NYU

Hey, although it was probably unintentional, you did make me laugh with that It's funny cause it's true

I just have a problem with you referring to Brock as the next People's Champion. We have seen no evidence that the fans really will continue to cheer this guy even if he becomes a heel soon. People cheered Brock because of how powerful he got. Once you steamroll over everyone in the company, you'll usually get the fans behind you. But I really see no evidence that, once Brock becomes a normal human again, the fans will just continue to go crazy. Brock's interviews are average, or perhaps even below average. His wrestling is pretty good for a big guy like him, but nothing extraordinary. The fans cheer him because he IS the guy to cheer right now, but is he still going to be so wildly over a year from now ? I just don't see it. Brock is the #1 face on Smackdown, excluding Hogan, there's no disputing that. But I still disagree that he's the People's Choice and the fans will follow him to the end of the earth. The fans cheering RVD and Booker, even in their depush, is pretty remarkable. But will the same thing happen to Brock ? Only time will tell, but I personally doubt it.

The HIAC match with Taker after No Mercy was the turning point. After the Hell-in-a-Cell match, Brock became REALLY over. Before that, besides SummerSlam, he got absolutely nothing. His music would come on, and the crowd would go mild. Once he went over Taker, the crowd really began to pop for him. Yet, before this, we went through...what, 6 months of Brock running rampant over WWE without a single loss ? The man is over, yes, but the man is over BECAUSE of his push. Like I said, if he debuted with Shelton Benjamin as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, he would probably be in the midcard today with just a decent reaction. His push, and his destruction of every wrestler, is what got the fans' support - much like the case with Goldberg.

You can't be serious with saying that Evolution has ANY bit of responsiblity for the rising Raw ratings. Besides a beatdown of Steiner and the electrocution of Goldust, the group has done nothing but boring interviews and promos which even the fans have difficulty responding to. I attribute the rising Raw ratings to Austin - and Austin only. If he wasn't coming back, but Evolution was still around, I really believe the ratings would be floating around 3.1-3.2 range.

not as gay as Hogan looks. he looks like someones grandfather with a homo smile on his face. Just wanted to say I laughed out loud when I read that, because I basically thought the exact same thing

Argh, I'm so tired of that argument. There's no disputing RVD is more over than Booker T. Listen to the crowd response for their entrances and their matches every Monday night. RVD IS more over and, in my opinion, deserves to be facing Triple H for the title instead of Booker T. Booker T has been mired in mid-card singles and tag matches, but is expected to just be hot-shotted to the top feud on Raw ? I don't get it ! At least RVD does Main Event Raw once in a while, but Booker T has just been in the midcard for nearly the entire year.

How quickly we forget about the Hardyz, RVD getting the shit beat out of him, the Big Show - who was getting built up like a monster, Edge at Rebellion, Rey Misterio getting his ass completely kicked on Smackdown, and anyone in between. Brock was put over literally everyone and there's really no denying that. P.S. - I knew it was only a matter of time before the name-calling started

Once again, I have to disagree with someone. If RVD is consistently getting more cheers than Booker T, then how did they miss the boat ? A magical month of build-up, like so many of you think will set Booker up for the title, will do wonders for RVD's career. Just because some Smarks have started to dislike RVD doesn't mean they missed the boat....it just means they need to try harder to convince some more. In my opinion, RVD is more ahead in the line of being ready for the title than Booker T is.

The hero hasn't been built up enough already ? He's only had one -- ONE -- pinfall loss in his entire WWE career, and that was due to a screwjob ! The WWE should be putting Angle up to Brock's level, showing that Angle knows how to deal with someone so much stronger than him. Instead, WWE has had Brock run rough-shod over Angle and his team since this feud started. You show non-stop Brock beatings for 1-2 months and occassionally, to the casual fan, Angle beatdowns won't mean shit. Brock has proven he's better, and any of Angle's ambush wins come as a result of a fluke.

I am. I'd rather see Triple H win than see Booker T hot-shotted the Raw title, when he's clearly not ready for it.

At the top of his popularity, Austin sure as hell got a lot of cheers if he stunned a face Dude Love or a face Shawn Michaels for no reason. There is "Good Face" and "SUPERSTAR FACE". Brock is a good face, but in no way is he a SUPERSTAR FACE.

HHH: So Vince-uh, we're at WrestleMani-uh. Who is my mystery opponent-uh ?! *Wolfpac music plays and Kevin Nash steps out !* HHH: Oh my god-uh ! *HHH steps back and falls backward, tearing his quad* Nash: Oh no, Hunter ! *Nash attempts to run down to the ring to help his fallen friend but the aisle is too long for him. He gets winded in the middle of the run and falls, holding his quad. Both men lie on the ground, Hunter in the ring and Nash in the aisle.* .....and ladies and gentlemen, that is your Raw Main Event.

