RedJed

Other than the opening segment, which I felt was drawn out way way WAY too long and could have been booked much better, the show was pretty decent tonight.But Michaels could have just been announced at the top of the show taking on Khali - we didnt need stupid exchanges with Vince and HBK to get there (there in itself cuts 5-10 minutes from the segment), and Lashley could have been much more intense and interesting in his role in that segment, not wasting so much time to take out Coach, could have kicked his ass as Vince was right there in the ring still talking (in mid-promo about how Lashley can't do anything and is "humbled" etc), freaked Vince out in the process then (I could just see Vince either running away or cowering near the corner of the ring), thinking Lashley really was going to take him out next, showing Vince a bit vulnerable and Lashley really making a statement versus that long drawn out nonsense they did. Additionally, I'm just waiting for a babyface who gets in the "I cant touch so and so" role to nut up a bit and try to push the HEEL'S buttons, trying to goad them (in this case, Vince, Shane, or Umaga) hit HIM so he can then finally fight back. But rest of the show worked basically. The Carlito segment made sense (sheesh is Torrie either anorexic looking and/or on meth or what?!), as did most else on the show. Michaels/Khali was actually a fun little match and leaves Michaels off the ppv likely, but still strong enough for a rematch with Cena down the road. One other thing though - I didnt get the no-desicion in the last match, Orton should have been put over (at least via countout) but I guess they wanted to clearly make a point with Orton to just publicly state all of the companies issues with him right now via the commentary and Orton's promo earlier in the night, but yet not really put him over, nor bury him either. Seemed like the company is kind of keeping him "safe" or even on "standby" right now considering their limited options with things on top.

My guess is Edge immediately shows up on Smackdown tomorrow night, makes a presence and then one of three things happens....first being taking Batista's spot in the Taker match, obviously beats him then, and that would set up Edge v. Batista at Judgment Day. Otherwise, Batista beats Taker in the cage match, and then immediately after out comes Edge and beats Batista. Or else instead of him cashing the title shot in tomorrow night, he simply waits and meets Batista at Judgment Day for the title. Via any scenario, its gotta lead to Edge getting the title for awhile on Smackdown, as even if he waits to face the title holder at the ppv, Henry has got to return there to cost Batista either winning back the title or losing it to Edge there to set up Batista/Henry down the road, one would think. As far as Kennedy goes, I think this probably wouldnt have happened if Kennedy simply was the only guy hurt right now, but with Taker they had to go with an alternate plan and this seems damn good to me. Hell, I hate to say it but even IF Kennedy wasnt injured, this might have been the idea upon hearing about Taker having to sit out for awhile. This starts a long run with people getting legitimately behind it for Kennedy now, more than before if he was just doing his usual heel stuff for the next year. Kennedy can be turned face by all of this, and I DO think he will do quite alright in this role, and ultimately anyway you slice it, we have an even more ready-made Mania title victory for the man.

This was fucking hilarious. Thank you. Warrior was like a statue the whole time Sheik was cutting that promo. Poor promoter! Wish I could see the whole incident from start to finish.

Some brief news on the Mania DVDs that come out 5/22..... The Limited Edition Mania DVD edition (3 discs) appears to be packaged in a tin digi-pack (I may be wrong about that) and its claim via Shopzone is it is 9 hours total, and will include the HOF ceremonies, as well as bonus matches, vignettes, etc. The regular Mania release is 2 discs, total time of 4 hours, so that seems to indicate that it will be just the ppv itself, with perhaps a few extras like the All Grown Up vignettes, etc. Just a little FYI for ya'll......

I dont get how dropping a dookie in the shower means shit in the big scheme of things - pardon the pun. And then steps on it? What the fuck kind of weird writing is that? I guess supposed to show this kid has completely lost it? It's just a VERY unusual way to tell a story is all. But then again, that's what makes this show so unique and fun to watch. You never know what to expect. In any regard, the idea I got from the ending was that I dont think Tony had Hesh's girl offed, but that he just didn't express any real legitimate compassion towards Hesh in the aftermath, thus showing how "out there" he's getting. Hesh always was family to him, and he unconsciously "used him" to help faciliate his gambling debt, and now Tony is upset because he thinks Hesh just wants his money back and isn't in the "in" anymore, it's the brotherhood factor dropping out on Tony for various reasons (mostly self driven paranoia - maybe what we will realize is Tony has an undiagnosed mental illness or something, who knows) with all of these people the last month of shows. Anyway, Tony simply came in, gave some quick and far from meaningful song and dance with Hesh, continued to beat the dead horse with the money, and leave immediately thereafter. It's a subtle (well, maybe not so subtle) point that Tony is really falling off the deep end, and like most of the other episodes are showcasing, that things are going to come to a head here sooner than later. I'm just waiting for one of these next episodes to just go over the top with things, as they are drawing some strong tie-ins to past seasons and such (things coming back to haunt certain people, Tony certainly included) and I think it's just going to get stronger as time goes on here. Whats the next chapter in AJ's story?

