The Tino Standard

Going under a hood to work for a terrorist cell? Well, if the pornstar gimmick didn't sink Morley's political hopes, then I'd say this will.

You know, I'd actually be kinda bummed to see Maria go. She's a harmless character that doesn't steal a lot of airtime (she's in one segment a week, and even then, her whole function is to set up the wrestler she's interviewing), she's easy on the eyes and she's not that bad at her job. Maybe she really is an airhead for all I know, but whatever the case, she's grown into her role well.

I wasn't exactly clamoring for a Buried Alive match either, but now that I'm looking at it, I don't see what's different about their version in comparison to their Casket Match, other than that the coffin is on a dirt hill instead of ringside.

"Kiss your meal ticket goodbye, Brain!" God, Gorilla and Heenan played SO well off each other. Reminds me of Wrestlemania 8... Gorilla: Undertaker... Always that eerie smell of fermeldahide around him... Brain: I thought that was your cologne! Gorilla: WILL YOU STOP. Brain: Aw, we know you do it so you can get that free comb... Gorilla: Brain, I'll have ya taken outta here.

My buddy is friends with Mysterio, who usually hooks up my buddy and his roommates with tickets to just about any show in the midwest. I'm already angling for WM tickets for next year in Chi-town.

I LOVED Undressed. Absolute filth, but strangely addictive. I think what ended up getting me hooked was the format. Never any super-long story arcs, so you could jump in at any time. Plus, it was always a revolving door of actors, so you never had to worry about characters getting stale. You know, all this talk gets me to thinking: For as much as people dump on MTV, you could put together a hell of a lineup with some of their shows from the last 10 years or so.

Because the heels clap their hands together really loudly, to make it SOUND like a tag. The faces make their normal, barely audible tag. And I liked the formula of the Road Warriors/Midnites tag match when the Warriors won the belts. Brutalize one guy to the point that he's almost out of commission; struggle with and then ultimately overpower the outnumbered partner; have the weakened guy tag himself in but ultimately lose because of weakened state. It made the Warriors look like dick-ish heels; the Midnites look like they had the hearts of warriors, and made for a good, quick match <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Gotta love it when the heels are perfectly capable of making a legal tag, but choose to do an illegal switch and make the "CLAP" noise just to be dickish heels. DRAW THAT HEAT, baby.

I dig the Fink's intro for Benoit. "Chriiiiiis BEN-Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." On a semi-related ring announcer note, I met a guy last spring who used to do ring announcing for WCW when it came through the Midwest. He's now the publisher of a publication in Columbus that covers Ohio State. Guy had some great stories, though most of them completely flew over the head of my sports journalism class.

Not an entirely bad idea (hey, anything that gets Triple H off my TV for 2 months earns a thumbs up), but I just DARE them to stick Triple H in a feud that doesn't involve the title. If he is really as good as he says he is, he should be able to make a money program that doesn't involve a belt. Since his never-ending saga with HBK in June '04 and the cup of coffee he had with Eugene at last year's SummerSlam, EVERY SINGLE THING Triple H has done has revolved around the title. Having him sit out 2 months before coming back and going after Cena would further along that thought that Triple H can't work a non-championship program. Seriously, the "I wrestle for the championship or I don't wrestle at all" shtick is crap.

See, I don't think they'd boo the hell out of him. The topic of his return has come up on here more than once, meaning that the smark community has a definite interest in seeing him wrestling again (exactly how he'd return is debatable, but there's no doubt that most would want to see him back in SOME way or another). As for the casual fans, I don't think they hold grudges against wrestlers, especially not for a year after they're gone. Sure, Brock got booed to hell at WMXX, but time heals wounds, and I just don't see the venom there anymore.

That's all well and good that he says he's all grown up now and can handle it, but I want to see if he's still singing the same tune when he hits his 206th day on the road for the year with another 94 to go. I have a feeling a lot of unpleasant memories will start flooding back about how much he really never liked the business in the first place.

Great question, which probably means the people actually writing this stuff haven't thought of an answer yet either.

I don't think there's any one set way to have a finisher. You've got your overly dramatic, over-the-top productions (People's Elbow) to the swift (Stunner) to the coma-inducers (Tombstone). That's OK. We always preach that we want variety from our wrestlers, so having all sorts of types of finishers is a good thing. My only criteria for a finisher is that it should FINISH the match. If it's one of the latter two that I mentioned above, it should be devastating enough to end things on the spot. If it's one of those ridiculous, goofy moves, that can even work too on the premise that the guy has already been beaten so severely, you have time to showboat to finish him off.

