Papacita

I liked Heyman as GM. They never should've replaced him, IMO.

Well, looking at a Raw ratings history, there were only 3 shows that cracked 7 that year, and two of those were post-PPV shows (following Backlash and Judgment Day, the other came in the week going into Backlash). In June, Raw drew two 5's (both during HHH's 4th title reign), then pretty much stayed in the 6's until August 21 with Rock as champion (the only exceptions were July 3rd, which drew a 5.3--you could probably attribute to the upcoming holiday-- and August 14, which happened at the height of the HHH/Angle program, a period where Rock didn't even have a real program, so the show basically revolved around HHH). They scored back to back 4's to close out August (late night shows due to the US Open), and two high 5's to start off September (judging from the list, the post-Open numbers tend to be a bit lower than normal historically) before the switch to TNN on the 25th, which is when the ratings really began to taper off. Not really. Rock/Benoit got a bit more attention going into that show. He could defend the title. If a face has strong opposition, it's just as interesting watching him try to hold onto the title as it is watching him try to attain it. If the chase is more interesting in WWE, it's only because they tend not to have an abundance of strong heels.

What!? It just never really did anything for me. The fact that I've grown to HATE cage matches doesn't really help any.

Nah, by the time the McMahon-Helmsley Era got underway, Trips was over. The two wins over Foley solidified his ME status, so he could've easily drawn against the Rock without Vince's involvement. I never really had that much of a problem with the heel going over, but considering the way they built towards the match, and that they put the title on Rock only a couple of weeks later, they would've been better off allowing Rock to go over at the PPV. I mean, he was the biggest star in the company. Why waste his title win on one of the bullshit PPVs when they could've done it at Mania? Because if they fight a million times, you have to give Rock one win, or else fans would stop caring. So they let him win a meaningless match and gave him the belt for a month. HHH won the two big matches, WM and ironman. That's the only way it should have gone, since 2000 was the year of HHH and was on such a huge roll. I think the problem is when Rock won it back at KOTR. That's when the ratings started to turn around. HHH's reign was a breath of fresh air for the WWF (When was the last monster heel title run in WWF before that? Yokozuna?), and Rock was completely stale at that point. The belt should have went straight to Angle at Summerslam. I disagree with you. HHH really didn't need the Mania win because, again, he was already established as a main eventer. He'd been in the title picture since August, he'd beaten Austin, Foley, Rock and every other potential challenger for his title, plus with Steph at his side, he was already made. I'd say that the Mania match was a little more important for Rock than it was for HHH, because while he was the bigger star, Mania really marked the first time (at least as a face) that the fed really began to revolve him as a main eventer, and after getting his ass kicked by HHH for the last year, the title match was really his opportunity to establish himself as the man in WWF (which he was in the eyes of the mainstream). And while I can see the logic in having HHH win at Mania (it was unpredictable, and it really kickstarted Rock/HHH on the ME level), it really didn't make sense to do it at all if they were gonna put the belt right on Rock a couple of weeks later. They should've either had HHH win at Mania and hold onto it until KOTR, where he jobs to Rock clean, or just given it to Rock at Mania and let him carry it until the fall...where he'd job to a newly turned Jericho thanks to interference from Steph (that's how it should've gone ). I liked HHH's run in 2000, and I agree that Rock wasn't as entertaining as he'd been in the past, but realistically, he was the biggest star in the company--it really didn't make sense to keep him in the mid-card just so HHH can look good.

Nah, by the time the McMahon-Helmsley Era got underway, Trips was over. The two wins over Foley solidified his ME status, so he could've easily drawn against the Rock without Vince's involvement. I never really had that much of a problem with the heel going over, but considering the way they built towards the match, and that they put the title on Rock only a couple of weeks later, they would've been better off allowing Rock to go over at the PPV. I mean, he was the biggest star in the company. Why waste his title win on one of the bullshit PPVs when they could've done it at Mania?

But they ended up with better results. Goldberg also never hurt himself, if I remember correctly. Didn't he mess himself up on a car window or something? (I didn't watch WCW at that time, so I'm not sure).

Of the matches I saw, the Bulldog match was my favorite. I could never really get into the Owen match.

Ahmed was like my second favorite wrestler back in the day, but he was the most injury-prone man I've ever seen. That man would injure himself blinking. He was really over up until they had him join the Nation in 97. Once they kicked him out, he was never the same.

You should be thanking god then... Ah, you must be new around here. <---TSM's resident Chyna mark.

