iggymcfly

I know it doesn't seem like a big thing, programming wise, but a lot of people watch the Home Run Derby that would normally tune in to Raw. If I'd remembered it was on, I probably would have missed the Hardy segment too. And I totally disagree about the hyping up returns. While that strategy may pop a rating or two in the short term, in the long term, it accomplishes nothing. If they make an entertaining product and surprise the people who do watch with fresh turns, and interesting programming, the ratings will build steadily in the long term.

I obviously didn't mean that they should do it right now. I was thinking that after Summerslam or Unforgiven, when the Edge feud is over, and Matt's anti-WWE character doesn't have anywhere to go, then they might want to run a small-scale invasion storyline. I wasn't even saying it was a great idea or anything, just somewhere they might go with his character when this loses steam.

The other thing that made me think there might be something to the releases being kayfabed, is that in his last commmentary before his return on Raw, Matt specifically mentioned how he felt for all the guys being released, and suggested that he might reunite with Shannon Moore somewhere down the road. He would be their more to make it look like Hardy was really worried about his old friends that got released, while the Dudleyz would give it the impact and credibility.

There's been a lot of speculation that when Matt Hardy wrestles at the ROH shows against Daniels and whoever else, he'll get shit all over by fans who feel like the angle insults their intelligence or some other such bullshit. I think this is ridiculous. Everyone who actually cares about ROH should be thrilled to see the way this angle is playing out. I mean face it, a company that relies on word of mouth to sell DVDs doesn't exactly have a lot of growth potential. They have no TV deal, and it's got to be extremely difficult for them to pick up new fans. However, this situation is a golden opportunity. All of a sudden, they're getting some free advertising on WWE Raw, about the most fertile environment they could find to bring mainstream fans to their product. If nothing else, the fact that the lead character from the hottest angle in the industry wrestles on their show gives them some credibility that they wouldn't have otherwise. Even if Matt Hardy were to win the ROH World Title, come to Raw with it, and defend it against Edge on PPV, I don't see how it could be anything but good for ROH in the long run. I mean obviously, they don't want to abandon their fanbase by becoming a WWE clone, but Hardy's a good worker, and as long as he eventually jobbed the belt to a better worker back in ROH, I think it would be a tremendous growth opportunity. Thoughts?

I still don't see why everyone's immediately dismissing the possibility of an invasion storyline here. The Dudley Boyz have main evented PPVs for the WWE, and there's no way that the marks would be likely to forget about them. If they did have Hardy lead a stable consisting of them and his old MFer Shannon Moore, it could easily get over huge. They're obviously experimenting with new ideas, as seen by the bWo incident on Smackdown, and the Hardy incident on Raw, and if they think that this could work as an angle, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't pull the trigger on it.

I think that the thing is that we all know this is a work, but it's so funny and easy to pretend it's a shoot that we all want to do it. From now on, let's just say that Matt hates Edge and let's leave it at that.

Don't flatter yourself. Everyone got into arguments with Damaramu.

Well, I'm pretty sure that it was real. They just heard the "We Want Matt" chants at all the arenas, and decided they might be able to make a successful angle out of the whole thing, so they made it worth Matt's while to come back.

They also waited for him to grab a microphone so that he could talk, followed him with a camera, and failed to throw him out after he first attacked Edge, conveniently during the 30 seconds Edge was televised backstage. This does beg an interesting question though. With the general wrestling thread about fans who think "title matches are real", etc., etc., how many fans do you think believed this was a shoot? I bet it's higher than you'd think, somewhere in the 20-25% range.

You know what else was a work? The Vietnam War. It was just an angle to keep Russia out of the main event. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Don't forget Korea either. Why the hell did we get involved in that again? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> We don't need another stupid "running joke" thread. Let's get back on topic with Matt Hardy. So, uh, what's his website again? It will be funny to see if he plays this off as a shoot.

"No wilder than last week" BEST LINE EVER.

I don't like worked shoots in general, but if you're going to do one, this is about as good as you can do it. I give it two thumbs up.

Matt fucking Hardy!

The thing that amazes me about Cena's overness is what an obvious ripoff of Austin he is. The anti-authority feud just comes completely out of nowhere, his lines suck, and it really doesn't even make sense why Jericho or Bischoff would care. Nothing comes off genuine about his character at all.

Good god. I really can't believe the ovations that Cena gets sometimes.

I didn't. I thought Shelton was gonna stick his head out to get Carlito, and then was gonna take a beltshot to the head that the ref didn't see. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Nah, the fact that the ref was screaming the count vociferously, while Benjamin kinda got up and laid back down again, trying to think of a reason why he wouldn't follow Carlito kinda gave it away.

So basically, Benjamin is retarded. I mean, who didn't know Carlito was gonna get counted out there.

