justcoz

Maybe the company will realize that SD's ratings go up the more Paul Heyman is involved in creative and wow.... that ECW DVD is selling quite nicely this week.... hmmmm?

Vince and his "yes men" 's obsession with hosses will forever piss me off. I understand that you want some talent to look like stars. To be larger than life personalities. That has always been a part of pro wrestling's appeal. But the company need to realize that athleticism doesn't always come with genetics and athleticism is a huge part of wrestling. Like someone already stated. There problems right now don't stem from the looks of their talent or the sports aspect of their programming. It's related to the lack of entertainment and character development which comes from a poor creative team more than anything. Ratings went up when Eddie Guerrerro and Chris Benoit won their brands championships. They went down when their reigns were poorly booked. You have industry legends like Shawn Michaels, Benoit, Guerrerro, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Rey Misterio, Mick Foley etc. who never fit into the stereotypical look of a pro wrestler but found success due to their unique styles, characters or charisma. There was still a place for the Rock, Austin, Taker, Nash, Hogan, HHH, Big Show, Sid, etc. but in many cases the little guys made them look like bigger stars. Those little guys often carry the big guys to great matches. It would be hard to argue that the Undertaker gained more by wrestling HBK, Foley or Bret Hart as opposed to Giant Gonzales, Kamala and King Kong Bundy. You need a mix of looks and styles. Too much of the same of anything hurts the product. That's evident today in WWE where everyone is forced to wrestle the "WWE Style" and required to have one specific look to grant a push. Why more time is spent on pushing Heidenreich, Mordecai, Lance Cade and Mark Jindrak rather than a Paul London, Spanky or Jamie Noble. The smaller guys would more than likely get over before the others and Vince refuses to buy that despite the fact that HBK got over more than say the Warlord. You have a generation of wrestlers who were brought up on Benoit and HBK that are going to get the shaft by McMahon for green bodybuilders. How striking is the Big Show's presence when the rest of the roster are his height, shape, etc.? Big Show is less impressive when you bring in a guy who can't work and just to put him in Big Show's face because he's the same size.

okay... i didn't really mean millions, it was an exaggeration (said in George W's way to make it sound like a big word)... what can i say, i'm a flip flopper?

I agree with the statement that the Democratic party should have backed Joe Lieberman for '04. I wouldn't object to Kerry running again in '08 but a lot of it depends on what the next four years are like. If Bush falls on his face and we are still in red ink from the war, terrorisim is still running rampant across the world despite what will by then be millions of deaths of US Soldiers, North Korea being a bigger threat than ever, many Americans out of work, etc. - Kerry's platform is right there. He will be the first person thought of when people regret their decision to go with Bush in '04. Even though the margin of Bush's win was disappointing to the Democratic party, the fact that Kerry earned 55 million votes, the second highest in a Presidential election (to George of course), should not go without notice. What the Democratic party should be the most concerned with is winning back some votes in the midwest and the south. The Kerry campaign neglected that part of the country. I thought the whole point of bringing Edwards aboard was to send him to those areas where his southern accent would connect more with people in those regions than Kerry's intellect? If running the Hillary and Obama, I think the party would run into the same thing they ran into this year. California, PA, states in the Northeast and the rest of the blue states would more than likely embrace such a ticket. I don't think those red states are necessarily ready to elect a woman to the office of President. Not to mention a woman AND a black man if they groomed Obama for the VP role. This is the same country where 59 million people were more concerned with two dudes or two chicks getting married and sharing health insurance and benefits than the Bush administration's blunders, American soldiers dying in a war started under false pretenses, lack of jobs within the country with more jobs being outsourced overseas, etc.

We had good workrate at the beginning of the year but it was met with the same glass ceiling. HBK and HHH going over Benoit, etc. I agree with streamlining the roster. Give the dead weight and under utilized people to TNA, see if that company can spark their careers for three years or so and then maybe some of the younger talent like say... Spanky, Chuck Palumbo, A-Train or Sean O'Haire, will have a place in WWE if they get over elsewhere. Guys like Billy Gunn, Val Venis, Bob Holly, Test, etc. were never going to get over again in WWE with this creative team. I'm liking this because what the company is pretty much doing is giving talent to build a potential competitor. And I want competition. Streamline the rosters, end the brand split but have certain talent work certain shows each week and then mix it up when that runs it's course. This is the first time I've ever said "end the brand split" but I'd like to see the roster cut down to like 40 or 50 workers. If they need jobbers, they can use guys from local indie feds like TNA does with Impact, you don't have to pay a jobber $75K to $200K a year full-time on your roster.

I miss Wrestlemania starting at 4pm eastern

I don't get exactly where Carlito fits in as a Heyman favorite? He just got there. Unless Heyman is responsible for his character or push, maybe trying to show Vince he can create a star?

I'd like to see Shelton Benjamin in Evolution actually.

Mick Foley said on Observer Live that when he told Vince about him appearing in ROH, Vince asked that he keep him posted on talent that could move up to the next level. Foley did supposedly tell Vince about CM Punk and Samoa Joe.

