Just John

77. Though it's a moot point now, were Hassan not banned, the GAB would have been infinitely better.

I hope everyone that bitched about Hassan is happy. Sure, you get Hassan out of the ME at Summer Slam, but you also eliminate the potential JBL/Benoit feud and get another month of boring JBL/Batista. Every single person that bitched for Hassan to be taken off the air should be tied up and forced to watch every SD until Summer Slam on loop. I've never seen one show turn a company (or brand in this case) on a huge upswing into a complete and total mess with little hope for the future like GAB 2005.

So where does this show rank in terms of worst booked ppv ever? Seriously, from the new "Has-been and never-will-be" tag champs, to the secret not being revealed, to OJ going over Benoit, to UT beating up 7 guys at once... Just, wow. This had potential to be one of the better single-brand shows in a while, but this was just a mess.

I think it's ironic that Hassan was basically turned into a martyr for his cause against the discrimination of Arab-Americans. Doubt the writers were thinking of it that way, but this actually wasn't a terrible way to kill off his character. Very fitting, actually.

Scratch my comment about SD being underrated. What the fuck kind of drugs did the writers do before writing the GAB?

I wasn't being completely serious with my reasoning, just grasping for straws to justify the match. Although I don't think there always has to be a feud necessarily for a title match to take place, I agree that there should have been some interaction. I think OJ should have cost Benoit his match against Eddie by hitting him in the leg with a foreign object. That kind of levels the playing field for the Benoit/OJ match, and creates a little interest, as well as giving the SD match a better ending that it desperately needed.

I really can't figure it out by looking at the card, but I am quite interested in the show. If I could get some friends together, I'd strongly consider buying it. I think the Eddie secret and the intrigue on how they deal with Hassan are the selling points for me. I could see Eddie/Rey, Benoit/OJ, and the 6-man all being 3+ stars if done right. Another possible factor for my interest is that every guy (or girl) on my fantasy team has a match tonight.

He did agree to compete in a #1 contender match, so he must think highly of the belt. Actually, this is just a way to get Benoit on the show. He didn't have an angle, and while people are upset that Benoit is back in the midcard, I imagine the outrage would be bigger if he were left off the show completely.

Does anyone think that Rey Mysterio Jr's influence on American wrestling is underappreciated? With him basically making the CW division in WCW, I'd say he was a top 5 or 10 influence on American wrestling in the 90's.

It must mean Rey's wife has herpes, and she only told Eddie because she was too ashamed to tell Rey. Now Dominick has herpes thanks to Eddie molesting him in the woods.

Well, last week Velocity outclassed SD and Raw. This week it wasn't better than SD, but I like the improvement. And I dig Kazarian's music.

Now I like this one best. Only problem is that running something as sensitive as a murder angle might cause UPN to ban Rey and Eddie from SD permanantly.

I think the most impressive Nash moment is when he did a springboard crossbody to the floor against the Giant. I felt like Booker T... "Tell me I did not just see that."

Well, according to last week's SD, the "bedtime story" starts with Eddie and Dominick going into the woods... Not that it means anything because the writers probably don't even know what the secret is at this point. I just hope it's not a molestation angle. So far, I like the "there is no secret" idea the best.

That would create no interest in the match, though. The way Rey's been doing anything that Eddie wants, most people would think that Rey just goes in and lays down, which kind of defeats the purpose of a match.

That's probably what would've happened if they let them finish the angle. That's clearly where Hassan was going in that wwe.com promo. If they just ran that promo, they could've swept the "terrorist attack" under the rug and never mentioned it again just like they've done with other ill-received angles.

Yeah, I also remember being pleasantly surprised at his WM 12 match with Taker. I think being a tag team wrestler helped him a lot in WCW. It was a good wrestling role for him, especially since Hall could still really go at that point. And who could ever forget his announcing stint with Mike Tenay?

It seems like since the brand split began, the better show has always been the one with Chris Benoit on it. Not saying he's entirely responsible, but it's an amazing coincidence. On a related note, SD is underrated right now. They've already had two tv MOTYC's in the course of a week (Benoit/Regal and Benoit/Eddie). The thing that most intrigues me about the GAB is what Eddie's secret is, even though I know it'll probably be wrestlecrap material. It's sort of like asking a girl why she won't go out with you... You know the answer's gonna suck, but you want to find out anyway.

Brock Lesnar certainly didn't help that trend either.

I'm not quite sure what this means, but it inspires a good question. Why wasn't UT (someone who actually has a shot at changing the angle) saying anything about it? If UT the accomplished veteran goes along with it, what gives Hassan any credibility to bitch to creative?

Seriously... I'll just go out on a limb and assume one of Mark Magnus' career goals is NOT to get fired. What do you think happens if he refuses the gimmick? Bravesfan summed up the rest pretty nicely.

Tekcop, don't take employment status into account here, but let me ask: Would you agree with protecting Mark Jindrak's punch of death by saying no one else can punch?

I doubt Magnus gets fired over this incident. That would make zero sense any way you look at it. Magnus will be re-packaged and the Muhammed Hassan character, in typical "WWE we fucked up fashion," will be swept under the rug and never mentioned again.

World Championship Batista © vs. John Bradshaw Layfield Batista. He's too strong and JBL's on the decline. WWE Tag Team Championship MNM © vs. Road Warrior Animal & Heidenreich MNM. No way they put the title on the thrown together duo whose best days are either behind them or will never come. U.S. Championship Orlando Jordan © vs. Chris Benoit Benoit. Jordan has done nothing with the belt. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. If Eddie wins, he will tell Rey's "secret". If he loses, he will never reveal it. Eddie. If the feud goes until Summer Slam, he has to reveal the secret. Number One Contender Match The Undertaker vs. Muhammad Hassan Duh. Bra & Panties Match Special Referee: Candice Michelle Melina vs. Torrie Wilson Torrie. Melina may be the best diva on SD, but Torrie has a phenominal track record in T/A matches. Booker T vs. Christian Booker. Has to get his win back. The Mexicools vs. The BWO Mexicools. They're being pushed, and the BWO is nothing but jobbers. Honestly, the only things I'm interested in is the 6-man and Rey's secret. The killing of Hassan decreases my interest in the show greatly, and all the other matches look like easy calls.

Benoit/Eddie could have been a tv MOTYC if they had a real finish. Even an OJ run-in to cost Benoit the match would have been a drastic improvement over one of my least favorite finishes, the intentional count out. Rey/Crazy was a fun match, but I wish it was so WWE-styled. Eddie on commentary was great. I love psycho heel Eddie. That jobber took a nice bump off the Doomsday Device. JBL's ads were pretty funny, especially the one with the illegal immigration. Decent show that served its purpose to hype the Bash.