I think pretty much the most mind-boggling thing about the whole situation is that they didn't push Bret Hart more. I mean they brought in a guy, who had a legitimate claim to being the WWF Champion, and they just let him flounder into nothingness. I don't care if they put him against Sting or Hogan, made him a face or a heel, or any of that stuff, but they needed to find some way to get him into a World Title program stat. Still though, I think the problems with WCW ran a lot deeper than any one program or pushed talent could turn around. Everything just ran so slow. It wasn't just the matches with their endless stalling and slow, boring sequences. It even extended to the promos. Here was a typical WCW promo: Hey yo. (30 second pause) Wolfpack in the house! (30 second pause) You know...............lately..........................the Wolfpack....................has had some problems..........................with nWo Hollywood. And right now........................Scott Hall......................is here....................to kick some tush.......................nWo wolfpack style! I mean honestly, one the one hand, guys like Austin and Foley were doing some of the most innovative promo work in the history of the business, and on the other Monday night show, you had people cutting 30 minutes promos where they uttered a total of about 5 sentences. I think that in order to really defeat the WWF, WCW would have had to completely revamp a product that had fallen behind in just about every aspect imaginable.

If you're looking for something titillating, HBO's "Cathouse" is where it's at. It's tremendously entertaining from a non-sexual perspective, and it can turn you on as well. On the whole, I'd say HBO has the more entertaining package, as almost all of their originial programming ranges from good to great, but if anyone competes, it's Showtime. Penn and Teller is one of my favorite shows, and they, along with HBO are about the only places you can find a decent title fight. As far as the actual movies go, I'm pretty sure that they all recycle each other's shit, but HBO probably gets it a couple weeks ahead of the rest of them.

I actually used to believe the Taker one. I think it's just because he looked so different during the ministry era, that to people who didn't follow wrestling closely before that, he really did look like a different guy. If you see a clip from 1991, you can obviously tell that the facial features are the same, but if all you have is a distorted memory from a show you saw a couple times, he really does look like a different person.

It's completely unfair to judge him on one match, especially when it was with another unmotivated worker who was leaving the company, and the crowd was determined to shit on it. The fact is Lesnar works better with "hoss power guys" than any big man on earth. He gave Big Show his best matches ever in the spring of 2003, and his HIAC with Undertaker was probably Taker's best match in the last five years. In addition, his monster character is totally over, and he has the kind of credibility as a heel that HHH can only dream of. When you combine all that with his incredible physical skills, and the fact that he's only 28 years old and has yet to reach his full potential, I don't see how you could not get excited.

That's a terrible picture of her. I saw the MTV show where they launched her first single and she's actually really hot. Oh, and by the way, no pop singer would ever go by the name Bollea. If she's going to have a stage name, she might as well have one that gets her a little extra publicity.

Tennessee won't even make it to the SEC Championship, let alone the national championship. I'd say Florida and Alabama both have better all-around squads, and maybe even LSU does too. If I were going to make an early prediction for the national championship, I'd still say USC over Michigan, because USC's obviously the best team in the country, Texas is going to choke at some point, and the ACC and SEC are too balanced for someone to make it out of the regular season undefeated.

OK, just one last time on the higher power thing, the Raw beforehand, Austin saw him under the hood and was shocked, which was what made it really obvious that it was Vince, so it couldn't have been the same week as the Owen Hart tribute show. As far as events that didn't get spoiled by the internet, I'd say Angle pinning Brock clean at Vengeance. Sure, I thought he might beat Big Show, but pinning Brock was an awesome surprise. As far as angles, the nWo running over The Rock was quite a shocker at the time, as was the ECW invasion.

OK, I'll make what's actually a likely card for Summerslam: World Title: Batista © vs. Muhammad Hassan Summerslam's in Washington DC, and Hassan's got a #1 contenders match at GAB. Putting two and two together, I think this is where the WWE's going with the main event at Summerslam. Hulk Hogan vs. Shawn Michaels This is the match they're apparently trying to sell the PPV with and I almost guarantee that it will go on after the WWE title match. As long as it ends with HBK destroying HHH Sr., I'll be happy. WWE Title: John Cena © vs. Chris Jericho I think they recognize that both Y2J and Cena have their strengths on the mic and that's why this match is getting such a long buildup. Basically, HHH and Angle aren't ready, so Jericho's keeping Cena busy while they reintroduce him to the Raw audience. Last Man Standing: Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero It looks like this storyline is going to keep going for a while. Maybe Eddie tries to get Rey to lay down at GAB, and then when he refuses, Eddie reveals his "secret" the following Thursday. At any rate, I'm pretty sure that Summerslam will see one last stipulation match between the two of them. Randy Orton vs. Undertaker This should be Orton taking a cheap win over Taker leading into his natural rematch with Batista at No Mercy. Inferno match: Edge vs. Kane You just know that this feud is going to keep going into a goofy stipulation match. Hopefully they manage to do something a little different this time, and they actually light Edge's tights on fire or something. An ideal finish would see Matt give a Twist of Fate to both men before taking a match to Edge's crotch, teasing a hug with Lita, and then giving her a Twist of Fate as well. JBL vs. Chris Benoit Both men need to be on the card considering how heavily they've been pushed over the past year and a half, but if this match is for the US Title, then someone needs to get fired. #1 Contender's match: Triple H vs. Kurt Angle Two more men who can't be left off the card here, and who are likely to be challenging Cena down the road. As long as they have (on-screen) heat anyway, they might as well just fight explicitly for the title shot. Intercontinental Title: Carlito Caribbean Cool © vs. Rob Van Dam This will be the curtain jerker, but hopefully it at least leads to a productive "fighting champion" type reign for RVD that results in a lot of fresh interesting matches on Raw.