Dark Age

Plus Benoit/Jordan, and the Orton stuff. This wouldn't be so bad if they hadn't announced FOUR matches already, plus another segment.

In WWE, Batista turned face after Triple H tried to manipulate him and send him to SD. Batista then beat Trips at Mania to win the title in an average match that was booked badly. They continued to feud for the next three months, with no real development in the storyline at all. Batista beat Hunter at Backlash AGAIN, but Trips had him beat when the ref was down. They had a third, and final match, HIAC, at Vengeance, which Batista won clean. Trips hasn't been around since. On SmackDown!, John Cena became the number one contender to JBL after he won an eight-man tournament (beating Kurt Angle in the final match, which was solid). Cena and JBL had a dull feud with all the usual shortcuts, before Cena beat Bradshaw at Mania to win the title in a HUGE LETDOWN. Didn't seem special at all. Like on Raw, with Tista and H, they continued feuding, with Cena beating JBL in a pretty damn good I Quit match at Judgment Day. There was a draft in June, I think. Cena (WWE Champ), Angle, Big Show, RVD and Carlito moved to Raw. Batista (World Champ), Orton, Benoit, Christian and Hassan went to SmackDown! The draft was, obviously, completely random, yes sir. The main titles, as you can see, switched shows. Batista began a feud with JBL upon his SD arrival, as JBL won a number one contenders match (originally a SMACKDOWN! TITLE match, before Batista arrived). It sucked. JBL beat Tista by DQ at GAB, before losing a no holds barred match at SummerSlam, both of which were pretty bad. They will have a third match next week on SD, which Batista, I'm sure, will win again. On Raw, Cena was opposite Christian, who had been calling out Cena for months (most expected it to lead to Christian moving to SD to face Cena, but the opposite took place). He had to play second fiddle to Tista/Trips for a while (both titles were on Raw for about a month) before becoming "the star". Jericho was added to the feud and turned heel. Cena beat both in a decent three-way at Vengeance. He continued the feud with Jericho, however, until SummerSlam and beyond, with Cena beating Chris at both the PPV and the next night's Raw. Both were good matches. The feud was, again, booked quite badly, though there were some nice segments. The Raw finale was a loser leaves town match. Jericho lost and is now gone from the company. Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan formed a tag team when Shawn needed a partner to face Hassan and Daivari. Hulk made a few special appearances before Shawn turned on the Hulkster with a superkick. It led to Shawn producing some very good heel work and being fresher than he's been in years. I'm still not sure WHY Shawn turned, but he got beat by Hogan in a fun match at Slam (main event) and shook his hand after the match, meaning he's a face again. He tried to bury Hogan the next night, though, and he's kind of iffy at the moment. Eddie and Rey had a feud which has gone on and on and on. Rey beat Eddie three times at the start of the year (which you may or may not know), but Eddie was cool. They tagged up and won the belts in an ok match at NWO against the Bashams. There was trouble though, and Eddie challenged Rey to a match at Mania (so that they could steal the show, sayeth Eddie). Eddie lost again, but didn't turn heel, instead shaking Rey's hand. Chavo got in the ear of both guys, and told Rey that Eddie was simply keeping his enemies close to him, and he babbled to Eddie that he couldn't beat Rey. Eddie and Rey lost the belts to MNM (new tag team, John Hennigan from Tough Enough and Joey Matthews, now Mercury). Eddie had let Rey get beaten down by the new guys a week earlier (he had car troubles), hinting at his heel turn. It seemed like he turned after the original MNM match, but things were smooth the next week. They faced MNM again, but this time, Eddie refused to tag Rey and instead let him take a brutal beating (they lost again). It was a similar scene to when Chavo turned on Eddie a couple of years ago, which I thought was cool. The next week, Eddie was STILL confused and, apparently, still hadn't turned heel. Rey beat Chavo in a good street fight, but Eddie FINALLY turned, for real, after the match in, probably, my favourite segment this yea. Eddie bloodied Rey, ripped his mask and gave him a brainbuster on the stairs in an AWESOME turn. He promised to kill Rey at JD. From there, the feud just dragged and got worse and worse, with it being revealed that Eddie was the real father of Rey's son. They DID have the MOTY on SmackDown, though. PPVS (important matches) No Way Out JBL beat Big Show in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match John Cena beat Kurt Angle in a No. 1 Contenders Match Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio beat Doug and Danny Basham to win the WWE Tag Team Championships WrestleMania Batista beat Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship John Cena beat JBL to win the WWE Heavyweight Championship Kurt Angle beat Shawn Michaels (SD Vs. Raw) Undertaker beat Randy Orton (SD Vs. Raw) Rey Mysterio beat Eddie Guerrero Edge beat Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Christian, Kane and Shelton Benjamin in a "Money In The Bank" 6-Way Ladder Match (winner gets a world title shot, valid for a year) Backlash Batista beat Triple H to retain the World Heavyweight Championship Edge beat Chris Benoit in a Last Man Standing Match Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan beat Muhammed Hassan and Daivari Shelton Benjamin beat Chris Jericho to retain the Intercontinental Championship Judgment Day John Cena beat JBL in an I Quit Match to retain the WWE Heavyweight Championship Rey Mysterio beat Eddie Guerrero by DQ Booker T beat Kurt Angle Carlito beat Big Show Vengeance Batista beat Triple H in a Hell In The Cell Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship John Cena beat Chris Jericho and Christian in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Heavyweight Championship Shawn Michaels beat Kurt Angle Kane beat Edge Carlito beat Shelton Benjamin to retain the Intercontinental Championship (Carlito won in on the Raw prior) Great American Bash JBL beat Batista by DQ but didn't win the World Heavyweight Championship Rey Mysterio beat Eddie Guerrero Booker T beat Christian Undertaker beat Muhammed Hassan in a No. 1 Contenders Match (Taker lost his title shot on the next SD to JBL) Orlando Jordan beat Chris Benoit to retain the US Championship SummerSlam Hulk Hogan beat Shawn Michaels Batista beat JBL in a No Holds Barred Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship John Cena beat Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Heavyweight Championship Randy Orton beat Undertaker Rey Mysterio beat Eddie Guerrero in a Ladder Match Edge beat Matt Hardy Chris Benoit beat Orlando Jordan to win the US Championship Kurt Angle beat Eugene There was also the Hardy/Edge stuff and the ECW PPV, but someone else can go on about those. BEST MATCHES! Eddie Guerrero Vs. Rey Mysterio (SD!) Kurt Angle Vs. Eddie Guerrero (SD!) Chris Benoit Vs. William Regal (Velocity) Chris Benoit Vs. Edge (Raw, shortly after WM) Kurt Angle Vs. Shawn Michaels (WM) John Cena Vs. JBL (JD) MITB Ladder Match (WM) Shelton Benjamin Vs. Shawn Michaels (Raw) There's more than that but that's all I can be bothered to name.

