JoeDirt

There is still another hour of tapings coming.

Can someone quickly list who is left and who is in each weight class? I always mix up which guys are in which weight class. Thanks.

It's the right booking. HHH needs to be strong going into Mania, so why not beat the guy who beat him last year at Mania? Otherwise Batista wins, and it's "oh well, you did what Benoit did a year ago, who cares." But now HHH got his win back on Benoit, it means more when Batista beats him. That's how I see it.

That was a really good match. Well worked and well booked.

A couple things: -For the Cena/Batista staredown, you can clearly hear Cena say "no lockup, just come out throwing punches." -After the restart, Batista tries the same finish again, but Cena is smart and you can hear him say "no no no" as he punches out of it, and then say "give me a spinebuster and throw me over". -There are some funny miscommunication spots in the Rumble, like Rey kicking Shelton right as he's supposed to be setting up for a Stinger splash on Edge, Edge staggering into a chokeslam from Kane at the wrong time, causing him to stagger aimlessly for a few moments, and other little things.

I don't see why they gave them 15-20 minutes. They could have easily accomplished the same stuff in a 6-7 minute match. They need to book to the strengths of their wrestlers.

"That's what silent, but violent, is ALLLLLLLLL about." --Chris Benoit.

Yeah, it sucks I have to cough up a few hundred, and some people I've talked to told me I just should have ignored the email because they wouldn't go after a guy who just sold a couple of RAW tapes on Ebay, but I decided not to take the risk and just deal with it. It sucks, but that's what happens. So anyways, anyone want some tapes of RAW from 1996 or 1999?

This is stolen blatantly from a thread at DVDVR. This is the original post: "I was looking through some tapes the other day, and came along some Superstars, Challenge, Worldwide, and Pro episodes. And found one of my favourite Worldwides ever... Steiner Brothers vs Cactus & Abdullah Sting in a squash (vs Chuck Coates) Rude vs Bagwell Austin vs Steamboat That was just before Superbrawl 2, if I'm not mistaken. And during an era where tv was squash city, this was an unbelievable show. Which leads me to my question... So what are everyone's favourite episodes of the old syndicated shows? Any fed." So, go for it. What are some gems that we might have all forgotten about?

What are some examples of this, whether it be because an angle was dropped or forgottten about, or some other reason? I'll start with "what Paul Bearer whispered to the Undertaker" when Taker and Big Show lost the tag team titles to Rock and Sock on RAW in 1999. I remember Show was angry at Taker, who then on Smackdown whispered what it was into Show's ear, and he gave a "oh shit" type of look. I guess they just had no idea what to make it, so that's what they did. Another is Little Johnny.

On a somewhat related note, how does PWTorrents stay in existence? WWE must know about them...how do the operators avoid legal trouble?

Did Road Dogg use the iron cup at King of the Ring 1999 in a regular match against Chyna?

Yeah, it really could have been worse. I just laughed when I got the email though, because I sold like 5 tapes of RAW on ebay while there are tons of other people selling RAW tapes on Ebay right now, no problem whatsoever.

According to the document I'm not allowed to reveal the sum of the settlement or else they could rescind it and take me to court... But it's between $250 and $350 so I'll let you take a guess.

I just got an email from a WWE lawyer saying I have to pay WWE a settlement because I sold some tapes of RAW episodes on ebay (making a huge total of about $70 on my sales), and that if I don't pay they will take me to court. Watch out what you do, kids, these people take this shit seriously.

When it's all said and done and we look back on these wrestlers' careers, would you say they were a better babyface or heel? 1) Ric Flair 2) Shawn Michaels 3) Bob Backlund 4) Roddy Piper 5) Jake Roberts 6) Mick Foley 7) Bret Hart 8) Lex Luger 9) The Rock 10) Undertaker 11) Randy Savage 12) Big Show/Giant Might add more later...we'll see how this goes!

"How about you pour yourself a big glass...OF SHUT UP JUICE!!!!" --The Rock This catchphrase was so horrible it was the greatest ever.

