Toxxic

Oh hell yeah. I think WWE are on really shaky ground here, and i'm not sure if their use of it to turn Austin is right. Then again, an Austin turn would mean a Jericho turn, and I'm digging that so much that my morals went bye-bye. If that makes me shallow, so be it. But no, seriously, Austin + violence to females is BAD. Austin + violence to females in the presence of alcohol... SUPER BAD.

Speaking as someone who can't get TNA due to my location (in Britain, although i believe a wrestling channel should start soon - give it a few months and it might come to my cable distributor, and TNA MIGHT be on that), I would be disappointed if RVD left Raw. Then again, I think that the jump of one relatively big-name superstar from WWE to TNA which was obviously of his own accord (as opposed to the release of Raven and D'Lo) might REALLY start to heat things up and boost TNA. So in that sense, I'm for it.

I reckon they might get a Mania match out of him. Although I admit, thinking about it, that the money factor wouldn't be so big. We saw his enormous mansion when Bischoff was trying to track him down. I still think he's the strongest candidate with Nash apparently out of the picture though.

And you know what - for the first time in what seems like ages, JR mentioned Y2J having beaten Rock AND AUSTIN(!) in the same night. I'm not seeing an Austin/Jericho in-ring feud because Austin's basically seems to be on the shelf unless he gets a big match at Mania or something. But I'm thinking that maybe all of Jericho's truth-telling on Raw (JR and King suck, Austin's a drunkard who abuses his power, Goldberg's talentless and stiffed him in WCW) will come to fruition. OK, so the Austin one is the only one that'll be acknowleged, but still. Even better - Jericho's been saying that all of Kane's rampages can be blamed on Austin. Possibly untrue - but if you turn your attention to Shane it is true. Shane put Kane into hospital, said that this wasn't going to end until someone was dead (Call the PTC! We have a murder angle here!) and goaded Kane so much that he assaulted two more "innocents". Jericho is so going face, and I LOVE IT!

Maybe talent stolen is treated slightly differently to talent that came in towards the end of the other company's life. Tajiri came in earlier than Rhyno, IIRC, and while he hasn't become world champion and was the victim of racial stereotyping he hasn't been treated TOO badly. You, know, as the WWE goes. The Duds were brought in and given title runs. And what about the Radicalz? They were WCW and ex-ECW talent that were stolen, and while it's true that Benoit and Eddie should perhaps have been pushed all the way, they haven't exactly been buried. Well, except Benoit's recent A-Train problems... OK, Raven is the exception to this rule.

Oh God, I'd forgotten about Al Wilson. You bastard. You absolute bastard. Others are sadder and mroe pathetic, but in terms of sheer mind-numbing boredom and pointlessness that has to take it. Why did you have to bring that up? And WHY is Dawn Marie, the woman who killed Al Wilson, now siding with Torrie in an effort to get rid of Shaniqua? they brawled at his FUCKING FUNERAL, for crying out loud...

Shannon Moore wrestled in WCW too. I happen to like Shannon Moore - but you can't tell me that Raven, booked correctly and allowed to shine on the mic, wouldn't be a bigger draw than him. Although I guess Raven's age, past failed run with the company and opinionated attitude probably didn't help. What about Funaki? I like him too, but come on...

WHAT!?!?!?? OK, I agree that's going a bit far. But Raven could have been used far, far better than he was. I mean, this guy has the most intense promos in the business and while his in-ring work isn't great it's at least acceptable, and balanced with a very good understanding of psychology. And while it helps if there's a hardcore environment, he doesn't NEED it (which is perhaps Tommy Dreamer's main weakness in the present-day WWE). Can anyone tell me why Maven, who was the Finisherless Wonder for about two years, was still contracted when Raven was let go? How about Nowinksi?

How can you all be so blind? It's blatantly obvious that the new heel presence on Raw, and the next World Heavyweight Champion, will be the World's Strongest Man Mark Henry. Did none of you see the fantastic promo he did? Is no-one else with me in proclaiming him as the heir apparent to Triple H's throne. I tell ya, Goldberg stands no chance. Actually, Goldberg is a product of WCW and they've been throwing large amounts of money at Henry for YEARS with no reward... so in theory Goldbeg actually DOES stand no chance... OK, new question. Henry or Nash? I take no responsibility for your inability to sleep at night after letting that combo into your brain.