I read somewhere that the last tapings were done out of order so JJ could fly back home since his wife's condition worsened. Yeah that was the tapings before these here - they did the Roode/Young/JJ angle that they aired last Thursday out of order so he could leave ASAP due to his wife's condition.

I say, assuming Taker needs to leave for awhile, these are the three possibilities... 1) Kennedy did that promo last night completely as a swerve (company likely knew this news about Taker last night) and will somehow get the belt from Taker tonight at the SD tapings, it could easily be done, as Taker and Batista could both play off the LMS match and be all messed up, unable to compete, etc. 2) Batista gets it back, but in doing so, by taking Taker out, he should turn full heel, more than any reason because if he gets the belt back and keeps going as a face, who the fuck is he going to face? The only real choice there would be the returning Mark Henry, but that could just as easy be a more upper card major feud and not for the title itself. 3) They pull a "trade" or something and a guy like Edge, for example, jumps to SD immediately and beats Taker, maybe even tonight, or perhaps next week.

Both Sting and Angle has dual anklelocks on Styles, actually.

I agree - Umaga is not anywhere near the point to just "let go" on - they need to sustain him as a credible heel upper card guy, since realistically, there isnt enough to go around. Anyway, solid show last night. Booking has been very together as of late, and tie in with the fact that more pure wrestling is being pushed on these shows, and you get an overall enjoyable two hours. Judging by last nights show, I would assume the Raw matches on Judgment Day would be Orton v. Edge rematch (or perhaps HBK v. Edge?), Carlito v. Flair, and Cena v. Umaga. That leaves Michaels in the cold but he could just as easy be the special ref for the WWE title match, or something. Rest of that ppv would likely consist of three other SD matches (Taker/Batista HIAC, London/Kendrick v. D/D, Benoit v. MVP) and an ECW match (either RVD v. Vince or Burke v. Punk)

He might be able to still work through it, at least through the ppv. Who knows though, I wont speculate what to do and how to do it until its determined he's gonna be sitting out for a bit.

I think it was - she was dead in the corner there, around those pipes. Oh the irony, if thats the case. I thought Heller died in a car crash or something? I marked when he showed up just for the simple fact I thought he died last season or something.

I'm guessing Christian/Abyss/Sting/Jarrett/Angle. I'm not sure how long they will play it out, but Abyss might not be back by then. Joe should be put in that spot, theoretically at least.

Nothing here really sounds all that impressive, booking-wise, although the first hour of the taping sounds like it might at least have some notable matches, with Jackie Moore apparently losing two teeth in the street fight match from a more detailed report I read on the tapings. On paper it looks like a step down from the past few weeks, but we'll see. What surprised me was no JJ at all, and they are supposedly building to a Styles-Joe match at Sacrifice and these results give nothing in that direction.

Based on the dynamic of having Abyss and JJ now as faces, I think they are going to balance things out a bit and likely turn Rhyno heel, even more likely he's turn on Joe probably. Neither of them have a match lined up for Sacrifice anyway, would make sense they would start a program there, even if its just a single match and left at that. I think they should just go ahead and turn Angle full heel while they are at it too, on a side note.

Douglas would be an awesome third man - where is he anyway? Rehab again? And I not at all surprised on the number not just for Angle/Sting itself, but the overall Impact rating. They can't expect thousands of viewers to suddenly want to check out the show when they probably dont even know Sting/Angle was on the show in the first place.

To be fair, Jarrett was getting massively cheered in that segment, and not just anyone would have gotten the segment over as much as that did (wow, I am actually give Jarrett credit here?), and speaking of it, chalk up yet another angle that really clicked IMO, much like last week's Abyss beatdown. Enjoyed the show again last night, much like last week's show. I wont get into detail now but to say I am shocked both of these shows ended up as fun to watch as they were really caught me off guard since the spoilers were pretty undesirable sounding on paper.

Oh believe me, I know he's fucked - I just don't see why WWE waited until now to do it, moreless. That is the part I really dont get. It's also interesting to note that a court ruled against Gagner way back when here in the state, and yet he kept going with it regardless. Whats the deal there? As I said before, something tells me there is more to this story than just at face value here, or else this AWA should have been defunct years ago. For example, what is the explanation that Gagner actually has physical claim to the original AWA world title? Why didnt WWE claim property ownership of such upon the purchase of the intellectual properties? Maybe the old AWA itself, in terms of its properties, was very loosely organized as a whole and whoever sold WWE the AWA stuff was playing both sides a bit. Or maybe Gagner had rights to such properties still until a specific time period, and now that time period has expired. Who knows. I dont think he feels he has a right to use that imaging and whatnot because he's related to the Gagne's, really, but he must feel he has some legitimate ownership in it all for reasons beyond that as, in theory, this was just waiting to happen with this lawsuit and a simple thing such as "well they are part of my family, I can do what I want" is clealy, a ridiculous claim to ownership. I just wish they would cut him a break since WWE's claim of trying to "revive" the brand is as much bullshit as Gagne doing what he's doing. But I do understand this is a case he's more than likely going to lose for obvious reasons.