MUCH better spoilers. The Angle/HBK segment sounds cool. I really hope MNM gets a spot on the main roster, they could really help the tag division.

You missed Booker vs. Heidenreich.

Agree 100%. Like we think he's cool because he drank a lot of beer. What a cool guy.

I wonder if the MNM match was dark or on Velocity.

It would be fitting that they'd sign Walters of all the guys on the indy scene, just because he has no charisma and hasn't gotten over whatsoever in ROH...just the type of guy Vince wants to bring in and mold. But yeah, using him against Masters was smart because the RAW babyface jobber roster is only so deep, and so maybe they're giving him a few wins before he runs through Val, Hurricane, Rosey, Rhyno, and maybe Tajiri or Regal.

I have a friend who works really small indy feds and he uses a cross armed diamond dust. I always liked the diamond dust as a move. And speaking of Billy Gunn stealing finishers, don't forget the Jackhammer, which he used as a transitional move basically. A few more...I'm surprised nobody has channeled Davey Boy and busted out a running powerslam as a finisher. Or Doink and his stump puller. Or what about Pete Gas's reverse full nelson slam called the GAS MASK~!?

True to an extent. But to say HHH's title reign has been booked anything like JBL's title reign just isn't true. Besides, HHH has already been established as a "strong" character through 10 title wins, many wins with the pedigree (you don't see him getting the annoying rollup using the tights wins that other heels like Edge and Christian ALWAYS win by), and the fact that he'll always be in the title picture. JBL has been booked to look like a cowardly idiot retaining just through dumb luck his entire title reign. It's like the difference between a heel title reign like Bret Hart in 1997 and Chris Jericho when he won the undisputed title. BIG difference there.

My rant for the day is that booking somebody as a cowardly heel champion just doesn't work anymore. It does almost no good for the company to book somebody that way, not to mention the wrestler himself. The days of the Honkeytonk Man are over. Back then, HTM drew people in because they wanted to see him lose. But now that kayfabe is blown and people see it as entertainment more than "I want to see that bastard lose his title," booking someone as a cowardly heel champion does no good. Look at some title reigns in recent memory for examples of this: Did Rock get over in 1998 as the cowardly heel IC champion, who went for months without a pinfall to retain the title? No. He got over after one hell of a ladder match with HHH at Summerslam, his mic work, and a great cage match with Shamrock and Foley at Breakdown. He got over after looking strong, so people respected him now whether he was a face or a heel. Did Kurt Angle get over in 2000 as the cowardly world champion? No, people saw him as a joke. He started to add some edge right around the time he lost his title by adding the ankle lock, but people didn't take him serious until after he lost the belt and changed what he was doing. Did Christian get over as a cowardly heel IC champion in 2003? No. It did nothing for his career. Will JBL be over when he drops the WWE title? No. Will anyone see him as a viable contender to regain his belt? No. The only way it could possibly work for JBL is if the announcers played it up that he was "unstoppable" due almost to sheer dumb luck, since he always retained the title that way. Other than that, it's pointless. Look at what crowds pop for and want to see today; it's two guys who have been built up as monsters going head to head. The fans don't go for the "man, I hate this guy and want to see him lose his title because HE USES THE ROPES FOR LEVERAGE, DAMMIT!" thing anymore. And obviously there are more things into getting a guy over, like booking and mic work, but I've come to the point where I think any cowardly heel title reign with a major belt like the world title or IC title is just pointless. It doesn't get the guy over that has the belt. It makes the challengers that don't take the title off of him look like crap. It does no good for the company and it draws little to no money. What DOES draw money is a battle between guys who are booked to look strong, not weak but lucky. Some might say, "he's just being a heel", but I think heels need to be booked to be strong, too...otherwise the fans won't take them as credible threats and spend money to see them take on their favorite babyface. What do you guys think? Is there any good left in booking a Honkeytonk Man-esque title reign?