Dark Age

This pleases me. EDIT: Also, I anticipate a post from Naked Snake.

Where does he keep this chart you speak of? It interests me. I don't think Triple H will win the title back from Batista. He needs a go between, like Orton last year, so that his dominance is less obvious. Maybe even two!

Damn you Triple H! I must, once again, inform you all that it would be a terrible decision to turn Eddie heel. Having him tweener it up until a GAB win over JBL, in which Eddie sees the error of his ways, would be cool. Otherwise, no.

I too am amused, but for different reasons. I shall not reveal them. EDIT: Also, I await a post from Rodney Mack molests cats.

They should have Cena lose, and then go nuts and kill JBL's dudes. Then Rey and Eddie try to calm Cena backstage. Then Rey says someone needs to beat JBL. Then we see Eddie. Then Rey loses to JBL. Then Eddie beats him at GAB. Then Cena acts all fake sincere and stuff, but really he's going mad that Eddie could do what he couldn't do. Then Cena ends up with the belt somehow. Then turns heel. Then he defends against Eddie next year. WORKS~!

What, it's easier to fight in a tiny pair of underwear? Don't tell me you're serious.

Thanks for clearing that up, chief! You're right, it wasn't hard to follow. You sure showed me.

I don't understand what you said.

No, he's calling HTQ a dumbass. HTQ called him an ass. The other guy was correct.

Triple H won't put him over. He'll lose to him, sure. But he's not going to actually "put him over" because Trips will still be the star of the show.

All you people who say Eddie should turn heel are insane. Cena should turn.

Batista should win in three minutes.

Thanks to DVDR, I've just watched Basham/Jindrak from Velocity. Have to say it was pretty damn good. Best Jindrak match ever, best Basham match since he came up. Really good selling from Jindrak, great use of the ropes with the bodyslams, some unique offense like Doug's Sudden Impact (I think?) Suplex, the bodyslams, Jindrak's dive over the ropes (which resulted in the injury). Nothing too flashy, just really solid work. I loved how Jindrak suckered Doug in for the finish. Basham is so much better than people give him credit for, and Jindrak might not be too bad either. Watch it. It's good.

Fanofcoils is funny. Come back coils.

Does anyone else ever think that the pre-Mania SD always feels like a massive filler show? It just seems that, every year, the hype and the sell always fizzles out come the last SmackDown! I don't know why.

You need to change your style as a reviewer. Guys like useless moron useless moron useless moron useless moron Scott Keith, and 411 guys or whatever, can get away with the style you use because they're recapping a weekly show. You're watching old shows, meaning you need to do more than simply inform. Why was the opener so good? What made it a ****1/2 match? Simply saying "it was a good match" doesn't work, because I can't hold that too highly. I've only been told that it WAS a good match, rather than WHY it was. PBP is boring. Who reads it, really? Because of this, I find myself skipping pretty much the entire match review, just to see the * rating at the end. It makes the review as useful as me coming here and simply posting * ratings for an entire card. What's the point, what weight does it hold? Actually going in to detail about why this matches were good would also save you wasting valuable time on recapping every move in the match. EDIT: In an interesting development, "useless moron useless moron useless moron useless moron Scott Keith" now appears whenever someone types Scott Keith. I shall beat the system. EDIT THE SECOND: A second useless moron appeared when I wrote useless moron useless moron Scott Keith next to my own useless moron. I didn't write THAT useless moron next to the useless moron useless moron Scott Keith above. Or that one. EDIT THE THIRD: I fear that someone has already found out about this interesting development, and posted it somewhere else. I am sure I will be lambasted and ridiculed for something that I thought made me look big and clever. Alas.

OK. I've made my points now, and they've all been ignored, so whatever. I know I'm right, anyway, and that's all that matters.

Akio would FACE London, he wouldn't get a shot INSTEAD of him.

