iggymcfly

I have to say, putting RVD/Edge in the middle of the card really pissed me off a lot. This was the one time that we were finally going to see some fresh people on top with WWE and ECW Champion RVD taking on Edge. Instead, they got placed behind: Kane vs. his outfit, the Raw job squad squashing ECW, and in the main event, a nostalgia act taking on five jobbers. WTF! Oh, and even worse, they basically gave away the ending of the match. Going to the show, I fully expected Edge to win the title, and then when I was watching the video package and it struck me that they were doing RVD/Edge 1:10 into the show, I was like, "oh, I guess RVD is gonna retain, because there's no way in hell they put three matches ahead of a world title change." What should have been an exciting surprise victory turned into a ho-hum defense. And finally, even the stupid Cena segment would have worked better in the ring. If RVD was celebrating after his match, and called out Cena to the ring, it would have made the confrontation seem more significant. Of course, I guess they don't want the paying customers to realize that the Raw match is more significant than the PPV match that preceded it, so maybe that's why had to pretend that Spirit Squad vs. main eventers part 8 was what was really worth watching.

By the way, Stephanie at her peak (during the McMahon-Helmsley era) was way hotter than any other woman in the history of the WWE. Melina at her peak (which I assume is now) could easily be confused for a man.

An ECW guy's not allowed to go over a WWE guy twice in a row. It's pretty much as simple as that. I could have told you this was going to happen.

The 3-way had some nice spots, but overall, it was kinda dull, I'd give it something like **1/4. RVD/Edge was fun because RVD won, and the psychology was pretty decent, but Edge did way too much stalling just standing around that really hurt the match. There weren't any suspenseful near-falls or anything either, and I'd probably only give it like ***1/4. Nowhere near as good as the tag match last Tuesday.

If it wasn't for JBL, Cena would be the worst WWE champion of all time. He's such a corny fucking poser. The only people who are into him at all are either: a) Children below the age of 14. b) Females below the age of 24. c) The dumbest fucking hillbilly marks you've ever seen in your life. The type of person who might believe wrestling is real. Edit: I know he's not the champion right now, but he had the belt for over a year, and the odds are that he's winning it back tomorrow night.

I actually went to the sports bar and watched this tonight, but I left after the RVD/Cena confrontation. I just have no desire to see the fucking Spirit Squad main event a PPV. I mean, enough is enough already. As for what I watched, RVD/Edge was pretty good, and I was glad to see RVD retain, at least until I found out he's got Cena tomorrow night. The last thing they need to do is give that fag the title back already. Cena/Sabu just buried the ECW brand even worse. The turning point of the match was when Viscera beat the shit out of Sandman so that Cena could grab the cane and hit Sabu with it. I'll watch Raw tomorrow night, just on the off chance that RVD retains, but after that, I'm through with this brand for a while. Oh, and Foley/Flair was a total joke, and the IC Title and Kane/Kane matches were both quite dull. I ended up looking at the other TV to watch Canadian football during both of them.

I'm definitely going to be in. In fact, there was a point in time where I probably would have quit this board if not for this contest. I'm kind of getting back into wrestling again anyway, but I'll be happy to join as Georgia Tech. Oh, and if anyone's got any ideas for side action, I'd most definitely be down.

Define "horrible at it". The man continually wrestles good matches, does some really good suplexes, and gets the crowd into the "intense" persona. I'll agree it comes off a little overdone, and the mouthpiece looks stupid, but he's far from "horrible at it". Also, I think some people are trying to pigeonhole Angle's gimmick into MMA-shooter. That's not it at all. He's supposed to be an amateur wrestler who knows some chokes and has a few more shoot elements added. I kind of liken it to Taker adding some MMA moves to his arsenal, more than the idea that Angle's supposed to be ready to go straight into the octagon or something.

This card has me interested enough that I'll probably head down to the sports bar tonight. I missed ONS due to sleeping late/the NBA Finals, but I'm going to make sure I see this one. On to predictions: Edge vs. RVD (WWE title): Edge almost has to take this in a screwjob. I'd love to see RVD retain, but Edge winning is the only logical thing booking-wise. DX vs. Spirit Squad: This one's pretty obvious. DX goes over in a ten minute brawl. John Cena vs. Sabu: I like Sabu here to give one win for the ECW side with the built-in excuse of the lumberjacks causing the loss. Also, this is another reason for Cena to stay involved with ECW if they really want to keep Raw starts involved in ECW. Shelton vs. Carlito vs. Nitro (IC title): Couldn't care less on this one, but I'll go with Carlito since he seems to be getting a push. Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton: 50/50 booking between the brands prevails over their desire to punish Orton, and Randy takes the win while looking as bad as possible. Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley: Foley loses the first fall while screwing around, then gets pissed off and serious in the middle of the second fall, while the third fall is an epic battle, as good as the two are capable of wrestling where Flair ultimately takes the win. Kane vs. Fake Kane: Fake Kane takes the win here with the storyline that Kane isn't focused enough or evil enough or something like that with his current character. Besides if Kane just beats Fake Kane in the first match that kind of kills the heat for the storyline a little. Umaga vs. Eugene: Umaga with the squash.