For too long have the B-shows been ignored. So, we shall discuss them. Best matches of 05? Best matches in their history? Wrestlers who have surprised you? Guys who have "let it all out" on Heat and/or Velocity?!? Anyway, everyone should see the Doug Basham/Mark Jindrak match this year. Damn that's hot shit. It's not even 5 minutes long, but they just totally own the joint. Doug brings the NASTY KNEE KILLING BODYSLAMS INTO THE RING ROPES~! and Jindrak sells like he's been shot in said knee. Jindrak's all kinds of awesome with the fake in to the DREADED LEFT HOOK which kills Basham dead. Basham is good, all should know, but Jindrak can really shock. He, like, can be pretty good. I just don't understand. We all know about the London/Akio series. That's good stuff. Track it down if you haven't. Haven't watched enough Heat this year but, by all accounts, Val Venis has been owning it. Need to see his match vs. Punk. There was a Tajiri/Richards match on international Heat at the start of the year which was fun. It was 6 or 7 minutes long, but it seemed like they were going long. Val's dragged some very watchable stuff out of Vis and Tomko. Trish/Victoria had a way fun match at the start of the year, with some stuff you don't normally see out of them. I have MUCH love for Spanky/Noble sometime in 03. I seem to recall it being a MOTYC, but maybe not. Haven't seen it since it aired. Spanky was awesome on Velocity, and his awesomeness passed on to some awesome London Velocity matches. Orton's matches with Val last year are on a different fucking planet to anything Trips has done with Randy. Benoit is the only one to take Orton to anything as good. Book/Matt last year was very nice. The Dudz/Storm, Venis tag last year was great. It's on the XX DVD, so watch it. I seem to remember Haas/Eddie being boss, but I need to WATCH AGAIN!!! It's cool when a big name comes on the B-show, like when Benoit was on Heat last year, dragging guys like Tomko to pretty good matches. Also Chuck, but I like Chuck, so he doesn't count. I once enjoyed a Triple H/Maven match on Heat. It was a remarkable event. D-Lo was the man. We should compile some sort of list, with all the great Velocity/Heat matches. I'll make a DVD of it, and people can feast on marvelous HEAT! Maybe not, but I'll do it for myself anyway. Also, maybe some sort of "matches under 5 minutes that rule" list, like at that other place, but we'll limit it to Heat/Velocity. Or squashes. Squashes rule, when you think about it. Like, when Regal beat the crap out of that guy on Heat. You know. Oh, WGTT used to own on Velocity. I'll get some matches that I recall being good later. This thread can be used for other purposes regarding Heat and Velocity, but my main aim was to get people to bring up some matches that I may have forgotten about. 2002, for example, is a blank. And 03 to an extent. That is all.