Hey Vince, remember this when you say your goodbyes to Pat Patterson tonight while you let Stephanie and HHH control your company.

I also emailed Comcast this week and received a similar response, although one that didn't seem as cookie cutter. I like my Comcast Customer Service Specialist better than that Jackie girl...

I keep telling my friends that Smackdown has been getting better but I still can't convince them to watch it again. It just seems like a fresher product. I like what they are doing across the board. I like London/Kidman. I like Charlie Haas and Jackie. They've even made Heidenreich interesting, he's got a little bit of a new generation Psycho Sid thing going on. Rey Rey and RVD are an interesting team although I would have liked to have seen them against London/Kidman before their split. JBL is entertaining, I think it sucks that he's champion however, his character doesn't need the belt to be entertaining. I'd like to see them come to their senses with Cena and push him as a heel or tweener. His act is weak as a babyface. I still wish they had Spanky and Jamie Noble but oh well. Carlito was awesome on the mic and he definitely has a star presence, I'm not sold on his ring work yet but give it time. He did a great job Thursday. The show is just looking better, I don't know if it's Paul Heyman's slight influence or just the fact that Bruce Pritchard is gone. Silly political image removed

For the past two weeks, Flair's mic work has been one of the highlights of Raw. This is one of the best promos/interviews in the business and WWE were not giving him any mic time. Now he finally gets to talk and we get this? I'm not advocating what Flair said. Even my girlfriend made a comment that it was in poor taste, however, it's already been said, I can not understand how script writers can script simulated rape, necrophilia, insinuate incest within the McMahon family, have a bunch of whores refer to each other as cum guzzlers taking cocks up their asses but Flair gets reprimanded for talking about virgins? They felt like they hit a "home run" with the Diva trash talk but Flair was crossing the line? I don't get it. Also, sadly, this will probably give Vince more promo not to let workers cut their own promos. This is the number one thing missing in the business. Guys cutting promos scripted to them is not going to bring upon the next Austin, The Rock, Hogan, Flair, Nash/Hall, etc.

I thought the same thing. Maybe giving her money and the motivation to work her body back intot shape for a tv camera is just asking for the demons to resurface? If she still has a close relationship with the McMahon women like mentioned here, I wouldn't rule out a return to the company in some capacity. You have to think that Vince still has a huge soft spot for Tammy. She was in reality the first Diva. The WWF's first crossover success story, post Nitro dominance, with her status of being the most downloaded woman on the Internet. She has a mind for the business, perhaps there is a place for her in the office? She is overweight, not repulsive, perhaps they could work her in as a TV interviewer or something. Or as someone mentioned. Pull the disgruntled overweight Diva of yesterday card and have her target someone like a Stacy Keibler. Maybe manage another woman competitor to take Stacy and other WWE divas out. There are still possibilities.

They should just bring back several regional promotions. Have OVW cover Ohio, PA, VA, GA, etc. Maybe put one in Florida. Another in Texas. Maybe one in Washington or Calgary. Put together some low budget shows for local syndication, run small shows and then do arena house shows with WWE talent mixed in. OVW could be Cornette. Maybe have HBK run the Texas operation. The Harts run Calgary.

Jackie is probably my favorite diva. The best outfits, the hottest IMO and the most enthusiastic at ringside. Some women are just meant to be eye candy and not wrestlers. They should be able to take bumps and get physical but not necessarily work frequent matches.

The product is just over-exposed right now and they rush things too quickly and take the meaning out of everything. While the nostalgia factor does play a huge part in why I feel the same as you when I watch wrestling from the 80's or 90's, I think the above sums up my overall opinion. Back in the day, the booking teams, not creative teams led by Hollywood writers, made sure there was an established main event, upper card, mid card and low card. All of the talent was used. Rarely would there be a performer they would be doing nothing with. Wrestlers would be programmed against someone on a similar level as them and they would feud for sometimes months leading into one of the big four PPV's. You got the most out of each talent. There was the Hogan-Savage or Warrior-Rude level of the card but also a Billy Jack Haynes-Hercules level or a Danny Davis-Sam Houston level. A talent could come in, win some squashes on TV, work an angle with another talent and then feud with them until it was time to be programmed against someone else. Depending on how they were getting over, they would move either up or down the card. Someone like Mr. Perfect could go from feuding with The Red Rooster or The Blue Blazer to an IC title reign to challenging Hogan. The use of managers was also important. If someone debuted with Bobby Heenan or Jimmy Hart as their manager, you would assume they'd be challenging for one of the championships in time. Even while they worked their way up the card. The title reigns were longer and the champions could build their credibility by taking on varying challenges. For instance, in modern day WWE, if they don't feel RVD is worthy of a WWE championship reign, you won't see him in the main event picture challenging for the title. In old days, he would still get a program against the champion for a month or two and just come out on the losing end. Think of all the guys who feuded with Hogan but never won the title. From Piper to Orndorf to Studd to Dr. D to Perfect to Dibiase to Bad News Brown. They still got chances at main events even if there was never any intention of putting a belt on them. If they didn't have anything to do with someone, say Bret Hart or Jim Neidhart or Paul Roma and Hercules, they'd package them into a tag team. Guys just weren't wasted and doing nothing. My frustration with the product now, especially in recent weeks, is how they don't pace ANYTHING. From Eugene/Regal to the Kidman-London tag team to Orton/HHH. They take interesting ideas and instead of pacing them over a course of several weeks or months, they blow their wad on them as if there is a gun to their head. The London-Kidman feud may see some good ring work but the crowd will shit on it because they never established the tag team, even with a short title reign. It's not The Rockers or even Strike Force splitting up.