Austin: Despite kicking over old ladies got pops everytime he came out. Rock: Had to "sell-out" the business to get a 50% heel reaction Hogan: Had to wish death on every WCW fan and wrestler to get a midcard heel reaction. Brock has IN-RING charisma. the kind that allows you to connect with the fans and tell a story to them, and the fans respond. he also does a great "serious" interview (See: face-to-face with the Undertaker) which everyone says Benoit does so well. (And he does.) In the Austin/Alliance days, at the peak of the Austin/Angle feud, Austin was HATED ! If it wasn't for "What ?!", he would have gotten more boos during his interviews, but during the matches, the fans wanted him to get the shit pounded out of him. Rock: Rock was getting booed pretty heavily at Summerslam and Raw X, before this heel push was started Hogan: I disagree. From what I remember, once he told the fans to "Stick it", he was instantly hated from that point on. Plus, around WrestleMania IX, Hogan was receiving a fair share of boos although he was a face. ----------------- Brock has In-Ring Charisma ? Come on, that's stretching it a little. Any guy can grunt and do shoulderblocks. The fans cheer it because Brock has been made to look so strong. You put him out there with Shelton Benjamin as the Wrecking Crew in their debuts, and Brock would be basically nothing today. Anybody could have gotten as over as Brock in this role of "I beat everybody, nobody beats me, watch this rookie win the title" And that interview about Taker ? Ugh, awful. And that interview about Rumble ? Even worse. I think he forgot what number he was up to when he was counting the goals he accomplished. It was easily noticeable that the crowd reaction was piped in a lot. There's no denying Brock is over. But, besides Hogan, Brock HAS been pushed to the top face spot. And there's no chance he's the new People's Choice. One F5 to Hogan or Edge, and Brock will get booed out of the building. The fan's support, I believe, doesn't go past the face/heel line. Once Brock does a heelish antic, I think the fans will turn on him.

And we saw how well that worked If the match has anyone else other than: Rock, Hogan, Brock, Angle, HHH, Austin, it will not be in the Main Event spot. Vince may not listen to a lot, but dammit, he knows that the fans don't want to see unestablished stars appear in the last match

I disagree. Brock doesn't exactly light the world on fire with his interviews or charisma, plus his wrestling skills are just.....eh, satisfactory. I'm sure there were people that said Rock could never get booed - Wrong ! I'm sure people said Stone Cold would never get booed - Wrong ! I'm also sure there were some that thought Hogan would never get booed - Wrong again ! Brock is not bigger than these 3, and the day he gives an F5 to someone like Hogan, Edge, or Rey Misterio, he's gonna get booed pretty loudly. I firmly believe that he's getting this support only BECAUSE of this push. If you disagree, look at that reaction Batista's getting on Raw. They're the same wrestler, only with different-colored hair, but one has been pushed to the moon while one has not. This is the reason for the difference in support.

*sigh* - Hope not is all I have to say. Still holding out hope for HHH/RVD at WrestleMania

I don't see Booker T as a World Champion at this current time. I just don't. I mean: 1) Booker T has hardly been built up. You can choose to be optimistic and say "Well, he killed D-Lo in 2 minutes. Of course he's going to win." But you have to consider that Booker T is considerably higher than D-Lo when it comes to the WWE range of thinking, plus D-Lo was on the way out anyway. Sure, it's nice that Book won that match, but it says nothing. As for the tag match, boy how many times have we seen this before ? HHH has been pinned in numerous tag matches, but when Steiner gets the majority of the offense against him, it doesn't mean much. Steiner kicked some ass, and Booker snuck in an axe-kick. Where does that just shoot him into a title reign ? In my opinion, that's as much of a fluke win as Jeff Hardy beating Jericho after HBK's help on Monday night. I guess I'm the only one that feels Booker T just wouldn't be ready to be champ right now. 2) Booker T actually winning ?! If it IS HHH/Booker T at Mania, I highly doubt the Book will win. As we all know, HHH needs his return wins and, if you think about it, the Raw Title Match is likely to be in the midcard of the night. I doubt they'll drop the World Title in the middle of the biggest Pay Per View of the year to a face that many feel "truly deserve his chance". It's something to be built up, and not given in the middle of a PPV. Just by that alone, and not even considering Vince's feelings on pushing superstars he didn't create and HHH's job quota, Booker doesn't look to be winning at Mania.... Finally, #3, I still feel RVD should be the Raw champ, considering he DOES have more of the crowd's support. You might be biased but if you listen to the crowd response, more people ARE behind RVD than Booker, plus Booker just isn't that much of a better wrestler than RVD. But since that really has nothing to do with this topic, I'll just say that I highly doubt Booker T will win at Mania if he faces Triple H. Vince seems to have a boner over screwing WCW and ECW wrestlers. What makes this different ?