Rasheed Wallace bringing the belt to his interviews... This guy is officially out of his mind. I love Sheed.

Because at the time of his announcement, there were four more draft picks to be made, meaning there was a chance he could get a champion on his show without having to give up ANYBODY to Raw via a trade. It's a gamble, but it's at least plausible. As for the bit about Raw getting Angle and Cena, while Smackdown gets Benoit and Orton, consider this: You called Benoit a midcarder, but after Monday night, it certainly seems like Cena got back-burnered just as much as Benoit has, only difference is that Cena has the bling equivalent of the I-C belt. As for Angle vs. Orton, on the surface, it's no comparison. Then again, Angle wrestles actual matches maybe once a month (with a lot of worthless "Olympic gold medal challenges" to keep him in the mix), while Orton, once he comes back in the next couple months, will be a via commodity who can wrestle on a weekly basis. Plus, on Smackdown, he'll be an instant main eventer.

I'm thinking Raw's final 3 draftees are going to have to be duds. I mean, they already got Angle and Cena. How much more can you realistically take from Smackdown?

Oh my god, I am such a mark for the Super Bowl highlights shows, but try as I might, I haven't been able to justify spending over 100 bucks on the DVDs. This is the deal of the century. The NFL Films - complete with the SWANK orchestra music AND John "The Voice of God" Facenda - are comin' home.

I don't buy into this whole logic of them stacking Vengeance just to beat the ECW pay per view. - To exactly whom would they be proving their point? Do WWE representatives come into The SmartMarks forums and say, "Look, Vengeance outdrew ECW, so clearly the public wants more of what we do normally." The only people they justify their buyrates to are investors, which leads to... - Even if Vengeance DOES outdraw ECW, so what? It's not like Vengeance will magically lower the ECW buyrate. Any investor looking at the numbers will see a high buyrate for the ECW one-time event, then see a normal WWE pay per view with an abnormally high buyrate and say, "Why can't you do this every month?" Honestly, they've got an excuse within the storylines to stack a show with a ton of talent to pop a big pay per view buyrate before making a couple quick switches through the draft and trades the next night to balance things out. A ton of main eventers on one show will get more people interested in buying. More people interested in buying means more money. They'd be stupid not to load this show and grab a quick buck.

I don't think wins and losses really matter too much on this show. That's not what it's about. Look at it as a series of exhibition matches. But if you really want a prediction, I say Benoit wins, just to make Eddie descend further into dick heel mode.

Least promoted? You've had them pimping this up and down for the last 3 or 4 weeks on both Raw AND Smackdown, plus this will only be the fifth PPV of the year where wrestlers from both brands are on the same show. I don't expect this to get out of control with suicidal spots like the good old days of ECW, but that's because WWE doesn't' have spots like that on ANY show anymore (no matter how much it is promoted). I figure this will end up being a little more violent than your typical WWE PPV, but not as bad as mid-90s ECW. And that's not a bad thing. It takes more than senseless violence to put out a good show - something that Heyman has been saying all along. I think we're in for a treat tonight.

I'm thinking you are referring to Jericho's promo on the Rock on the Smackdown before the Rumble in 2002. Rock: "If ya smellll-" Jericho: NO!!!! ...... NO! NO ! NO! NO! ... This is not a joke! I am not a joke, you stupid son of a BITCH." That's gold, Jerry.

I find it amusing that people are insisting they don't care about this story anymore, yet still come back and not only read but POST in these threads as well. Screw that. This is good ol' fashioned dirty laundry being aired in public. It's a trainwreck, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

................. BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Oh, I'm sorry, you were serious.

If Triple H goes to SmackDown, I'm going to shed tears of joy. Get him off my damn Monday night wrestling already. Honestly, though, with the way they played up Triple H NEVER losing a HIAC match (didn't he lose in the Armaggedon 2000 six-man one?), it makes me think somehow Batista is going to steal a win in unconvincing fashion (can't let Triple H lose that precious heat). Then, on the final night of the draft, Batista gets shipped to Smackdown, not Triple H.