They probably didn't want it to be a Paul Heyman ass kissing contest. They more than likely encouraged people to the truth when it came to his mismanagement, bad checks and bad ideas. They probably figured others would hold off on discussing the negative due to Paul being somewhat involved with the creative process or the chance of him returning to a major creative role.

Tony was great in his few appearances on TNA when he was shooting on Mike Tenay and the wrestling business abandoning him. He made an awesome heel. I doubt this story is true but it would be fun if Lawler went on vacation and Bischoff announced he was bringing in a friend of his to sit in the announce booth. Let Tony be a total heel to play off of JR. Actually, I remember reading somewhere that they wanted to bring in Tony Shiavonne when JR was set on fire by Kane but Kevin Dunn was against the idea. You know, because it would have been interesting. So they went with Coach.

Do any of you recall reading house show results, I believe they may have been from an international tour, where Jamie Noble was pinned by Nidia and grabbed the arena mic and said, "Thank you Vince McMahon for ruining my career?" I just thought of this for some reason today. This firing has really bugged me. I just don't think you should let a talent like Jamie Noble go. Here's hoping he gets a good run in the X Division at least.

PWTorch (for whatever it's worth) is saying that the split wasn't amicable and Jamie Noble was indeed fired. Trying to be a fan of this company is such a challenge anymore.

Yes kids. If you know a retard, just beat the hell out of them with a sledgehammer perhaps. When the feds come after you, just simply state that you saw on wrestling that beating a retard up helps them function in society as a regular human being. There is nothing wrong with the gimmick, it's how creative fumbled the ball on the gimmick. Similar to Hurricane who has been a comic book figure for three years now but has never had an arch nemesis or a villain to play off of. Eugene is a wrestling savant. He watched the the spectacle with more attention than everyone else and knows everything about it's history and the movesets of every wrestler he's viewed on television. He can mat wrestle, Hulk-up, and do it all. Creative just forgot those elements and instead choose to have him play the unimaginative "guy who doesn't know his own strength" role. They could have very amusing skits with him and his knowledge of wrestling. He could impress everyone with his mat wrestling skills. Instead, he's been portrayed the past month as the poor buffoon who gets outsmarted by HHH and Evolution.

Maybe it felt really nice for him to be in front of a live crowd after taking a hiatus to tend to his sick mother who eventually ended up dying from cancer?

1. The media would of course be all over the story getting the McMahon's plenty of face time. They would more than likely preempt Raw and Smackdown for two weeks. I see them maybe running career highlights of those who perished on one of the shows and then biographical pieces on each of the performers who passed away. Maybe pushing a charity for the performers families. 2. Had Angle joined WCW immediately after winning the Olympics it wouldn't have worked out. He didn't understand the business at that time and he wasn't a fan of the choreographed art and characters. He would have accepted the offer due to $$$$$ alone without the same type of passion he had when he entered voluntarily years later. He wouldn't have gone through WWF's territory system and would have instead been trained at the Power Plant and thrown on television immediately so WCW could get a rise from his name and Olympic achievements. 3. I think the business would have been better off. Bischoff could have probably worked his way back on television in some form. USA may have bit at that time considering they were still fuming over losing RAW and Nitro was still scoring high 2.0's. Perhaps a late night Monday night slot. Just think if Austin would have walked out due to frustrations with WWF's creative dept. like he did. It's probable that Bischoff could have grabbed him up. RVD would have definitely signed. He would have got ECW guys like Mikey Whipwreck, Tommy Dreamer, Spike Dudley, Super Crazy, Jerry Lynn, Tajiri, Rhyno, etc. He would have retbuilt WCW's cruiserweight division which had talent like Noble, Helms, Moore, Mysterio, etc. He would have given Sean O'Haire that monster push he wanted to do and he'd have Goldberg, Booker T, Flair, Hogan, etc. for name value.

Seriously though, how far could Vince have gone with the Leviathan gimmick? It had the potential to be nothing more than a new millenium Warlord. Batista looks "bad ass" in a suit. It seems that he has an awesome sense of style. When he adds a pair of shades to the power suit the package is complete. I'm not a fan of the buzz cut he was sporting this past Monday. With the hair grown out he looked like Dean Martin on steroids. I think they really need to push him in a "swank pimp daddy" kind of role. It's also fitting that he has Ric Flair, custom made from head to toe, by his side.