Why can't he wrestle multiple styles? It doesn't make sense that he'd just forget his whole arsenal in two weeks. He's just adding to it by making the choke a viable finisher. Oh, and I didn't think the tag match was regular WWE style at all. That match was more creative than anything I've seen on WWE TV in at least 6 months.

I didn't mean that the respect thing had never been done before. Hell, even in the WWE it was done at WM X-7. I was just saying that it wasn't something that had been done so many times that it's lost its impact. The thing where a tag partner gets jealous and walks out has been done a million times in the WWE, both where they were long-term tag partners, and when they weren't. It just smacks of lazy booking, and "we didn't know how to turn this guy heel any other way". By doing it at a big show, with a title on the line, in a hypocritical manner, that still makes sense in terms of the character, it makes the turn more impactful, and it makes the fans get more into the characters in the long run. I think what actually irks me the most is that follows the same formula that the WWE uses all the time of "turn face in a manner that shocks the fans and explain why later". If Angle enlists Punk to help him win the title, then it's obvious why he changed at that point. Because the title was important to him and he had to win that match. Someone watching the show would think "aw shit, Angle joined up with Punk because he needed his help to beat RVD", not "why would Angle walk out on the match, this is stupid."

Yeah, I guess you're right, it was a live audience. That made it even more annoying though. They had to constantly wait for the laughter to die down and it completely fucked with everyone's timing. I did only watch one segment, but what I saw was so annoying and unfunny, that it made me want to never watch again.

Bah, maybe you're right. I was too busy banging my head against the floor screaming "Why!?!" to notice the details. Whoever's fault it was, I was really pissed that Dirk didn't take the final shot. I was pretty sure that I remembered there being under 9 seconds left after the traveling call though, and if that's the case, it was asking a lot to think that Terry could dribble down court come off a screen, and still find Dirk at the three point line before time ran out. Especially when he was going to the far side of the court.

What is this, Smackdown? Do we really want "jealousy among feuding tag partners" to be the basis for ECW's first big main event feud? I much prefer the idea of initially building to a face/face match based on respect, and then have Angle turn heel in the match by accepting help from someone who was initially his sworn enemy, yet who he has natural reason to join storyline wise. Also, if Angle turns heel in the match and cheats to get the belt, it builds to a natural rematch at the next big show where Sandman can neutralize Punk by squashing him in the undercard, and then we can finally see what RVD and Angle can do against each other one on one. The promo you wrote out is pretty good, and I can see Angle using that later when talking about how Van Dam isn't a "real wrestler" and how he just accepted help from Punk to "level the playing field" for the way RVD blatantly uses weapons, but I think that if ECW's going to be "revolutionary", they should try to go with fresh storylines instead of the same cliche heel turns we've seen dozens of times in the WWE.

I'm not surprised. There was a hyped main event segment that people actually cared about for the first time in a while, and there were multiple entertaining segments throughout the show for the first time in ages, (opener, Sabu attacking Cena, Foley on commentary leading to the RVD run-in, yes even the DX reunion).

Also, on the dynasty subject, basketball's different than other sports. Before this year, the Lakers, Pistons, Bulls, Spurs, and Rockets were the only teams to win titles since 1987.

There wasn't enough time on the clock to run a screen and roll. If Dirk had rolled back to the three-point line on that play and Terry had passed him the ball, the clock would have run out before they got a shot off. They had time for a screen and a shot period, and Avery thinking that Terry would have an easier time getting it up court, and that the big guy would set a better screen, ran the play that he did. I'm just saying that Dirk's a good enough shooter in the clutch that instead of running a slightly better screen play designed for Terry, (yes, that's who it was designed for), he should have just given Dirk the ball and let him take it down court and shoot. If the defender was waiting at the top of the key, Dirk could have just pulled up 5 feet short, and he probably would have buried the shot, whereas Terry had already missed 15 of his last 19, and certainly wasn't going to hit a pressure three after fighting his way from the backcourt all the way to the far wing.