You're missing the point though. We're not asking for these guys to be main eventers. I sure don't want to see Hurricane win the World Title tonight on Raw. But give them an important role in the midcard, ala what Marty did last week. They'd be just as over. Then, over time, if you rebuild them, develop their characters, let them have some good matches, etc, then you could consider expanding the push. William Regal could have been a main eventer last summer. It only takes one small feud to turn a character around. It may seem silly thinking about Val Venis as a main eventer, but, like I said, the same could be said of Triple H in 96, Rock in 97, and, more recently, Bradshaw. They are needed on Raw, because Raw sucks. There is no midcard - at all - and that is because they're too lazy to use these guys. You realise that Regal and Tajiri are Champions, right? So, you don't need your World Tag Team Champions? Hurricane is stale because he has no direction. That isn't his fault. If they use him right, he wouldn't be stale. Rosey doesn't suck. He and Helms could be a good tag team IF THEY LET THEM. Not his fault, is it? If you are going to promote these guys for weeks, then do NOTHING with them, then what's the point? Actually develop the guys character, and he might get over. He might not be any good in the ring, but he's different than the usual WWE style wrestler, so let him wrestle to his strengths. He'd get over. It's not like it's Stevie's fault. He's not getting injured to his own idiocy, or use of steroids, or whatever. When a bad, green wrestler elbows the fuck out of your face, you're going to get injured. When a terrible, nervous wrestler drops you on your head because he can't perform a simple Electric Chair, you are going to get injured. Then change his gimmick. Not hard, is it? He was doing fine as Morley... and then they dropped it. Stupid. Let him be Chief Morley again, send him to SD and have he and Orlando Jordan battle to be chief of staff for JBL. Nothing special, but it's depth to both guys' character. Not really. He's not very good, but he tries. He's only been wrestling a few years, and only in WWE. He was really over in 2002.

They should just add London Vs. Akio FOR NO REASON AT ALL!

They tried with a ton of guys in 99, some of whom didn't catch on the way they'd like. Billy Gunn, Jeff Jarrett, Val Venis, etc were all given decent pushes. However, none of them were given the push that H was. None of them were put over every big star, given the World Title, made THE top star. Was Triple H 'World Title' over when he won the belt? No, he got over AS champion, once they put him over every guy in the company. They could have done the same with any of the others. Not that I'm saying Billy Gunn, should have been chamo, but still..... Also, they could have had Jericho take Triple H's spot when he debuted in 99, and they'd be in a far better position for it. What was step one for Val Venis? Get over to a man event level? He never did, but then. he was never made to look like a main event superstar, and he was getting close to that level. Triple H wasn't that over (not much more than Val) yet still they moved on to step two, as you say, made him a main eventer and the rest is history. The window of opportunity is gone with RVD. They COULD make him a main eventer, but they could do a lot of things. They won't.

After he was pushed. My argument isn't about Triple H though. Triple H is not a great wrestler. He's not bad either. The same could be said of Val Venis. IF, and a big if, they gave Val the push that Trips had in 99, I believe HE would have stepped up in the ring, cut better promos, etc. It's like when people write guys like RVD off as "not being draws". How do we know when they haven't been given the chance? You can't write off these guys as guys who'll never get over when they've never been given the chance to get over. I don't think Trips was the one who turned his character around. He would have never had the chance to if he never got the God push. Plus, his ringwork improved because he worked with better wrestlers. Let Val, Helms and Rhyno work with other, top tier wrestlers in 20 minute matches and you'll a distinct improvement in their work - due to the fact that they are getting a chance to show what they can do. You can't get over, or show how good you are, working in 5 minute Heat matches against no-name jobbers. I don't think they're great wrestlers. Hardly anyone is. I just think they're better than the position they are in. Triple H really isn't better than Val Venis. I'm not asking for Val Venis and Hurricane to be main eventers. I want to see the CURRENT mid carders/upper mid carders as the main eventers. Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Booker, Rey, Kane, etc. Guys who should have been the main event 3 or 4 years ago. What I want is for Val, Rhyno, Tajiri, etc to fill out the IC and US title divisions. Can you honestly say that filling the midcard with Orlando, Snitsky, Heidenreich, Jindrak, etc is better than using the "Heat Jobbers"? All of the Heat guys would be far more over, they're better wrestlers and they have more potential. In 1997, could you see yourself paying 30 bucks to see Rock? Or Hunter Hearst Helmsley? If the company really, really got behind someone like Val Venis, could he be a draw? Who knows, but it isn't out of the question. Triple H really isn't any good. He's a solid wrestler. But there are way better wrestlers in the company. I know it's been beat in to the ground a lot, but Triple H really IS the reason that WWE is in the position that it's in. Not the only reason, mind you, but the biggest reason. He's a cancer. I could stand him to an extent if he was a great wrestler. But he isn't.