BUMP! ISJ is out, sadly. I have been away from the internet until recently, hence the lack of news on this. I THINK I might have Heat04 done, but I'm not certain. It's looking good though. Note - this is IN NO WAY for sale, at all. Nope, not at all.

There's no meaning in this silly company. How can Eddie get a title shot when he's just been beaten by the same guy EIGHT FUCKING TIMES?! I don't care if he beats Rey next week or not, he shouldn't get a title shot. Stupid writers.

You can pretend to be the booker man, man.

And what, loan it out to every other member of the board?

The crowd would never favour Jordan over Benoit, though. NEVER.

Oh, trust me, it's far from over man. I'm awesome with booking matches. This is just the start...

Damn right. It would be awesome. I'd have JBL lariat Batista in to the crowd. IN TO THE DAMN CROWD! They would fall over chairs and shit, and throw chairs at each other. There would be lots of punching and clubbing blows. Seriously, it would be better than anything this year. Batista would win. I would be a good agent.

Ya know, I could book an AWESOME eight-minute JBL/Batista brawl.

Another report is in, and it differs. From that one: Velocity Nunzio Vs. Super Crazy Paul London Vs. Spanky (!) Big Vito Vs. Steven Richards Doug Basham Vs. Jobber Hardcore Holly Vs. Jobber SmackDown! Randy Orton Vs. Rey Mysterio Chris Benoit Vs. Orlando Jordan Booker T Vs. Ken Kennedy Batista Vs. Simon Dean William Regal and PAUL Birchill Vs. Funaki and Scotty Heidenreich Vs. Joey Mercury Christy Vs. Stacy

Velocity: Hardcore Holly Vs. Steven Richards "Nathan" Burchill Vs. Scotty Doug Basham Vs. Funaki Big Vito Vs. Jobber SmackDown! Randy Orton Vs. Rey Mysterio Chris Benoit Vs. Orlando Jordan Booker T Vs. Ken Kennedy Batista Vs. Simon Dean Heidenreich Vs. Joey Mercury Stacy Vs. Christy

I think he was joking.

Why the fuck does SD need a women's title? For Christy and Stacy? That's shit. Is it replacing the cruiserweight title or something? Wow, this show sucks. I don't see the point in any of this stuff.

From DVDVR, who took them from gamefaqs.

The answer is no, btw.

This thread was done only a month or so ago.

19 was fine for wrestling, but had some terrible booking. Book/Trips was good, Jeircho/Shawn was better. Rock/Austin was one of my favourite matches of the year, and just seemed way more important than most other WWE matches. Angle/Brock was pretty good, even if it was overrated. Hogan/Vince was fun. Undercard was rushed but solid. Only match I didn't really enjoy much was the 3 way tag.

