justcoz

MTV has a hip hop channel, teenybopper/hits channel and a Latin channel on my digital package. Besides Subteranean and Headbangers Ball on MTV2 they really have nothing geared towards indie, rock or metal. MTV2 at one point was marketed as the 'music channel' but they are now constant replays of other MTV programming. MTV is more responsible for killing the music business than file sharing or anything. When MTV stopped being geared towards music so did the opportunity for bands to use the vehicle to break into the mainstream and sell records. I'm in my early 30's and when I was young they had shows like Remote Control, John Stewart, Julie Brown on in the evening hours and prime time productions like Sex in the 90's or the Real World in primetime. The rest of the programming slots were dedicated to music videos or shows related to music. You're more likely to hear Cat Power, TV on the Radio or whoever in a car commercial than see their video on MTV. Does anyone really get their video on MTV anymore besides a hip hop artist or Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, etc.? Also, VH-1 has VH1 Classics - which is probably the best music video station out there and I believe they also have a channel devoted to black music. Let us know your thoughts on the show when you get to see a viewing. My friend just IM'd saying he liked it better than TNA and I think we may be hearing that some more if this thing finds an audience. I'm still confused as to why Viacom, knowing TNA were on Spike, wanted another wrestling company on another one of their channels?

Here's an idea! Instead of replaying Wrestling Society X and other MTV shows a billion times throughout the week - why don't they play those music video thingees! I mean, it's music television, right? And then when they do air their "MTV Original Series" in their prime time schedule maybe they will actually pop a rating because people will think that they "HAVE TO WATCH". Oh well. I'm just an old man bitter at MTV. I liked tonight's show. It's a trainwreck in so many ways but it's designed for people with short attention spans so the action has to be fast paced with a ton of gimmicks and pyro to keep the Jackass/Bam audience interested. Maybe they won't like wrestling but they will like seeing entertaining characters - those online trading card videos were genius - flip around real fast, dive off balconies, get electrocuted and fed to sharks. If WWE or TNA tried this stuff it would just come off as lame but with WSX it fits, I don't know how to explain it. There will be little for purists to latch on to here. No psychology or four star classics but it's a tv show that could find an audience with workers with characters that stand out. They should also air two half hour shows back to back on Tuesdays only - just to dip into ECW's number. Wrestling fans will feel like they are getting an hour of wrestling and MTV gets their important thirty minute mindless fart. Also, I think Vince and WWE will step in and try to stop their announcers from referring to stuff like DX and WWE/WCW/ECW title runs.

*snicker* When Austin was working as The Ringmaster you saw something in him that made you believe he would be a breakout star if given the opportunity. CM Punk does have that same 'it' factor. He has a silent kind of intensity, believable wrestling style and his mic work and facial expressions make his character all the more believable. He's playing a character much like his true self and those are always the stand out performers. I don't know if he'd be capable of bringing in the money that Austin did but the way he was booked by Paul Heyman was building to that and they shit on all of those months of building him to be a very credible new star. It's one thing for the fans in Hammerstein Ballroom to be chanting his name - they were smart fans and there were plenty of ROH fans in that crowd. Those chants carried on from city to city however with plenty of casuals, unfamiliar with his indie work, apparently seeing something in him to pop for.

Who knows? If we can now get Jim Cornette and Vince Russo working together - who is to say we couldn''t have Cornette, Russo and Paul Heyman working creative for TNA? It sounds like too many egos but if TNA would get a two hour slot each of the three could make their own contribution. Cornette can bring a more old school storytelling/psychology to things. Russo could work on character development and the 'shoot' type comedy stuff he does. Heyman establishes personalities, characters, books people long-term strong like he did in ECW and gets new talent over. Heyman would also be a very good on camera face for TNA. Cornette and Heyman are perhaps two of the best minds to come from the past twenty years. Along with Russo they all worked closely with Vince at different points in WWE's past ten years of creative. No matter how bad the WWE product gets there will need to be a good army built to oppose Vince and we are seeing the beginning of that develop. Guys like 3D, Rhyno, Christian and Kurt Angle going from WWE to TNA. Long time creative 'consultants' and pieces of WWE development like Cornette and Heyman being shitcanned for political reasons and made available to TNA's creative process (possibly in Heyman's case). Next we need a good announcer jump ala Okerlund/Heenan switching teams in the 90's - maybe JR or the King will rejoin old friends in TNA? Then there is the possibility of former world champions like Jericho, RVD, Mysterio or Benoit jumping for the lighter schedule. Throw a two hour TNA on Tuesdays at 9pm against ECW and Wrestling Society X and the heat is on!

