AndrewTS

I'm gonna bid on the Ratchet and Clank, likely but first: do ya ship it insured (I live in the US)? $4.00 I'd assume includes insurance, because it's way less with Media Mail if you don't add extra services. Guess it doesn't hurt to plug some of my stuff: http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?View...sort=3&since=-1

I have the Rumble DVD itself. It's a great show...well, except *that* Miss Rumble contest ending...

Goldberg fulfilled his entire contract, though.

Okay, watched it again. I liked how it really was like watching a different match than the typical WWF Mankind matches. Yeah, the Rock/Mankind Chairshot-a-thon was a really good match, but in here you actually see Cactus kicking ass. Cactus actually starts on the offensive, and HHH at first is toe-to-toe with him. He doesn't really try to outwrestle him, knowing that isn't going to be a good way to deal with him right away. Foley keeps most of the Mankind signature spots out of the match, not actually even approaching it as a match even. Oddly, when he had the chance to do the Cactus elbow, he didn't. He also had a chance to do an elbowdrop onto the chair when it on was Hunter's face, but opted for a legdrop instead. *shrug* Hunter going for ONE chairshot and Cactus getting knocked down looked brutal. It looked like Hunter really swung that mofo. However, it looked not-to-smart to immediately turn his back on Cactus. He should have known better than that even it if did knock him down. The cuffs were a nice nod to Mankind/Rock, and while it looked a little silly to have Cactus defending himself, it came off surprisingly well, showing Cactus' aggression and how desperate and dangerous he could be. The part by the entranceway had some cool looking spots, but I think there was a little too much time spent there (crowd didn't seem to like it). Rock's run-in didn't bother me too much. The barbed wire 2x4 stuff came off really cool, although if you pay close attention the "switch" (from real to the rubber-tipped) was somewhat given away because the second board's barbed wire was more tightly wrapped around it. The first one's was starting to come off. No biggie, though, and seeing the wire sticking to Cactus' shirt was a cool visual. The thumbtacks were an awesome addition, and seeing the guys walking around with thumbtacks in their boots/ass/etc was another cool visual. HHH needing two Pedigrees to win showed how much will and fight Cactus had in him. The table spot looked good, and the table not breaking--very wince-worthly. Although the monitors being right there and not being used at all seemed strange. Someone mentioned the realism, and my dad happened to walk in while it was on, got caught up in it, and asked if that was "real" or not. My dad HATES wrestling, keep in mind. The post-match stuff...was weird. Cactus takes him back to the ring to hit him with the barbed wire 2x4 once?! I expected a Piledriver onto the thumbtacks, or something to that persuasion, but Cactus just doing that to him kinda seemed weak. You just lost the title match to this guy, and that's all you're gonna do?!

HA-HA!

I think you mean CONTRACTION, not conjunction. Contractions omit only a letter or two, not a whole word.

By this logic, Ric Flair should have been the most un-over guy in the NWA. NWA portrayed his valets as the real stars? NWA gave Flair no mic time to get his character over? Flair wasn't over until they gave him valets? Maybe I didn't clarify my points exactly, but you're not making valid comparisons here.

Something Venk and I discussed via PM: when Gail comes back, will they acknowledge her teaming up with Molly and maybe sic her on Victoria in revenge? Start from scratch? That's assuming she's coming back any time soon--I think probably she recovered a while ago and they're trying to teach her to wrestle.

Molly return as a face? Isn't that, like, against McMahonian law for a non-blonde woman to be babyface? Well, okay--I mean since the "Attitude era." Although Victoria turning face wasn't intended, and with Trish taken out of the women's title scene she was the defacto face in short order. Return to Mighty Molly would be fine if they were actually going to do something with Hurricane. Although in the meantime Rosey is using the old Mighty Molly pose...

Doesn't have to be the only reason. Remember that Brock's had several reigns but hasn't been a huge draw. In fact, the wrestlers that were the biggest draws had a good deal of mainstream exposure--Brock hasn't had that exposure yet. Vince isn't that bad of a businessman? Let's not open that can of worms. Remember that businessmen are by their very nature gamblers. If they build his return up with heel promo video packages, they probably could stave off the return pops. As for the "bad" heat--did that ever stop WWE from pushing X-Pac? Keep in mind: The "T" is for Thomas.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying--Tammy could draw heel heat and get some heat on to the wrestlers she managed, but if she's dressed in hot pants and a tube top, strutting around the ring, it's likely no one is going to bepaying attention to the Smoking Gunns match in the ring? However, Tammy could pull it off and make it work, but generally valets don't work because the wrestler is just kinda there instead of the valet helping the wrestler get heat. That's part of why no one gave a damn about the Bashams--because the WWE themselves built everything around Shaniqua (their matches licking balls didn't help, of course).

Media attention? To trick all those stupid kids on their computers? Maybe get Brock more heat while simultaneously getting him more mainstream exposure?

NO ONE GIVES A FUCK ABOUT THE WRESTLER SHE'S WITH! It puts the focus on the pair of tits rather than the wrestler, so valets do not get wrestlers over.

