Hoff

Again, all I ever said was in terms of entertainment. I was less entertained in 2003 than I have been since Diesel's run on top. And I'm pretty sure Barron is on crack cocaine. Armageddon bad, HITC good? Surely you jest, sir. Then again, maybe this is one of those things like the HBK/Cena Wrestlemania Rematch that everyone likes but really kind of sucked I didn't care for.

Heh.

No one promo in particular, but I thought the caliber of acting during the Trish/Jericho angle was high.

Hey, more power to him. I haven't caught a lot, a couple minutes here and there, but I did see a FRANKENSTEINER~ and that rocked. IIRC.

Steiner definitely had some promise upon his arrival, but his feud with HHH was man-love-tastic. Remember the posedown? Yeesh. And then when it came out he was essentially crippled, the little promise left from his debut went straight down the drain. Steiner has always been a great character, though, and it's a shame he could barely move when he finally got to WWE. Also a shame he got paired up with you-know-who. I still watch their RR match when I need a laugh. it's interesting to see him working again in TNA; it's not as though he's lighting the world on fire, but he appears to have a better range of motion, and he started doing the FRANKENSTEINER~ again, when I think most of us had written that off for good. Remember his feud with Test? Although we did get Stacy giving a lapdance out of that, so it's hard to call it all bad.

I've heard people speak well of that match; I remember in one of Keith's books he said it was better than it got credit for because everyone would assume it was going to suck. I've rewatched it a couple times and I don't see it, but to each their own.

Hell in the Cell was terrible. HHH basically has HBK to thank for sucking less in '02 than he did in '03. Summerslam, the 3 Stages of Hell or whatever at Armageddon (I think Armageddon...the December PPV), and the EC, although that was much more to it being the first EC match, as well as the work of HBK, Y2J, and RVD. Acronyms FTW! EDIT: My personal opinion of the EC is also tainted by the fact that I'm a huge Michaels mark. So are all my friends. We actually got a noise complaint when he won the title. We could not believe it.

Well over 6 years later, and crowds still chant WHAT?! at heels during promos (or Cena occasionally). That's staying power! It helped ruin the Stone Cold character. I was suprised the Double Murderer got over in the WWE like he did.

BL -- "Thanks" for the memories, I'll add them. Tino -- I'm not arguing which year is more damaging. I'm talking entertainment value, which I thought I made clear. 2007 has had some crap, especially involving Vince McMahon, but there's been some good stuff and the wrestling has been, on average, very watchable in my opinion.

Oh, man. I'm gonna keep editing my list as we remember more terrible things that happened.

That would lead to Kane unmasking, which, five years later, I feel justified in saying has led to nothing good. Kane was a MONSTER; now he's just a guy. He actually has good facial expressions, but I've personally always felt he's missing something without the mask.

'02. If I remember correctly, the rumored plan was to merge everything into the IC title, and have that become RAW's big belt. That wasn't a great idea, especially with how devalued the IC title had become (although it has nothing on the present day), but it was no worse than just handing HHH a belt. They then proceeded to merge the IC belt into it, so they basically stuck to their original plan on that one.

That is kind of a weird reason. Plus, Blue Moon is delicious.

Oh, fuck! I forgot about Booker and "his types" not being worthy of holding the World Title. But yeah, that is exactly what I'm talking about. As for HHH, he definitely seemed to step his game up in 2004. I've always guessed that it's because he knew Benoit was going to outshine the fuck out of him, so he dropped some weight, hooked up with Shawn, and started wrestling again. He definitely had some good non-Michaels or non-Benoit matches in '04, though, which is more than you can say about '03, or really even '02. The opportunity was there with RVD, but HHH was still running at like 600 pounds and wouldn't really bump or move so RVD could work. Plus, we all remember how that feud ended.

PR-wise, this is the worst it's been in a long time, but if you're looking at it as a fan, I don't see how this beats out 2003. If I remember correctly, all of the following nonsense happened in '03: - Scott Steiner @ the Royal Rumble (and in general) - Brock nearly killed himself - Angle and Brock: homoeroticism FTW! - HHH vs. Nash is your main event - Zach Gowen - Mr. America - Vince beats up his own daughter - Kane vs. Shane, ball electrodes and whatnot - Kane lighting JR on fire - Goldberg - Nathan Jones - Booker T and "his types" not being championship material - JR and King, RAW superstars - G-G-G-G-Goldust! - Lance Storm's manufactured personality, because being a great wrestler isn't enough - Steiner vs. Nowinski; Monday Night Debate, y'all! - probably more I've repressed This was also the height of HHHate, as the few good matches he had in '02 faded into memory and he just killed anyone's momentum and popularity when they stepped in the ring with him. Literally no match had a well-booked finish; common occurences were Evolution cheating during a blowoff match, and HHH hitting the Pedigree, lying hurt for a minute, and STILL getting the cover. We all remember the Goldberg feud. There were some bright spots (Cena's emergence, Benoit's push -- yeah yeah, it was a good thing at the time, HBK lighting up the ring), but given how overall bad the year was it's a miracle WMXIX was as good as it was.

Board index says it's her birthday today. Do...do we celebrate?

I thought Gridiron Gang was pretty well received, though, so that's something. As long as he keeps getting strong reviews of his work, he'll find a place in Hollywood. It would be great to see him get that one big role, though.

This is the typo I never get. The space before the punctuation mark. There's no reason for it, and I see it all the time. Back on topic: most celebrities are sexy? I ask this as a question because I'm not sure if it's true. I do know that I would fuck a lot of famous people.

cabbage, I'm actually less fond of that idea because it feels to me like "ECW vs. TNA," or at the very least an ECW faction. It's not a bad stable on its own merits, but in doing this they'd be bringing in not one, but four WWE castoffs, increasing that stigma further, as well as setting up an angle based off of "these guys were in another promotion." Even if not pushed as "ECW," the subconcious association would be there. I personally like Sandman in TNA because he has a distinctive style. RVD and Sabu do as well, and any one brought in as a singles star might be an asset, but to do them as a group loses some of that distinctiveness.

I actually think Sandman might be a good fit for TNA. Yes, it furthers the stigma of being the WWE/WCW retirement home, BUT, Raven's there and not being utilized, not to mention the Dudleys, and he and Abyss might be able to work a good hardcore feud. I could see him being an asset, and I'm not even a fan of his.

"I'm a ninth-level vice president!" I'm surprised more people don't play D&D, by which I mean it can be hard to get into if you don't have a group already. It's nerdy as hell, but life is just fucking full of nerds. Case in point, look at the amount of adults that watch/read Harry Potter. And most of those are ordinary people. D&D is basically Harry Potter: The Game, with nerd dice and more violence.

Shame that we can learn that lesson, but the booking team can't quite grasp it.

Umaga. Was I alone in thinking this was really ridiculous when he debuted? I mean, come on; this is 2007. Never mind that we knew who was behind the facepaint, making it that much harder to suspend belief. But, credit where it's due -- he's become a believable monster.

I'm just getting into MMA, so this may have already been addressed, but. Did anyone see the IFL lightweight bout between Chris Horodecki and Shad Lierley? I (as one might infer from the previous statement) don't know much about MMA, but that fight was awesome!

Booker's suspension has been extended from 60 days to "forever." Which, in wrestling, may not even make sixty days.