And thanks for posting all of that from Observer! This company is in the shit right now. It's difficult to figure out who to blame the most. Vince? Steph? Kevin Dunn? John Larinitus? They are all imbeciles and totally clueless it seems. At least when JR was in charge of talent, regardless of how bad creative was, you knew that they were looking for guys with amateur backgrounds and guys that grew up on HBK, Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, etc. Now they are looking for Sylvan and Chris Masters when it's clear as day, when people like CM Punk get over before guys like that, WWE are the only ones sharing this vision of what a 'male wrestler' is supposed to look like. Samoa Joe didn't look like a WWE superstar either, right? And this is where TNA needs to step up. Be the opposite of WWE's vision of what sports entertainment is rather than trying to mirror it like they've been doing. They talked about this a bit today on pwinsiderelite.com - in Spring of '07, it's very possible we could be witnessing a mass exodus that includes people like Lita, RVD, Sabu, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho and Big Show - all looking to make money on lighter schedules. Factor in Paul Heyman in either a creative or just a on camera role and you'll have all the ingredients for another NWO type angle where they can capitalize on everything weak in WWE at the moment. Get Spike to put them on Tuesdays for two hours. You'll have ECW and Wrestling Society X - could be a nice little Tuesday night war. And Spike TV should get heavilly behind TNA. They should be throwing money at them to get names - promise them roles in Spike TV original productions, etc.

The comment about Heyman agreeing to leave before the PPV was a typo. Heyman supposedly walked out prior to RAW thinking he was free and clear and gone from the company but it's not clear if they fired him or will choose to keep him on payroll to do nothing or reassign him to another role.

Don't EVER say that AGAIN! I'm still sitting over here holding out hope that something is going to break sooner or later. And mark my words... this ECW thing will be what bites Vince in the ass. The wars will be fought on Tuesday instead of Monday, that's all. Where will the MTV project factor in? Could TNA move to Tuesdays in prime time? Would Paul Heyman work for either of those companies just to put his vision vs. Vince's current vision of ECW? That ECW rating in the mid to high 1's isn't that difficult to beat. I do remember how much fun it was in the 90's for wrestling fans on the net. I came on in '95, there was Prodigy, AOL had a good wrestling forum and SCOOPS! Good times.

Yes, it's totally possible to go from casual fan to an internet fan in time. There is still a base of fans however who just watch WWE for fun or because they like certain characters and don't get caught up in the insider stuff like we all do. Those fans are more likely to just visit wwe.com - let's put it this way, whenever you see WWE as being in the top ten searches on Yahoo or Google, it's those people. Now whether or not they become smart to certain aspects of the business and end up checking sites like this, pwinsider.com, etc. is another story. I'm in agreement however that more wrestling fans are smarter to the inner workings of the business than Vince & Co. think. I don't think there is much of a 'casual fan' base that Vince thinks there is as in strict marks who don't dare question anything that is fed to them. Sooner or later any fan is going to think to themselves, "Man, we're sick of so much HHH, nothing in the ECW is EXTREME, why are the McMahons on tv all the time, here's the bad guy GM that is going to make a ridiculous stipulation, we're sick of the kiss my ass club or whatever". The company thinks that just because fans aren't "smart" that they don't pick up on the same stuff the internet does. The people on internet boards are just the 'most vocal and loudest' about the product. In many ways, things start on the net and spread to the casual fan. Take the Hardy/Lita/Edge thing last year. All it takes is a couple 'smart' internet people in the crowd, coming up with a chant, telling the person sitting behind them why they are chanting what they're chanting and soon more people in the arena are chanting the same thing and it spreads. You're going to hearing more and more TNA chants in weeks to come and it's not because more people are watching TNA but because people are sheep and chanting things at WWE shows is the only way they are entertained these days. I have co-workers who go through phases where they watch and then don't watch. They'll talk about wrestling with me everyday but it will be about older stuff - which is why WWE 24/7 should be way more successful than it is but they don't market it to those people for whatever reason. They will ask me what's going on - or comment on something they saw while switching channels like ECW having no hardcore matches and looking like the rest of WWE programming, Cena getting booed, Hogan making an appearance, Angle in TNA, etc. They are up on things but not watching religiously or hanging out on the internet talking about it. A lot of them were schooled on insider stuff from newspaper columns that used to run or just knowing people on the net.