I get angry whenever I think about Backlash 2000. Not because of the matches or anything, but that was the first WWF PPV I had missed in well over a year... ...and they stripped Chyna! The one time I actually miss a show, and they strip Chyna! I'm getting heated right now just thinking about it. As for when WWF started slipping up...I'd actually say it started with WM2000. Wasn't a bad show, but selling the ME with the McMahon in every corner stipulation was when they really started working my nerves, not to mention the stupid swerve with Vince at the end (if they wanted to put HHH over, why not allow him to win clean? Or at least let him do his own cheating). From there they had the Fact-gime, and they had that little period where they'd end every show with lumberjack matches or handicap matches and what not, and things just got boring and predictable for me. Things picked up a bit after KOTR with the Angle/Steph storyline, Rock/Benoit and HHH/Y2J, but after SummerSlam everything just seemed to fall apart. For me anyway.

You can really compare this to the WCW thing, because WCW was never an independent entity after the purchase. Smackdown runs largely independent of Raw with its own show, own house shows and PPVs. Why would Vince sabotage the show (his own creation at that), knowing that to do so would be throwing away a direct source of revenue?

On the last Raw before SummerSlam, Chyna had called out the Rock in response to a beatdown on DX the week earlier. The whole Nation came out, and revealed that DX was locked in their dressing room. Rock starts coming at Chyna like "You need to get some" and "The Rock's the one to give it to ya" (at least I think he said that). Chyna got offended and went after Rock, but the Nation grabbed her and Rock made them put her down on her knees "where she belongs". He then made a bunch of insulting comments and what not, faked like he was gonna kiss her and tried to put Mark Henry on her, but HBK ran out for the save before it went any further.

How about Flair kissing Liz at WM8. The Nation humiliating Chyna in 98. Jericho kidnapping Chyna and breaking her hand with a hammer...although that one was a little more funny than it was evil.

Didn't WWE flat out say that Smackdown was their "B Show" and that they would use it to try out outlandish storylines and gimmicks? Possibly. I've never heard them call it a b-show outright. The most I'd heard was that Pritchard wanted to bring in more gimmicky characters. Maybe I'm trying to be a little too logical here, but I can't see them intentionally trying to make the show bad if they expect to profit off the brand.

That usually only works in the case of a pinfall victory, and even that depends on WWE's willingness to follow up on the win. I can remember a few matches where the champion was pinned CLEANLY in the middle of the ring and the winner never received a title shot. Hell, they named Ultimo Dragon number one contender to the Cruiserweight title on one Smackdown last fall, and he never got a title shot. And BTW, am I the only person who's getting tired of the whole "So and so pinned the champion" excuse to name a number one contender? They use that way too much. I'd love, for once, to see a rankings system come into play in WWE.

Damn, reading this thread is starting to make me feel kinda bad about my size. It almost tempted to get in the gym and put on some more muscle...but that would require actual work...and I'm way too lazy for work. Ah well.

I really don't think there's that much favoritism towards Raw. Other than HBK, Raw didn't really have any strong faces, so it made sense to bring Edge and Benoit over. I think they thought Smackdown would be fine with Eddie and Cena carrying the show. I think the show's recent decline can be attributed more to stupidity than favoritism. If there's any favoritism at all, it stems from the fact that Raw is the live show, and thereby more unpredictable (which is why they have Rock make his surprise appearances on Raw instead of Smackdown, where it'll have less impact due to spoilers).

No.

5'11", 120 (probably less, considering I've been sick lately). I'm such a pig.

This keeps up, and maybe they'll make a move to ban all chops and punches.

On the 24/7 belt (just what I've seen since I've been in OAOAST), Zack pinned Northstar in the Title Wave on 10/23 to win the belt before dropping it to CWM at WWE. Supes vacated the belt back in January and it was held up in a Prism match on 1/15 between PK, Axel, TJ Burns, Jacob Lyne, and Panther. Panther won that and dropped it to Axel on 3/4, Axel dropped it to Crystal at Anglemania, and Hoff beat Crystal for it at School's Out.

He gave him the shirt on the Main Event prior to BATB 95. I don't have a pic, though.

Sid wasn't the strongest on the mic, but I wouldn't say he was uncharismatic. He was fairly good at getting the crowd riled up, and the fans went crazy for him during his face run in 96/97. As a champion, he wasn't a good draw, but I'd still place him above Diesel because one, both reigns were short, and also he had a higher level of competition (Bret, Shawn, Taker and Vader were all chasing him at one point), so the belt looked more important.

Panther will respond to the Bryte's and The Hand's challenge...hopefully. Also The Hand will be in action.

I think Big Show could've been a good champion if they had put effort into his title runs. I'd put his first run right up there with Jericho's as one of the most mishandled title reigns ever, because once he won the belt, WWF really didn't do anything with him. His storyline with Bossman took a backseat to the HHH/McMahon feud, with the whole "You're a big nasty bastard" segment being the only real development between the two following Survivor Series, and IIRC, Show wasn't even allowed to cut a real promo until like a month into his reign. His reign was an afterthought, and that's why nobody really bought into him as champion. As for the worst ever...definitely Diesel.