk good, but he came off as too much of a babyface after what was played off like the ultimate betrayal. The superkick to Piper was to be expected, but to me it clouds the issue with Hogan, because there should be repercussions from it, and that will just take attention away from the Hogan deal. Of course, nothing will likely come of it because of that fact, so why even do it?
And what was Shawn's reason for turning on Hogan? To get a match with him? Was it out of hatred for not stepping down?
Apart from the Matt Hardy angle and the way Angle talked to Martel/Striker, though not how the Invitational ended, Raw didn't measure up to anything.
Raw
Kurt Angle – Ric Flair promo:
Well, that was interesting to say the least. And I hope Angle v Flair doesn’t happen, because it would be beyond idiotic to give it away for free on Raw with less than 2hrs notice.
Edge and Gene Snitsky v Kane and ?
Why is Kane v Edge continuing when they had a blowoff finish last night?
And the Smackdown draftee is…Big Show.
Rhetorical question: Why are they stripping Smackdown of every viable piece of talent they have?
Big Show v Gene Snitsky
Skimmed this, and it still felt like it went on forever. It should have been a 30-second squash.
John Cena promo
This was a somewhat amusing way to bring in HBK.
Edge-Lita-Kane vignette
Kane wants to make Lita’s life a living hell? This whole angle has made everyone’s lives a living hell. End this crap now.
Chris Masters-Tajiri angle
No entrance for Masters, which could be telling. Tajiri calling Masters a jackass was predictable and boring. If the writers must mock the Japanese, can’t they do it in an original manner?
Carlito’s Cabana with ROB VAN DAM
Rhetorical question: Why are they stripping Smackdown of every viable piece of talent they have?
And it’s interesting that RVD is the only Smackdown draftee to get beaten up upon arrival.
Angle v Flair
Well, they didn’t give it away for free with less than 2hrs notice. They gave it away for free with less than 1hrs notice. Way to go, brain surgeons(!). The match wasn’t bad, but it was too much of a Flair match, and Flair got in way too much offense; Angle should have beaten him with ease. At least Angle won clean, though.
Diva Search
The fast forward button was made for shit like this.
Batista promo
Blah.
Christian, Jericho and Tomko v Cena, Shawn and Hogan
Hogan makes perfect sense as the partner, because when I need someone to watch my back in a fight I know I call for a barely mobile 52-year old .
I skipped to the finish. I was surprised Hogan was able to hit the legdrop. I was not surprised that, not only did they not hype Hogan’s return for weeks and weeks, but that Cena was reduced to window dressing. Way to push Cena(!).
