iggymcfly

Why do you say no title changes. I actually got the impression that Y2J might beat Benjamin, given his promo on how he's been lost since he lost the IC Title.

I think most of the people on the forum agree that HHH needs to move out of the main event spotlight for a while after losing to Batista. My question is who would you have him feud with in the upper midcard after Backlash? Looking at the upper level on Raw, here are the choices: Batista: Obviously not a good plan. In order to continue the feud past Backlash, Trips would probably have to win the title back, and I don't think anyone wants to see that right now. Shawn Michaels: A possibility, but considering they're not even a year removed from the "absolute, final conclusion" to an extremely long-spanning feud, this doesn't look like a good idea. Shelton Benjamin: Got booed on Raw, and is looking like he'll definitely playing the heel in his feud with Jericho if he doesn't give a full-fledged turn. Probably not such a good plan. Chris Jericho: Well, either he'll be the Intercontinental Champion or he'll be coming off yet another PPV loss, after publicly acknowleding that he was on a huge losing streak. Neither one fits with starting a feud with a man wrestling out of the main event for the second time in the last two years. Chris Benoit: The first realistic choice so far. They could definitely build a feud out of their history, but it seems like it would really be anticlimactic at this point. HHH already got a win back, and if Benoit won, it could never come close to matching what they did at Wrestlemania. Kane: Please god no. I almost think he needs to go back under the mask at this point, because his character's so fucking lost that it's almost unwatchable. Well, I didn't start the thread thinking this, but looking at the dearth of options in the upper midcard, I think I'd have to go the unconventional route here, and say Ric Flair. They could just run a storyline where Trips blames Flair for both of the losses, and just go out in the middle of the ring, and beat the living fuck out of Flair to turn him face. There wouldn't be all that much mileage out of a Flair face turn, but if they cut back his schedule a little bit, or had him mentor a new up-and-comer, it could still work. More importantly, it would probably freshen up HHH's character a little bit to have him as a "lone wolf" instead of hiding behind a stable. Thoughts?

I don't really see this card stagnation at all. Batista just got "elevated" as Wrestlemania was his first real main event. Christian just got his first meaningful win in recent memory on Raw tonight, and Hassan's finally breaking through into the upper midcard. If anything, I think the problem with the show is that the lower midcard is too thin. What they really need is a good tag division, and for guys like Hurricane and Masters to fight each other to move up the ranks instead of fighting people out of their league in one direction or the other. I will say that the loss of Orton will hurt them as he was one of the more dynamic personalities on Raw, and he would have been able to create more interesting feuds than most.

Could they put Hassan over one of them in a singles match? Maybe. But putting Hassan and Daiviri over Hogan and HBK? Especially when they're presenting Daiviri as a manager? That's just crazy talk. Let Hogan pin Daiviri. Let Hassan keep his streak. Everyone comes out happy.

Umm, I guess the Raw?

Rodrigo Lopez is pretending that he's a becoming a real ace.

You forgot the golden showers from random OMEGA guys. That's the best part. (There's your juicy details, happy?)

Well, put it this way. The question's been asked and answered many, many times on here, so if you're really that curious, just search the goddamn forum.

That's what I was hoping for. I was thinking maybe this time, they'll get the message that it doesn't belong in the middle of Raw. If nothing else, maybe they'll give it it's only weekly block somewhere we won't have to bother with it. That way, the 12-13 year old male demographic can still have their fun, and the rest of us won't be bothered.

Honestly, considering Lita's past, wouldn't it make more sense for you to hope Edge gets herpes over this? I do think everyone's taking this a little bit too seriously though. If anything, this just shows that the WWE has a lot of talent right now, and if you're a low-midcarder, they don't have to keep you when you're injured. I mean, it's practically charity anyway at that point, so it makes sense that if you piss them off, they'll just let you go.

Just read the friggin thread. It must have been addressed at least 15 times.

