King Cucaracha

Yeah, they did. There was some footage played in his debut and/or entrance videos too.

I was a closet Bradshaw mark (then again, there's very few wrestlers I honestly can't watch wrestle) from the APA days. That said, I never thought he'd be bought as a top line guy. But he's improved in the ring, showed that he's a great mic worker. Mostly importantly though, he's shown an effort to improve himself. So, even though I always kinda liked Bradshaw, he's much less of a 'guilty pleasure' to like now than he was.

Us English hate penalties, huh?

When they're still under contract, Vince (or someone high up the pecking order) approves all appearances. It's like when Lawler was with MLW. Vince was okay with it, until it either clashed with a WWE show or he thought they were competition (can't remember which) and Lawler was pulled.

Wow. I really don't believe this. This one actually hits home harder than a lot of other recent passings personally. I've always been a Candido fan, plus I'm a big IWA:MS fan too, so seeing him back, rehabilitated and as healthy as ever was fantastic. It was obvious he was a real nice guy too, just from how he came off at shows. And then, after all the hard work he did in changing his life for the better, something like this happens. Truly tragic. R.I.P Chris.

You mean, MOST of the fans? You make it sound like there's only a few of those fans. Try nearly everybody in the arena. Compare Cena's reaction on the mic to Eddie's. But heck, Cena last week was getting lets go Cena chants throughout the match. Everytime he hits his five moves of doom, the crowd pops. They pop for the sneaker pump, the pop for the five knuckle shuffle, they pop for the "You can't see me" taunts, and they pop for the FU. Fact is, he's over. That's the bottom line. Last year at around this time, people thought Cena would burnout by now. Wrong. Like I said, the fans clearly care about his moves. And they rooted for him against Batista in England? What about the restholdfests with Benoit, Jericho, and any other person he's jobbed to the last few months? Clearly fans didn't care as much as they would a Cena match. Right now he's getting Rock/Austin level reactions, whether you ignore them or not. 1. You're right, they pop for the gimmicky moves and taunts. When they run out, he's flat out screwed. The fact he has to rely on them means he'll NEVER reach Austin and Rock's levels, as they were SO much better in the ring. Okay, you're obviously a mark for the guy, so good for you. He's NOWHERE NEAR Rock and Austin levels though. Go watch some 99/2000 and tell me Cena is as over as them. Seriously. Putting him in Austin and Rock's category puts him in the same category as Hogan. Please don't tell me you're doing that.

Sad to say, but Matt's more over as an unemployed worker than he has been in the past 2 years (since he was going up against Taker back in the day). If he were hired back now, he'd be better off professionally than perhaps ever. Can't see it happening though.

Jacobs could get to Shark Boy's level, but wouldn't do much better. In an ideal world, they should bring in Ricky Marvin from NOAH.

I can't go near pureed/mushed apple. Ever since I got sick eating some apple pastry things (can't remember what they were called) from Burger King, I can't look at pureed apple without feeling ill. Put me off burgers for a while too. At least the way the fast-food chains cook them.

I don't think it's actually specified in the clause what promotions he can work for. I think it's just that he (Hardy) cannot compete anywhere. At least, that's how it comes off. Seems wrong. But I guess Vince can do what he wants at the moment.

He wrote Knight Rider!?! Guy gets my vote.

That's still about 95% of the arena. He still gets the loudest pops on Smackdown that rival with Eddie's. Hey, if he can win over those fans, good for him. Compare the Eddie chants during a match to Cena's for a moment though and tell me who's more over than who. If the fans aren't routing for him during matches, they're not into his ring work. All they're into him for are the catchphrases and hang signals. And when they run out, he's got the exact same problem Rock always had...fans'll dump on him more and more until he ends up in a Lesnar/Rock situation. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Christian was the Lesnar to Cena's Rock if they meet. One, that match was cut short for HHH. And two, those are the similar sounds to most of the Christian matches. And if he's compared to Austin and Rock, shouldn't that tell you that he IS over? Not the bullshit over you spit out in that first paragraph. One, what difference does that make. Short match or long, surely fans should care about what he's doing in the ring? Two...similar sounds to Christian's matches. Like when they routed for him against Batista? And three...sure, he's compared to Rock and Austin because he's over. The comparisons are pretty weak though. I'd compare him more to Dusty Rhodes, actually, for pretty obvious reasons.

It was clearly down to the Vis/Trish angle. "Hey, waiter...see that page there...that's me dawg."

It's worth getting for the Tag Title Match and Ultimate X alone. Infact, it's probably worth it for the Tag Title Match alone, it's that good.

That's only because Cena hasn't had a new shirt in the past 2 weeks. You just wait until his new one comes out. His popularity is as strong as ever I tell ya! They cheered him against Eddie, Benoit, Angle, Brock, and even Taker at some points when he was a heel. That was back when he was on Christian's level. His raps were still entertaining, he still had the badass streak to him. Now though, he's not popular with the same people. A lot of the people that cheer for him are the kind of fans who spend hours making those spinny signs, pop for Cena's entrance, sit on their hands during the matches and then pop when Cena wins. I'm not just talking MSG and England here, either. I remember the crowd being pretty quiet (and not just because of whatever sound problems there may or may not have been) during his Mania match. As the most over face in the company, surely he should be getting the all-match-long support like the Austins and Rocks he's always compared to.