Man's got it nailed. Although the sight of Edge patriotically waving a USA flag had me in stitches, especially when it was when he and Hogan were feuding with the Un-Americans... cos THAT'S logical!

How about Kurt Angle in a wig for WEEKS when his hair would have already grown back to it's normal length by then? I'm really hoping Edge doesn't come back as a heel if Angle is still face and gloat "I'm the reason you're bald!", like Hair vs Hair matches cause someone's follicles to die. Yeah yeah, Katie Vick, the KissMyAss club, Nash in general. Although honourable mention must go to the ladder fall of HBK vs HHH Best of 3 last year. That was pretty pathetic.

Now I know that asking for logic from the WWE is a pretty pointless endeavour, but has there ever been a real explained reason for why Brock and Vince are aligned? OK, Brock thought that Vince would pull strings to help him get the title and then help him keep it - I get that. Why did Vince WANT to help Brock? Was this ever covered? Or was it just another example of Heelish Behaviour 101? Don't even start me on the one-week wonder that was "I have Kane in the palm of my hand!"... but at least it was only one week.

Fleisch is retired? Now that's a damn shame. I saw him at an indy UK show early this year and despite the crowd numbering about 50 (mainly kids and their parents) he and a guy called Lukas Cool put on some wrestling that would have sat well with anything the SD Cruisers come up with. OK, bring in the Anarchist then.

You think the Canadians got it bad? You trying being British. We've had three (count them) wrestlers in the WWF/E since it's inception - Dynamite, Davey Boy and Regal. And God bless Regal for playing up to the stereotypical "Englishmen ALWAYS wear suits and are really up themselves and speak really posh" gimmick. OK, La Resistance score higher on the retarded scale, but there's two things that need mentioning: 1) As everyone knows, Grenier and Dupree aren't French, they're French-Canadian (although we can score one more Canadian-bashing point for that if you want). Darren Matthews is actually English, i.e. belongs to the country he 's denigrating. 2) As retarded as it is, La Resistance was created for a purpose - to get cheap heat off the French's uneasiness for the 2nd Gulf War. Regal's gimmick is a back-handed non-thinking stereotype given out because that's the only portrayal of an Englishman that the WWE thinks its fans will recognise. Is it too much to ask for them to bring in Jody Fleisch and just let him wrestle like a maniac without bothering too much about his accent?

RVD vs HHH is going nowhere except get a lot of people VERY het up. So I'm going to sit in the middle and allow both side to attack me as I unfold the logic that is: RVD vs Goldberg Can RVD work better than Goldberg? Oh hell yeah. Does RVD care more about the business than Goldberg? Oh hell yeah. Does he get paid LESS than Goldberg? I'm not doubting it. Is he as over as Goldberg? Um... not sure. RVD CAN get huge heat - or his matches can bomb, ala Unforgivable's Triple Threat (and you can't tell me that was ALL Christian's fault). But then again, the people can chant and chant for Goldberg - then go dead when he appears. Remember last week's Raw, and Goldbeg's "believe the hype!" mini-promo? I've heard Nash get louder pops. Is RVD a safer worker than Goldberg? Well, RVD's busted some people open with the Van Daminator, but he very rarely does that anymore. True, he crushed Hunter's throat, but it was probably difficult to judge how far Hunter would need to be to safely execute a Five Star when he'd never done it from there before. RVD does work stiff though, or at least he SHOULD work stiff - when he works easy it looks really crap. Goldberg meanwhile - he's not a really bad offender, but he has a rep as being a bit careless, or so I've heard, and lest we forget he did effectively end Bret hart's career with one misjudged kick to the head... So, RVD would be a better champ than Goldberg. I know it can't happen next week (face vs face? Not possible!) - but it should.

Yeah, but to REALLY suffer from it you have to be doing drugs - possibly heroin. So when you say it's spreading to the home audience, do you mean that the lack of good wrestling is causing fans to do drugs? If so, don't anyone tell the PTC...

Oh lookee, I mark my first post with a double post. I'm a cretin, it's true, it's damn true.

Is it just me, or was RVD suffering from extreme Jeff Hardy Syndrome on Unforgivable? The last few times I've seen him in-ring he's been slow, sloppy, and kind of looking like he HHHates being there...