A casual fan on the internet is going to go to WWE.com and that's about it. It's one thing to go online and see the latest WWE news on their own website. It's another to go beyond that, and check other news sites, message boards, etc. That type of fan is what is generally meant when people talk about fans on the internet. The ones who go to message boards like this. A casual fan isn't going to bother with that. That's why they're called casual. Yeah, I get that. My point is that if any of this does end up a work or turned into an angle it's not just the "internet fans" that they are playing to, as in smarks, they are also getting the casual fan involved by posting things in the manner that they do on wwe.com where Mr. McMahon dismissed Paul Heyman due to declining ratings and a disgruntled locker room. So when people say, "they are playing to the internet and that's just a small percentage of their audience, what's the point, that really shouldn't apply to things posted to wwe.com where casual fans visit. If Paul Heyman pops up on ECW tv at some point even those casual fans who just visit wwe.com and not this board, pwinsider, torch, observer, etc. will understand that this guy shouldn't be there - Mr. Mcmahon fired him - wow, what's he going to say? And smarks, despite the fact that we know Vince is really running the show and that Heyman is an employee not some renegade outlaw like they'll treat him on commentary, will still watch with interest to see where they go with the whole thing. Like someone mentioned it's not like this is some insider/internet angle that goes over the head of any casual fan - they are being played to as well by the wording on wwe.com Again - I don't see any of this being the case, I don't think they are trying to work us but I also don't rule out the possibility that Heyman was just told to go him, not technically fired, and this is just the latest 'we can do this without you, Paul" lesson from Vince.

Rabbi Rob Feinstein???? No, that wasn't a fake Wikipedia entry. Also, I don't buy into the idea that the internet is such a "small percentage of the audience" thing. Maybe in terms as to how many people actually hang out on boards like this or speak the gospel of Dave Scherer or Dave Meltzer but most homes have internet. Even the sweatiest, stinkiest, overweight, pimply faced kid in a monster truck t-shirt is going to look at wwe.com if they watch wrestling. That is likely the reason they are blurring the line between work and shoot on that particular website. They are already pulling them in for the possibility that this could all just be an angle and played into the storylines if they decide to throw Heyman a bone and bring him back. They also likely want to see if this does get any type of reaction or catches on in arenas like 'You Screwed Matt'... and it likely won't... I think the original ECW diehards who would chant about this in arenas are long gone. Perhaps if they were still running ECW only house shows by my.... what timing to stop those, huh? Also love the timing that Heyman is taught a lesson again shortly after Stephanie McMahon rejoins the creative team. The best thing for all of us would be if this is real and TNA gets their hands on Paul Heyman. That would be better for the business as a whole rather than this all turning into a WWECW angle in a few months. Give Heyman the book. Move them to Tuesday nights and let Heyman's TNA go head to head with Vince's ECW. It would be classic!