Right, thanks. *thinks about starting his match* *goes back to bed*

PLACE: Riverwalk Plaza Hotel, San Antonio, Texas TIME: 5:20am SCENE: Landon Maddix's hotel room After a long night partying and celebrating his success the previous night, Landon Maddix is finally enjoying his nightly four hours sleep. His hotel room has clearly been the scene of quite a celebration, with empty champagne glasses and bottles strewn across the floor, his International Championship belt sitting at the foot of the bed with various coloured party-poppers hanging off of here, there and everywhere. And considering the unconscious state Maddix is in, it seems he's destined for a hangover. *BRING BRING!* The shrill ringing of the phone next to him causes Maddix to stir in his sleep. *BRING BRING!* Before groaning as he finally wakes up. *BRING BRING!* "What the..." With a gravelly voice, Maddix rolls over and picks up the phone, not bothering to speak and simply waiting for someone to answer. "..." "At this time in the morning? Who the hell is it?" "..." "Oh, great...that's all I need. Put it through. BUT, if they're trying to pass the charge on to me, tell them they can go to hell. Last call they sent me cost me 60 bu..." As Maddix grumbles, another, more male sounding voice appears on the phone. "..." "Yeah, it's me. Did you guys have to call so damn early?" "..." "I'm still in San Antonio...I've got a flight scheduled for Thursday evening, so I should be there in plenty of ti..." "..." "What?" "..." "Woah, woah..." Maddix rubs at his eyes, sitting up in his bed, his sheets only just protecting his modesty. "If this is you Clark and this is your idea of a prank, I'm going to kick your ass. Wha...you are joking, right? Since when did you guys start booking matches for the first show after a Pay Per View? I had to beg and plead for a match last time I wanted one post-Pay Per View." "..." "So what? I don't care if somebody has requested a match with me. I can refuse, right?" "..." "And why not?" "..." With a low groan, Maddix brushes the hair out of his bleary eyes, cursing under his breath. "So, there's nothing I can do? I mean, nevermind that I've only just won the belt. Nevermind that I could have a serious knee injury here. Let me get this straight. This Hawke guy can have his title shot against me 'whenever he wants'...and sure enough, he chooses the first possible chance, when he knows I'm not one hundred percent. What a surprise. Already I'm getting screwed around and I haven't even had the belt 24 hours yet. "..." "Look, whatever. When you see Flesher next, tell him I'm putting all the extra costs I'm gonna have to pay in the SWF's lap. Re-organising my flight, finding a gym in Mexico...which'd be near impossible if I didn't speak Spanish, may I point out...any medicals bills. And...whatever else I can think of once I wake up." "..." "Phff, yeah right. I'd be surprised if Flesher could even SPELL lawyer, let alone be or hire one." "..." "Okay, okay...don't shout. My head feels like I've gone five rounds with Danny Williams." "..." "No, not that one." "..." "No...that's the one I didn't...look, my head hurts, okay. Just hang up." And the person on the other end of the phone does just that. "Jerk..." Rolling back over in his bed, the clearly worse-for-wear International Champion grumbles something under his breath before sliding back under the covers and getting ready for some more sleep. At least, that is, until he notices the cameraman standing in his en-suite bathroom's doorway. Landon sits back up sharply, before checking his manhood is firmly underwraps. "What in the hell is this, Big Brother!?! How long have you been here!?!" "Not long." comes a voice from behind the camera. "Oh, well, that's okay then..." Maddix can't believe how bad his morning has started. If only he knew. "Who the HELL let you in anyway!?!" snaps Maddix. "Megan did. She said it'd be okay." Glaring towards the voice from behind the camera, Landon doesn't quite know what to say for a moment. "So...Megan let you in?" "Mmm-hmm." Maddix continues glaring for a moment, before glancing to his left...and noticing, for the first time, that the other side of his double bed has clearly been slept in. The lipstick mark on the pillow just confirms his worries. "...oh shit..."

Well, that's all the suspence killed. Thanks Toxx.

When you say 'hardcore'...are we talking falls anywhere, or not? I meant to clear that up last time, before I no-showed of course.

Agreed. Little Britain's pretty much the only programme on the channel I'd ever watch. EDIT: And to get back on topic...hecklers should be the least of Howard's problem. It's not like he could have much worse of a public image.

People who don't give a crap about wrestling, apparantly.

Yeah, his stuff at the Tag Grand Prix showed how versatile he can be. Lucha style, uses a shining wizard as his finish, wears a clownish sorta mask with big plastic ears at the side. This'll be exactly what you'd expect probably...comedy opening, getting serious towards the end. Not sure what makes Nate Webb 'crap', considering some of the guys CZW employs. Each to their own I guess. I'm certainly looking forward to Webb/Ebessan more than the other two matches so far.

True - that was a good match. I heard something about the match was meant to be Undertaker vs Ahmed Johnson, but was changed due to Johnson's injury. Any truth to that? Cheers. Well, Ahmed f'd up his knee in a massive New Nation vs. DOA brawl on Raw a few weeks before the show. Can't remember actually them hyping Ahmed vs. Taker, but Ahmed's injury was true and they did mention on the show that Vader was Ahmed's replacement.

You can have a rematch at the International Title anytime ya want, Johnny. So long as I get past Storm.

MNM are Mercury (Joey Matthews) and Nitro (Johnny Nitro), with Melina (Melina Perez(?)) as their manager. They work some sort of 'Hollywood' inspired gimmick. Red carpet rolled out before they enter, papparazzi photographing them as they walk to the ring. They name drop all those hip, trendy young kids like Paris Hilton as if they know them. As for whever they're good or not...they got some good reviews from their OVW work. I really didn't dig the match with Eddie and Rey last week though.