If everything else on that show is -* or so, then yeah. Actaully, everything IS about -*. His ratings are still nuts though.

http://www.geocities.com/mfoy18/wwfstarlist.html 1/3/05 Triple H vs. Randy Orton ***1/2 1/9/05 Triple H vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. Batista vs. Chris Benoit (Elimination Chamber) ****1/4 1/24/05 Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho/Shawn Michaels vs. Tyson Tomko/Christian/Edge ***1/2 1/24/05 Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair ***1/2 1/30/05 Shawn Michaels vs. Edge ***1/4 1/30/05 HHH vs. Randy Orton ***1/4 2/7/05 Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho (Submission) ***3/4 2/10/05 Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle **** 2/14/05 Randy Orton vs. Christian ***1/2 2/20/05 Kurt Angle vs. John Cena ***3/4 2/21/05 Edge/Christian vs. Randy Orton/Shawn Michaels **** 2/28/05 Edge vs. Shawn Michaels (Street Fight) ***3/4 3/14/05 Chris Benoit vs. Triple H ***1/2 3/17/05 Kurt Angle vs. Marty Jannetty ***1/4 3/21/05 Shelton Benjamin/Chris Jericho vs. Edge/Christian ***1/2 3/28/05 Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho/Shelton Benjamin vs. Tyson Tomko/Christian/Edge ***1/2 4/3/05 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio ***1/4 4/3/05 Edge vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian (Ladder) ****1/2 4/3/05 Randy Orton vs. Undertaker ***1/2 4/3/05 Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle ****3/4 4/4/05 Edge vs. Chris Benoit **** 4/14/05 Kurt Angle vs. Eddy Guerrero ****1/4 5/1/05 Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin ***1/2 5/1/05 Chris Benoit vs. Edge (Last Man Standing) **** 5/1/05 Batista vs. Triple H *** 5/2/05 Shelton Benjamin vs. Shawn Michaels ****1/2 5/2/05 Edge vs. Chris Jericho ***1/2 5/2/05 Triple H vs. Chris Benoit ***1/2 5/5/05 Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (Street Fight) ***1/2 5/9/05 Edge vs. Shawn Michaels ***1/4 5/22/05 Joey Mercury/Johnny Nitro vs. Hardcore Holly/Charlie Haas ***1/4 5/22/05 Kurt Angle vs. Booker T ***1/4 5/22/05 Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio ***3/4 5/22/05 John Cena vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (I Quit) ****1/4 6/9/05 Kurt Angle vs. Booker T ***1/4 6/12/05 Chris Jericho vs. Lance Storm (ECW) ***1/4 6/12/05 Sabu vs. Rhyno (ECW) ***1/4 6/12/05 Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero (ECW) ***1/4 6/12/05 Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome (ECW) ****1/4 6/12/05 Sandman/Tommy Dreamer vs. Bubba Ray Dudley/D-Von Dudley (ECW) ***1/2 6/23/05 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio **** 6/26/05 Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle ****1/2 6/26/05 John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian ***3/4 6/26/05 Triple H vs. Batista (Hell in a Cell) ****1/2 6/27/05 Ric Flair vs. Kurt Angle ***1/2 7/16/05 Chris Benoit vs. William Regal ****1/4 7/21/05 Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit ***1/2 7/24/05 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio ***1/4 8/18/05 Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton ***1/4 8/21/05 Rey Mysterio vs. Eddy Guerrero (Ladder)***1/2 8/21/05 John Cena vs. Chris Jericho ***3/4 8/21/05 Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan ***1/2 8/22/05 Kurt Angle vs. Shelton Benjamin ***3/4 8/22/05 Chris Jericho vs. John Cena (You're Fired)***1/2 Meltzer's ratings in 2005. Thoughts? I think he's a nut, personally. I like Meltzer, but I don't trust his opinions on wrestling MATCHES at all. **** for Eddie/Rey when he gives higher ratings to matches like the damn elimination chamber!? How on EARTH is that crappy match ****1/4? Tanaka/Awesome as good as Benoit/Regal? Sure. It's like last year, when he said Orton/Edge was better than Eddie/JBL and Eddie/Brock. He overrates matches, I accept this. But, seriously, at least show some consistency.

Man, Orton/Holly from SD was pretty good. Better than Orton/Benoit. Opinions on this match, I must have!

I'm sorry, but Hassan was AWFUL. He couldn't even run the ropes! He was BAD.

Jerry Lawler flipping on JR for calling him the Hitman is killer. Good stuff.

Hey! Wootman! Stop posting! I don't understand this. I don't really care, either, but it just seems silly to move Christy and Stacy when they're currently "managing" certain wrestlers.