I doubt very much that it's a work but I'm not ruling it out - if I'm saying that just to sound smart then so be it but this is a strange freakin' business. Plus, even if it's not a work at the moment, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't be turned into an angle down the road, ala Hardy/Edge or other shoots that have been turned into angles like Flair/Bischoff and so on. Heyman and Vince could easily make amends and work together again. Vince has given him several chances with Smackdown previously and then again with the ECW re-launch after dismissing him from creative. I really believe that Vince dumps Paul more or less because of Stephanie, Brian Gerwitz and Kevin Dunn not wanting to work with him. Now, I'm not saying that this is something that WWE would do or that it's even a good, logical idea. I'm just throwing it out there. There could have been such a level of dismay on the part of WWE about Sunday's disaster of a PPV that Heyman convinced Steph and Vince that the only way ECW would rebound from the PPV - in the eyes of both whatever original ECW diehards remain and disgruntled new fans unhappy about the PPV, is if they generate an internet buzz that Heyman was fired and sent home. This would at least stop discussion about the bad show. Heyman's contract was expiring. Maybe he wanted to step away a bit? This would play into Heyman's promo at the PPV where he said the old ECW was dead, this is the Global ECW led by Paul Heyman and long after Paul Heyman was dead the ECW letters would remain. To diehard original ECW fans and smarks - it looks like Paul Heyman was pissed off over WWE's direction with ECW, blew up prior to the taping and was fired as result. To new ECW fans - the comment about him 'leading the global ECW' plays into wwe.com reporting that he was dismissed due to a disgruntled locker room and declining ratings. They could produce a Heyman-less ECW for a few weeks or months before bringing him back into the fold - whether it's on creative or just an on-air character - to fight for ECW's to be counter culture to WWE, with ECW originals siding with him. Yes, it would contradict the storyline we've seen with him fighting against ECW originals but that storyline was also not played up all that much and it's not unlike WWE to want fans to forget something. Again - this all sounds like horseshit and I doubt there is any chance in hell of it being the actual situation. But I think wwe.com is blurring the line between work/shoot intentionally for a reason.

My uncle, who isn't on the internet at all, said the same thing about it almost being like Vince McMahon is giving people he doesn't want to deal with to TNA and saying, "do something". I happen to think Vince Russo and Paul Heyman could work kind of well together. Russo ripped off Heyman and ECW whether he wants to openly admit it or not. He was watching ECW while working for WWF Magazine and shaking his head as to how bad the WWF product was in comparison and probably knew that certain aspects of ECW could help WWF reestablish themselves in the competition with Nitro. So between the two of them... you have Russo who worked as Vince's right hand man throughout the WWF revival and Paul Heyman who has been working within the WWE structure for the past five years, knows their current creative process and their development system. If this is all a shoot - we know Heyman must have some very strong negativity towards WWE creative, Stephanie, Vince, Kevin Dunn and the whole system. It would be quite the middle finger for him to go to TNA, help mold them into a legitimate alternative to the WWE product, beat ECW in the ratings, hell I'd even talk Spike into moving TNA to Tuesday nights with a two hour show starting at 9pm. This way they are going head to head but not against Raw. Wouldn't it be great if Heyman was going head to head with ECW? wwe.com is doing a good job at masking the line between work and shoot with those website articles however