I know it's natural to predict stuff like this but I just hate it in baseball. People are rarely right. Last year I heard a bunch of people think the Diamondbacks would win the NL West and the Phillies would win the NL East. I'm sorry there's to many variables to predict so early in baseball. And it's so long. Baseball's actually about the easiest sport there is to predict. People are just wrong because they try to get cute. If you just picked the Yankees to win the AL East and the Braves to win the NL East every year, you would have been right for nine years in a row.

If he was healthy and still wrestling on television, I bet he wouldn't have been fired. But since he was already on the shelf, and they would have had to reintroduce him again and everything, they probably figured they'd be better off just getting rid of him to defuse the whole situation. Especially since there's about a 50/50 chance Edge is getting a World Title run by Summerslam. On the other hand though, if TNA was looking to get big in the shrieking teenage girl demographic, this is their chance! I can just see it now: Airing on Lifetime, it's TNA Impact brought to you by Tampax and Clearasil!

She reminds me of Chyna before plastic surgery, only with shorter hair.

As for the original question, it depends on the time slot. It could do fine in late night, when adolescent boys are looking for something to get off on (see VIP), but if they're trying to run this crap in prime time, they're screwed.

How are they going to advertise a PPV all month, and then tell everybody the title's not on the line when the show starts. From Vince's perspective, it would be a lot more important to make sure he doesn't alienate his remaining fans at a major PPV, than it is that he keep Bret happy on his way to WCW.

I was thinking about it again today. What they should have done is let HHH and Flair have a little backstage skit before the credits rolled, where HHH talked about how he had a plan to get the title back, etc. Then, after the credits, Batista could have come out, talked about how great it was to win the title, and say he knew HHH had a shot at Backlash, but tonight he was giving an open challenge to take on anyone on the roster. Then, Orton could have come out and cut his promo setting up the match, and they could either leave the show the way it was, or have Trips come out after the main event and sledgehammer up Batista. I think that would actually be better, because it would show that HHH knew he needed to do something else to be able to beat Batista, and it would put more heat on the Backlash match than a crappy promo to lead off Raw.

The casinos choose when they want to gamble just like you do. If they want to stop betting in a certain situation, that's their right, just like it's your right to step away from the table if you're losing.

Fuck the Bosox and the Yankees. The Orioles are gonna be in sole position of first in the AL East by the time they're done with Tampa.

What does boxing have to do with this? Oh......... you're still talking about Seattle..... like they'd actually do something besides get swept in the first round. That's cute.

That's the mistake right there. All he had to do was say no, and he would have been completely fine.

OK, one more time on the screwjob: If Bret was pissed off about Montreal, it was obviously because he didn't want to lose the belt to Shawn ever and wanted to vacate the title instead of jobbing it. And how is this obvious, you ask? Because when Bret lost the title, it was the weakest job imaginable. It was obvious to everyone that watched the PPV that Bret never really submitted, and in kayfabe terms, there really wasn't any reason that match would put Shawn above Bret. The only thing it did was protect the integrity of the title by not letting someone go to WCW without losing the title. Now, as for the modern-day Shawn Michaels, he's certainly changed. The reason he got the job back from Edge is because he was in one of the sub-main events of Wrestlemania that they actually expected to draw money, and he needed to be kept reasonably strong. I bet if you look at his PPV record over the last year, it's something like 3-9.

WWE has tried numerous times to keep at pushing their flavor of the month even when the fans haven't taken to them how the company wanted. Hunter didn't over to any real degree for almost three years, despite getting push after push, and even then it took another two years or so and Mick Foley putting him over clean on three straight PPV's before the fans finally accepted him as a top guy. Rhyno was three or four inches taller than Taz and at least 30lbs heavier, and yet in your eyes Rhyno was the poor copy ? During Rhyno's healthy time in the WWE, he got pushed way harder than HHH did for his first few years in the WWF. It was only when Taker got played out, Rock needed to turn face, and they really needed another top heel that HHH got the big push in '99.

This is quite a finish here. I think just about everyone in the world that followed golf expected DiMarco to fold under the pressure, but he's hung right in there, and he's still got a good chance at winning on the final hole.

DiMarco was just starting to look like he was making a run, but then Tiger made an amazing chip-in to take a two stroke lead. I really don't see him losing the lead at this point.