Am I the only one that thinks Triple H looks EXTREMELY gay in that picture ?

As if it's not obvious, my choice is: ROB..... VAN...... DAM !!

Again, I just don't care about selling. Whether it's RVD, Edge, or Angle doing the non-selling, I don't care. It just doesn't factor into my interest. And the RVD/HHH/*** theory, I believe, isn't just my opinion. The HHH/Taker match was practically universally hated while the RVD/Taker match was thought to be pretty decent, while I thought it was better than average. I'll admit RVD's style is probably an acquired taste but I pay attention when he wrestles, and that's all that matters to me. I maintain my opinion that he's better than nearly every guy on Raw (excluding Jericho), and I think the ragging on him for not selling is pretty friggin ridiculous.

Forget continuously, he could start by selling it at all. As soon as he got out of the half-crab, he got up & ran off the ropes, w/out so much as a shaking of the leg. .....so ? Storm didn't lead up to the Half-Crab with a few chop-blocks or quick stomps to the leg or something. It was a move out of nowhere, so Storm didn't hit it on a weakened leg. He slapped the half-crab on a perfectly strong leg. So when RVD got up, the effects weren't that bad. Maybe he could shake the leg a little, but I don't see where the big sin in all that is.

I love how people here state opinions like they're facts. Personally, I think RVD is one of the best wrestlers on the RAW brand today. Just because his moves aren't technically sound doesn't mean that his moves aren't good. If it brings the fans into the match and basically has a purpose, then it's successful. Benoit could do every single arm bar in existence, but it will all suck if no one gives a god damn .....HHH's moves are crisp ? Since when ? Sure, maybe he could do the Pedigree and that high knee pretty well, but what else ? That tag match was awful last night and that can be pretty much attributed to Triple H. That Rumble match against Steiner ? That wasn't crispness you saw there, but staleness. HHH has sucked in the ring for nearly a year now and, in my opinion, is in no way better than RVD. Besides HBK, go over all the *** and up matches HHH has had. I can give you a pretty lengthy list of RVD *** matches....including against the Undertaker, who HHH wrestled in the Worst Match of 2002. And by the way, selling is EXTREMELY overrated. If a certain body part is being punished in order to bring the match to a logical conclusion, then sure, it's relevant. But if Benoit (yes, the Summerslam match again) works on RVD's arm for the entire match, but the match ends with a Five-Star, then selling is pretty much irrelevant. It doesn't add to the finish, but takes away from the match with a whole bunch of rest holds that mean shit. Take last night with RVD/Storm. Storm hit the Half-Crab and worked on RVD's leg for that one time, then nothing else. Why sell it continuously if it doesn't fit into the flow of the match anymore ? People are pretty hard on wrestlers for not selling, but selling a body part for a whole match doesn't mean a whole lot if it doesn't factor into an ending. I find RVD great. I think Booker T sucks. Does this mean I'm in "denial" over what others think ?

I personally agree with ***. For a 7 minute match, that was actually pretty good.

I hope we're not talking about the RVD/Benoit SummerSlam match there, because that's only been done a thousand times. Benoit was SO not over by that time that he could have had a returning Steve Austin in the Crossface for 10 minutes, and nobody would have given a fuck. If fans don't care about a guy, 1 wrestler really can't make them care. As for entertaining storylines, when was the last time RVD really had one ? If you want to call this tag team with Kane a storyline, I think it's pretty damn entertaining. But if we're looking for a match storyline, that was September against HHH. Fucking 5 months ago was the last time RVD had a storyline, and guess what - I thought the promos there were pretty damn entertaining too. RVD has charisma, as seen in ECW, but it will never be seen if Vince refuses to allow it to shine.

Michaels was the biggest superstar in the federation at the time, had an awesome match with Bulldog for the title, got the belt extremely over ( like it or not, Bulldog didn't do much for the title, while Michaels was the hottest heel going ), and then "dropped" the belt to HHH who, with the now more established belt, was able to go on to have some pretty decent matches with it. Did that entertain you enough ? Most people, when recalling the Euro Title reign, remember Michaels' "loss" to HHH when he dropped the title, but nothing else. Michaels brought the title from a "Eh, let's give it to the only European guy on the roster" to "Hey, maybe this title is for real after all" Michaels was the top guy in the company and was holding this belt, which does add to its prestige just a little.