This is really the best thing that could have happened in the business. I would have lost complete respect for Paul Heyman if he was still working for the company after last night. I think last night's PPV is going to be a real pivotal moment in the next saga of pro wrestling. The reference point kind of like the Montreal Screwjob was in the 90's. Vince and creative totally thought that their rewriting of last night's PPV was going to get over huge and when it didn't, when the fans in the arena turned on it, they blamed Paul Heyman for not being able to get the old ECW fans to accept the new vision of ECW. They blamed him for creating the vocal monsters who dare make the product look bad. Just like it wasn't their booking at the ECW taping at Hammerstein Ballroom. It was those disrespectful fans who didn't even give Batista and Big Show a chance! I think I read in the Observer that was another negative mark against Paul Heyman by management. It was his fault, not the bad WWE creative touches. Heyman had little involvement in the booking of last night's PPV. I would venture to say that 90% of his show was rewritten and probably to spite him. I'm sure Paul Heyman didn't book CM Punk to job out first in the chamber. That was Stephanie's creative gem - likely to spit on Heyman for protecting the king of indies and getting him over when she saw nothing in him. Sabu was probably written out by WWE creative, Heyman probably had him looking semi-decent in the Chamber and since he's on management's shit list they didn't feel he was worthy. Tommy Dreamer probably went over in an extreme rules match. These are all just guesses but they seem logical. Also, if Heyman did book Lashley to get the belt, I'm sure he had him looking stronger in that match and WWE didn't feel it was 'strong enough' and came up with the Bob Holly idea to make it 'more impressive'. I'm also wondering if Heyman's comment last night about 'the old ECW built on the backs of RVD, Sabu and Sandman being dead and this being the GLOBAL ECW, was fed to him by creative or said as his own way of making sure any diehards left knew that. I'd love to hear something like RVD, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, FBI and maybe someone like Punk or Lashley who benefitted in development from Heyman's guidance - refusing to work the taping tonight with some even asking for their release. I doubt it will happen but if this led some sort of mass talent exit, it would be beautiful. TNA would be foolish not to hire Heyman but I'm still not sold as to this not being a work or amends being made and it being turned into an angle. I'm sure Kurt Angle, Rhyno and The Dudleys are all trying to phone Heyman tonight. Maybe even Russo who knows this 'the insiders' will eat this shit up and may not have any problem cowriting with Heyman?

Again. You'd have a case for the Sabu thing if WWE did not put the disclaimer (*Card subject to change). Yeah, again, I'm not expecting to win the argument. The message was more or less to let them know that they wronged their audience. Do you really think that I believe I'm getting a refund? An advertised PPV main event should be treated differently - especially when promotion for the PPV is built around that one advertised match! Also, I've been to house shows, this is going back a number of years, when the Ultimate Warrior walked out of WWF. They announced it prior to the start of the show and notified people that Psycho Sid would be replacing him and refunds were available at the box office prior to the second match of the card. Just saying.

And you're right - I was stupid for ordering it. I was also gullible in thinking that it may have ended up a good show despite my frustration that they had five months of television to build this thing and literally didn't do anything! Old ECW PPV's only had a few matches announced. The ONS WWE-ECW PPV's didn't have many matches announced. I usually enjoyed those. I was thinking that the unannounced undercard may have led to some unique impromptu matches. I figured we'd see a few Extreme Rules matches to satisfy the old ECW fan base. I thought that maybe we'd see some debuts. Maybe a repackaged Ken Doane or Johnny Jeter? Get a surprise appearance from someone like Mick Foley or Terry Funk? Maybe some sick "OH MY GOD!" bumps from Sabu in the elimination chamber? I thought the crowd would be loud and fun like a typical ECW crowd. I thought that given CM Punk's recent 'overness' that his star would continue to build, even if he didn't win the chamber match, I figured he'd eliminate Big Show or do something that could go into his legend in the making book. I thought Vince would let Heyman book and pace this like a ONS PPV or something. I didn't think they'd give us as little as they did complete with a muted crowd.

This was the email that I sent billing at wwe.com earlier today - I had ordered the webcast last night. I really expect nothing of this but I'm more or less curious as to whether or not I receive a response. __________________________________ I had sent an inquiry last night regarding my difficulty with the online stream at the beginning of last night's PPV. I completely missed the entire MNM/Hardys match and a portion of the second match. I would like to inquire about a refund or credit. Sabu being advertised for the Elimination Chamber was a big reason that I ordered the show and he was removed from the event for storyline reasons with no announcement prior to the show. If it was known several days prior to the show that he would not appear as advertised it should have been announced. A PPV main event should feature the advertised participants. Also the quality of the show was very poor and ended at 10:18 with about 25 or 30 minutes of PPV time left. I have never been shorted from PPV time like that ever! Lastly, I ordered an ECW PPV and did not receive the same ECW product that I had known from previous PPV's like One Night Stand and the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD. I received two hours of pretty much a C level WWE show with squash matches that I could see on television for free. Less than two hours if you include the technical difficulty and missing what was said to be the best match of the show. This was the second PPV I ordered in two weeks and will likely be the last if I receive no feedback or explanation. Your company should show more respect to their paying customers.