Man, Gagne (or Gagner, what have you) is pretty fucked here. Bottom line is he IS using the AWA logo and all things relating to it to continue the "tradition" of the organization around here and, hell, around the world. The guy has a legitimate business around here that is tied into other organizations as well. While lots of the reasoning behind the lawsuit is frivalous (sp?) nitpicking to just try to eliminate any sort of dollar being made off intellectual property that WWE does own (so they have a VERY valid case) I dont think Gagner is doing any harm against WWE in particularly, and/or making it any harder for any potential for WWE to make the most out of what they have related to AWA. I actually have met Dale and done business with him helping promote AWA shows around here via my magazine I run at various times in the past, and it would be a shame on a personal level for that to come to a close for my own financial reasons of course, but more particularly because those three letters are the only thing that really mean anything around here in the midwest in terms of people coming out and checking out pro wrestling other than WWE, ROH, etc, and remembering what things once were around here. But again, I dont consider this AWA any sort of competition to WWE at all, moreless just a nice nostalgic way to pretend the AWA is still active in some shape, preserving the tradition that company brought to this area way back when. The three letters are essentially a manufactured draw of sorts, a way for people to at least check out the indy scene around here instead of acting like it's "just another show" (which is normally is, but the illusion is at least nice). A local outfit here in Mankato (www.prowrestlingrush.com) just recently got taken under the AWA wing of small independant promotions around the midwest literally just last month, and from that, Gagne helps promote and essentially "sponsor" them as an AWA affiliate. They are just starting to get some decent crowds around here (they do a show once a month around here) and I just this week got talking to them about what I could do to really help them promote the shows around here via the magazine. I was getting pumped to be a part of the company in even a small form and then this occurs. It really is a shame as its a win-win situation for the local promotion, Gagne's AWA, and the wrestling scene around here, which was all but non-existant until just recently when Pro Wrestling Rush came around, and they now got it taken to the next level with becoming an AWA affiliate. God damn. Fuck you Vince. I hope the best for him, but the reality is that he's going to probably have to close up shop. I wonder what led to this all of a sudden? He's been doing this stuff for years, and even as recently as last year, he was even invited to alot of the Wrestlemania related events BY WWE since they were tight with Verne and Greg about a year ago and, yes, he actually is related to them in some way, shape, or form. I will certainly try to find out more about this whole deal here soon and report anything I find out. I'm definately giving Dale a jingle tomorrow to wish him the best with this and provide any support I can offer (which isnt saying much but HEY!). I dont want to see Dale's pretty smart way to help these indy leagues get a nice jumpstart end up being washed away.

Oh yeah, forgot about her.

Anyone can definately get over under the right circumstances, there isnt question there, and I most certainly agree Orton can't really run with any ball at this point. But the point prior was people say he's never gotten over or done shit, which I wholeheartedly disagree with, as he was over and working hard in 04.

Sorry but who is Cleo? Please refresh my memory. And they most certainly have already determined Mikail is an Other - that is common knowledge to the crew. Good point about the Others setting up Kate and Sawyer to get it on for their own benefit of getting new life.

To say he's actually been over enough to main event is blinded mark ignorance. He definately has - watch the SummerSlam match w/ Benoit as an example. The guy was getting over that whole spring into the summer, part in thanks to Foley's rub. I'll restate I'm far from an Orton fan, but there wasn't question that the guy was making waves around that time as an over heel. And then came the out of the blue face turn the next night (which clearly was premature at best, anyone should be able to see that), and subsequent HHH feud, which certainly put him down a peg or two in the fans' eyes. Again, some of you guys' opinions here are very closeminded. I'm not saying the guy is great or anything, but it can't be denied that he COULD get over under the right circumstances and HAS before. Also, regarding that rumor of someone leaving, I havent seen any indication of that from Meltz anywhere, and he himself even debunked a rumor going around apparently that he reported Orton is leaving, which I'm not sure is the same post in question here.

You would think they would show the Mania X ladder match as a given - very odd. Same with the ladder match from Mania 2000 - those were two very memorable and "landmark" WWE ladder matches in its' history. I don't get it. Especially when they have the rather lackluster Ramon-HBK rematch from SS 95 on there. Not sure who all read Michaels' book, but apparently the rule in that match was that they were not to use the ladder as a weapon at all. Haven't seen it in years so can't comment if that was really the case or not.

I think it might - lets use Konnan as an example. I think he's smart enough to "play the game" and understand respect and professionalism with his experiences in the business. Sure, he can voice his displeasures (and I'm sure he does) but yet there hasn't ever been a TNA reprimand for him.

Anyone got any news on the Mania 23 DVD? I thought I saw a crawler on Raw that they were going to be releasing a "limited edition" version, and the box art looked really weird, like it was a gift set with a ring surrounding the DVD box or something. Did anyone else see that on Monday?