I'm not feeling this. The fact is that the ECW roster is pretty thin. There really isn't enough of a "mid-card" that a prime prospect should spend a year going through it. There's no secondary belt and with an hour-long TV show, matches are either stars facing stars or stars facing jobbers. Of the young wrestlers yet to debut, Punk is the most polished and developed, and is fairly well-known, at least among internet fans, so there's no reason he can't jump straight to the main event. The best way to get him over credibly at that level is with a hot feud against an established wrestler, which in this case would be Angle. As far as the idea of Angle hating ECW and begging Vince to go back to Smackdown, I don't like it. I think the most important thing for ECW right now is to distance itself from Raw and Smackdown and having the "WWE guy" run skits with Vince all the time acknowledging that ECW is operating completely under the WWE umbrella shatters the idea that they're separate companies. I think the best way for Angle to turn heel is by joining Punk in defaming the notion of "extreme" and the character of ECW wrestlers after initially embracing their philosophy. I'd hype up the second big ECW show (are they running PPVs?), on the idea of an RVD/Angle face vs. face match built on respect for each others' wrestling ability. Then, I'd have Punk interfere to help Angle, have Angle shake his hand, then have the two of them hit a double team move which pins RVD. Then Angle could come out the next night and say that he gained respect for Punk after their initial 30-minute epic, and realized that everything Punk was saying about how he "changed" was right. That way, you strongly position Angle as the top heel in the company, going against everything ECW stands for, and make the feud even hotter against top face RVD.

I'm looking at this from the perspective that ECW needs heels in a bad way. Right now, they've got Big Show and that's about it. I figure that by turning against "extreme", they can get instant heel heat on Angle and Punk in a jiffy. I'm not saying that every feud Punk does has to rely on straight edge, but I think that would initially be a good way to get him over to the ECW audience.

I was actually thinking that Punk and Angle would eventually end up teaming together with the idea that Angle grew to respect Punk after their blowoff match. (Hopefully, they can work a 30-minute epic, otherwise it doesn't work as well.) Your idea would work too though.

I'd say that's fine. ECW desperately needs new stars and anything Punk could do to get himself over on Angle would be great. Angle's probably the best promo of the established workers in ECW, so that seems like another reason that they'd be a great fit. I'd like to think that a year from now, Punk will be the top heel in the promotion. And it really wouldn't be that hard to set up a feud between the two. Shit, if you want to go all the way with it, have Angle chug a beer with Sandman after beating up a couple heels or something. Then, Punk could say how Angle used to be a good role model for children and now he's been perverted by all the thugs and criminals in ECW. I'm not saying that Punk has to be positioned as being against the entire promotion; just have him want to "clean things up" and make it about the wrestling.

I love Entourage, and I thought while the first two episodes weren't on par with any of the peak shows last year, there were a lot of good funny moments, and I still liked them better than most anything on TV right now. The second episode was a lot better than the first. Lucky Louie, I tried to watch for the first few minutes, and the first segment was so bad that I just gave up on it altogether. The laugh track's really invasive, and the first gag was so unfunny I just gave up right away. I suppose I should give it another try, but I probably won't. I want to get into Deadwood, but after missing the first couple seasons and then missing the first episode this season, I think I might just get Season 1 on DVD and start from there.

Just watched the show. Regardless of what you feel about ECW's direction, I thought the hour of TV from last night was more entertaining than any hour of Raw or Smackdown I've watched in the last few months. (Although admittedly, I haven't watched much of Smackdown.) The point is that it was a fun television product. The opening match was very entertaining, and I wouldn't call it a squash as they gave Mamaluke his fair share of offense. I like the idea of a Dreamer/Show feud a lot, and Show's new finisher is pretty badass too. Finally, the main event was much better than any WWE TV match of similar length. They had innovative counters, fresh spots, and the pacing of the match was light years better than a typical WWE match. All in all, I'd say there's plenty to be optimistic about for the future. Test coming in looks like a bad idea, but can you really say that you wouldn't like to see him feud with the Sandman? The fact is that the new ECW's going to need heels, and after the initial WWE/ECW feud's over, the natural heels would be WWE alumni that "don't belong" in ECW. Kurt Angle's such a charismatic worker, that he'll probably be over anyway, but for the most part having a roster of heel WWE alums sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Wow, and here I was sure this was going to be a topic about Phil Mickelson choking in the US Open. You should change the title to "Leftist Scum" to make it less misleading. I try to avoid CE discussions online about 95% of the time. It's like trying to argue religion with someone. You're just beating your head against a brick wall.

Completely uncalled for. I'd like to confine my mourning to one thread, thank you very much.