Yeah, I'm figuring RVD is history too but why not put over Punk first? I don't know. The more that I watch the DVD's and things like WWE 24/7 - the less I understand as to how Vince doesn't see that wrestling was huge and made money in territories because there were different products that appealed to different audiences - so much that we pay him now to watch old NWA, WCW, ECW, World Class, AWA, etc. It doesn't all have to fall under the McMahon vision of sports entertainment. If it's all under his umbrella and he can profit from it - what difference does it make if it's his vision or Paul Heyman's?

Punk/Knox was blown off a couple weeks ago. If anything, Punk should have been eliminated second (I'd have him pin RVD instead, which would build to something down the line). I would have just had Test take a really cheap pin on Punk to build off last week. And everything you mention makes more sense from a storyline/build to the future perspective than anything they did. I also would have had Lashley kill Sabu with a monster bump but I guess the bottom line was for management to make sure Sabu didn't get a PPV main event pay. The Kelly Kelly/Knox idea was just something off the top of my head. Someone needs to tell WWE that they blew that feud off a few weeks ago but Kelly Kelly still made a CM Punk reference prior their match on the PPV which caused those in attendance to chant for Punk to make the save rather than Sandman inexplicably coming down for no storyline reason. We try to make more sense out of this stuff than they do unfortunately.

It may make you laugh but I can't help but feel that this show was designed to be a slap in the face to anyone who wanted to see a product at least somewhat true to the original ECW. They are doing what they are doing just to prove the point that they can! The One Night Stand PPV's and Rise and Fall of ECW DVD were hugely successful. They know that those intials would bring at least a portion of people who purchased those products and haven't been completely turned off by what ECW on Sci-Fi has become. To the point where they probably could care less that there was only two matches announced for the card because they knew they'd pull some diehards in with the initials. And they did everything to give those diehards the middle finger last night. Nobody expected the ECW originals to carry a company. CM Punk is the most over guy on the roster and isn't an ECW original. He's over because he's different than those that WWE push and would have fit in with the original ECW. People didn't expect a PPV headlined by Tommy Dreamer, Sandman or CW Anderson. Are there complaints about Tommy Dreamer jobbing? Yeah because he gets huge pops and could still be meaningful to the roster and storylines if they'd let him. A 'feud with Tommy Dreamer' would do more to put someone new over than Dreamer jobbing to them in a three or four minute match. As for the other ECW originals. Obviously they thought that putting Sandman's mug on PPV posters and have him caning Santa in commercials would generated some interest whether he had an actual match or not. They thought enough of Sabu's marketability to ADVERTISE him as a participant in the Elimination Chamber only to screw over whoever purchased the PPV expecting him to be part of the match. We all knew Sabu had heat with the office. That's fine. Job him first instead of the most over guy in the company at the moment. Don't pull an advertised participant from the match and replace them with Spark Plug Holly!!!!! You mean to tell me Mick Foley or Terry Funk couldn't have gone in there and did what Holly did?! Holly didn't even factor in much to the entire Heyman's Army vs. Lashley thing. It was pointless. And if RVD isn't seen as a credible main eventer then how come the biggest crowd response in the Chamber, besides the Bullshit and TNA chants, was when RVD and Punk were in there together? That match is the current ECW's version of Joe vs. Angle but they are too shortsighted to see that and will instead give us Lashley vs. Test as the next main event feud. I'd like to know how Vince became a billionaire too because that's exactly what they are doing! The PPV's and DVD's made money and they could have gone along with their original idea of using the initials to get their corner of the niche market that ROH or TNA try to appeal to. They could have produced a show with a grittier production, shot from intimate arenas, with a lot of crowd reaction, more Paul Heyman prints on booking than WWE creative and utilizing some ECW originals and under utilized guys on the Smackdown or Raw roster. They could have still toned down the violence aspect somewhat by just making ECW the 'wrestling brand' with no glitz, no pyro and WWE over production. In other words, they could have created their own alternative to their brands and capitalized on TNA being clueless and ROH having no tv or PPV - even raiding ROH of talent like Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Davey Richards, etc. But dammit that's not GLOBAL! and Vince, Steph, Kevin Dunn, etc. know more about what fans want than the fans who purchased those ECW PPV's and DVD. The ratings went from a 2.8 to 1.5 because most fans don't realize it's a WWE product - not because they were expecting something different when they tuned into ECW on Sci-Fi, we need to make it look more like a WWE product, right Kevin and Vince????!!!!!!!! Idiots. Let me ask you this. Do you think they will be able to successfully market another ECW PPV after this mess? They killed the brand. Billionaire or not - STUPID! Why establish Lashley as the man when fans in the building had no reason to care about him, he's not over, can't cut a promo and others on the roster are more over? Oh, that's right. He's big and has muscles!!!!! And okay I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and accept their decision to put the strap on Lashley - assuming they eventually use Heyman as his mouthpiece ala Lesnar - there was a better way to do it last night then the way they did. Just as there was a better way to eliminate Punk and RVD and give paying customers... I don't know... 25 or 30 minutes of more PPV? Punk is distracted because Knox is abusing Kelly Kelly on the ramp. Something to build on an existing storyline. If they wanted to establish Lashley - have him go through everyone - from Punk, RVD on down - whether the crowd is cherring him or not. So he eliminated Test and Big Show in a very lacklaster non impressive way. Big deal.