No net report I know of is saying it is a work. I'm just treating this very skeptically. Until I hear that NFL.com has confirmed Brock signing to the NFL or I see him suited up for an NFL game, I'm still going to believe it is a work.

Valid point, but with Bush making us a laughingstock, it's hard for things to get much worse in that regard. Besides, how many respectable national leaders are out there? Canada, France, and Mexico's leaders are all jokes. Britain's lost all his credibility. Russia's got far from the most respected President these days. Most of the others don't matter. Maybe Japan's still got a respectable leader (although he hasn't had to deal with Bush Jr. puking on him, yet). If you didn't know Rock was a wrestler, it wouldn't really affect your opinion much. He can command respect in people in ways very few politicians can do.

They gave it a go with Ivory and Storm, and it worked decently. Somewhat, but Ivory was still in tight clothing and ass-shots were aplenty... It was BEGGING for a slap.

Considering that Brock has dropped people wrong with the F-5, the potential to drop guys on the back of their heads with the Jackhammer, and seeing the insane bumps the Hardyz took on the Dominator--I don't think that's a good idea.

Depending on Rock's stance on the issues, I would likely vote for him over any of the candidates we've had for quite a while, and I already like him more than Bush or Kerry. Although if the economy turns around under Kerry, you can just forget another Republican president winning so soon.

They'll probably leave the F-5 to Brock, since it's all a work anyway. Although if you believe it isn't, they probably expect Brock to come back so they wouldn't want to give his finisher to some one else, yet.

Damn. I thought this was going to be an article Theodore Long wrote. Ah well. Bottom Line/Afterburn isn't original content, though, so why the hell watch it? Velocity/Heat I'll watch only if there's something I'm interesting in seeing--which is next to never. How would over-exposure be a problem when it's recently been revealed that very view viewers watch both Raw and Smackdown? Having PPVs less often would be a nice solution, but as Anglesault said it would only work well if WWE had good writing, which they don't. I completely disagree. Bearer WAS instrumental in helping Taker get over in the first place, before he could talk well on his own. Bearer is rather unnecessary now, but at least one appearance was necessary for the return of the Dead Man gimmick. He could leave and not really hurt the gimmick much, but it helps the character, so why not? Also, what's this garbage about the Divas giving more heat? Er, NO! Name me one wrestler that Torrie's gotten over by being a pair of tits at ringside for some guy she's been fucking? Has Stacy gotten Test over? Even with Jackie at ringside, Rico's virtually heatless. It would be an interesting experiment to have a smart, sassy female heel be a manager--a real manager--and see if she could give her wrestler/team heat, but she would either have to not be a total knockout or she'd have to keep herself covered up. They almost had it with Sunny, but she was too damn hot to stick to being a valet and dressed too skimpily. However, having a valet does not get a wrestler over. It just distracts from the wrestler himself. I've never heard a crowd chant "SHOW YOUR PUPPIES!" at Paul Bearer; they're watching Taker fuck the sorry sap in the ring up.

By and large, yes. However, in the WM pre-show (shown on the channel where WMXX was going to be shown; I'm not sure if it is identical to Heat), the skinny punk introing the video package for the Kurt/Eddie feud mentioned January, that Kurt was playing mind games with Eddie since then. However, it wasn't mentioned on any of the main shows or on WMXX itself. Still, I'm pretty sure he was reading from cue-cards, so one of the writers must have wanted to preserve it. Maybe he was the only one that even remembered January, though. As for the feud itself, Kurt's motivations make sense even if I can't agree with them. Yes, Eddie WAS a drug addict, but that should bar him from ever succeeding for the rest of his life. That part just kind of ties in with Kurt's unforgiving, hard-hearted nature as a heel. The lying, cheating, and stealing champion part makes sense if you ignore Kurt being a cheater throughout his WWE career. It's ignorable because it is typical heel hypocrisy; no harm, no foul. However, the build up to the show with Kurt causing Eddie to snap worked beautifully, although it was more Austin-like than it should have been. I'm glad they didn't try to create doubt that Eddie was clean and maybe started using drugs, but it would have made Kurt's position more justified if they did. What can be said about the handcuff segment that hasn't been said already? That was fantastic, and it looked even better recapped.

I'm going to whip out the 2000 Rumble DVD and re-watch it with a friend this afternoon--but the build-up is awesome. The way Foley pulled off the transformation, and HHH actually selling fear (something he almost never does anymore) made it work, and think "NOW he's screwed."

VX: Can't say I've played that demo, but I didn't have any of those gripes about Wrath of Heaven. The only flaw I encountered with Wrath of Heaven--from what I've played--is that the regular enemies are really stupid.

Choken, I think Drury snuck up to your computer and typed a post up. Wait--no, it's missing "Thanks."

Attitude? You're bloody crazy. That's like saying their ECW Hardcore Revolution game for PSX wasn't painful to play. I didn't mind Anrarchy Rulz for a month or so. Had some modes in there never done before. They had Brimstone, Barbed Wire, etc, yeah--but they weren't fun to play. Anarchy Rulz was worse than the WWF ones, though, because you could only do about 3 moves until you were eligible to move up to doing more complicated moves (stunning/dizzying opponents and stuff). It was really irritating.