I didn't have a problem with them bringing ECW back. I just wish it would've stayed small and catered towards the niche TNA/ROH audience like they originally intended. At one point Shane McMahon was going to be behind the project, Heyman and Dreamer would handle the creative end and they were going to run an internet-only show and small venues. Then Vince saw dollar signs, they got a prime time television deal and with that came Kevin Dunn's involvement and then WWE creative. It was obvious from the beginning when they decided against their own ECW television tapings (Dunn didn't feel they were necessary) that this was the road we were going down. Without an ECW like atmosphere the initials mean nothing. I mean, they hated that Hammerstein Ballroom show when it was the one show on the whole Sci-Fi run that had a special feeling! They are just absolutely clueless. Toning down the style was understandable to protect the workers but they didn't have to announce it, do the Extreme Rules crap (we don't even get those matches anymore) and plague the shows with DQ and screwjob finishes. They simply could have had guys WRESTLE with the occassional use of a chair or table for offense. Which brings me to my final point. The workers they chose to bring in to the company. Heyman was supposedly behind Test and Lashley but when Lance Storm mentioned ECW being Velocity it got me thinking. At least Velocity showcased guys like London, Kendrick, Jimmy Yang, Jamie Noble, etc. If they reshuffled the talent among the brands and put people like Benoit in there with London, Kendrick, Yang, Noble, Punk and maybe a few ROH signings like Nigel McGuinness or Bryan Danielson, perhaps they'd have something to build on as opposed to hitting the wall using guys that are seen as second rate jobbers for the most part like Test, Holly, Stryker, Shannon Moore, Rene Dupree, Mike Knox, etc.

They almost have to align Lashley with Paul Heyman so Paul can be his mouthpiece. I think Paul being with Brock Lesnar really helped Brock's development. I'm not big on Lashley either - I think Benoit or Shelton could have used the jump more. Lashley does have that very legitimate amateur background that should be put over and Paul could really be instrumental with that. Heyman was supposedly behind Lashley making the jump and it's been said they really liked working together in OVW. So I'll give the move the benefit of the doubt since Heyman actually requested Lashley be brought over. I wish Lashley could lose some size - I think his size while looking intimidating does make him seem like another Goldberg or Monty Brown despite his amateur credentials. We know the title is coming off of Big Show at the PPV and it would appear Lashley is the logical choice. While CM Punk has all of the momentum with the fan base it's too early to give him the title and there is potential money in his chase. It would be nice if the big payoff match was him vs. RVD or Sabu but there is the whole David vs. Goliath thing with Punk vs. Lashley and who knows - maybe Punk could make something of the match and they could mimic the Punk/Joe matches to the best of their ability?

You're clearly wrong. JBL has been the only reson to watch smackdown besides Jimmy and Vito. I think I jumped into the JBL criticism just to defend my suggestion of putting Booker T in his role because I actually think Booker is the next Jesse more so than JBL. I usually enjoy JBL on the mic and enjoy him on Smackdown so I shouldn't have said that he sucks. Maybe I feel that he is too much of a personality for that role. He distracts me more than anything. He almost takes over the show for the most part. For whatever reason I wouldn't necessarily have that concern with Austin. I think he and Ross would be so glad to have a commentating team and spend Monday nights together that there would be an effort between the two to make it work. Maybe Austin would be terrible but there are worst experiments. It's not like his presence would turn viewers away even if he does suck. If he sucks put someone else in there after a few months. Do the obligatory Austin leaves the announce chair and stuns someone so he's suspended angle.

You want to have a 2 hour blowjob along with a guy who has no ability to call a match, release the best heel commentator since the good days of Lawler and probably the closest you will ever get to Ventura again and slap one of their very few capable main eventers on that show behind the desk when he still has another year or two left in him. You must work for TNA. No I want the hottest star during Raw's heyday to be on the show each week so people would be like, "oh, Stone Cold is an announcer now", and maybe keep the channel on to listen. To have a presence on the show and the current product that isn't limited to creative having him come out and stun someone a couple times a year. Have Stone Cold put into situations where he has to play off of guest commentators from Cryme Time, Johnny Nitro, Carlito, etc. Do you remember him guest commentating back in the day? It's worth an experiment. He'd be funny and he obviously knows the industry and he wouldn't be "calling the match". That is JR's job. He's the color commentator. The problem with the broadcast team on Raw right now, contrary to what Steph, Vince and Kevin Dunn think, isn't Jim Ross' age or physical appearance. It's the fact that the team of him and Lawler are tired. So you mix things up a bit - no different than when you went from Gorilla/Jesse to Gorilla/Heenan or from Vince/Jesse to Vince/Piper. And I don't know about you but listening to JR and Lawler these days is very much like a two hour blowjob. They've been working together minus the Lawler walkout/Heyman era for how long? JBL sucks. Jesse Ventura didn't have out of date references and spend two hours putting himself over. Where are you getting the he's the next Ventura thing from? And Booker, regardless of his role in the company right now, was talking about retiring and wanting to get into broadcasting two years ago. He's not a young guy.

Put JR with Stone Cold on Raw. Let Lawler go to TNA or give him a weekly King's Court type segment. Release JBL. Put Booker T with Michael Cole.

Perhaps someone should show him a picture from earlier in the year with his glassy eyes to remind him that he was on something. Not to mention whatever he's taking, be it steroids or growth hormone, that has totally changed his voice within the past three years. I will always respect Kurt's ability but I've lost a lot of respect for him with his recent comments. Do I believe that Vince perhaps pushes people to work when hurt? Probably at times. I'm not going to nominate Vince McMahon for sainthood. But it's widely known that Kurt was afraid of losing his spot and didn't want to take time off when needed. He wrestled hurt and I find it difficult to believe that 80% of the time it wasn't his own choosing. They put him in the Smackdown GM role specifically to give him time to heal and he had numerous breaks during his WWE stay. I don't buy into the idea that Kurt asked for his release rather than WWE firing him to pretty much force him into rest or at least not be liable if he worked for another company and died. I mean, he just came off of a 30 day suspension? Why didn't he address that. And if it wasn't a suspension and at the request of Kurt then they did indeed give him time to rest up. I just don't think badmouthing the company that pretty much tried to save your life is a smart business move. Sure, he's right in the fact that HHH and HBK got pushed into top spots, etc. - they never gave him the opportunity to be the star - you'd expect to hear that of criticism. That's understandable but a lot of this is just Kurt in denial. Eddie didn't die from exhaustion Kurt. Eddie died because he packed on a physique of muscle way out of proportion with his height and he had a problem with painkillers. Sound familiar?