Oh right. Like when Helms was really, really over in 03, but had his push killed by Triple H, just like everyone else? Yeah he couldn't do it. Or was it, he wasn't allowed to do it? He was a threat. They killed him, just like every other threat. When did HE get a chance in the spotlight? He's always been treated as a jobber, in 3MW, with Hurricane, with Mack, etc. How about giving Hurricane and Rosey an angle. Not in the main event, that would be silly. Just a nice little midcard angle, with some superhero craziness and antics. Let them develop their characters, win the tag titles or whatever. Then we'll talk about these two. Again, when did he ever mean anything? His highest position on the card? A low end midcarder as the leader of the awful RTC. His character has a lot of potential, but we know hardly anything about him. He's a great bumper and seller, too. They haven't ever given Stevie the chance - he's always been treated as a joke. In 2001, Rhyno was HOT. I mean, he was going to be big. His push ran out of steam, as the dreaded "glass ceiling" stood in his way of the main event. When he returned, he was on Velocity within 6 weeks. Since then, he's been treated as a jobber. How can you even argue that Rhyno's been given a chance? He had the legs cut off him, like everyone else. He's still really over for a Heat guy who hardly wrestles on Raw. Tajiri has always been really over. In 2001 as a babyface. 2002 as a heel. 2003 as both. 2004 when he moved to Raw. Tajiri ALWAYS manages to get himself over. He's also really good. He had something special going with both Eddie and Rey in 2003, and what did they do? Absolutely nothing, and, thus, he meant nothing. In 99, he was really over, and was doing a great job in TV matches with Austin and Rock. Two months later? Nobody knows if he's a face or heel, he's feuding for the European title and facing the midcarders again. Geat job, WWE! It's this mentality that has put the company in the position that it's in. Tell me when any of those guys were put in the position of an Austin, Rock or Foley? It's thanks to each of those wrestlers, and them alone, that they're even remotely over. It's no thanks to WWE. And Triple H didn't turn any shit in to gold. He was given the God push, and they were absolutely determined that he'd become a main eventer, even if it killed them. They could have put Val Venis in Triple H's spot in 1999, and the company would be no worse right now. Tell me, why can't they give anyone the push that they gave Triple H in 99?

Yeah, I must have imagined Hurricane's run with the Rock in 2003. Or when he was one of the most over babyfaces on SD in 2002. I must have been living in a fantasy world or something. And how do you know those guys are never going to be over if you don' actual, ya know, give them a chance to get over? Regal, Tajiri, Val Venis and Hurricane (aka The Heat Guys) have all been really, really over at one point or another. And, despite the fact that other people would tell you otherwise, most of the Heat wrestlers ARE actually better than Jannetty, by quite a bit too. What guys do you refer to? I want some names. Prove to me that they were never over. Nobody is asking anyone to push these guys as the top dogs in the company, but I GUARANTEE, put any of the regular Heat wrestlers in a 20 minute match against Angle, book them to look strong and competent and they'll get as much heat as Jannetty did on SD. How is Jannetty better than them? Are you telling me that Marty Jannetty is better than William Regal and Tajiri? Don't make me laugh. He is not, nor has he ever been. At this moment in time, Val Venis is better than him as well, and maybe Helms. Even Conway. Throw in Richards as well. The fact is, everyone is going off on how good Jannetty is because they got to see him in a strong, 20 minute match. When was the last time those guys were given a chance in that sort of environment? All of those "jobbers" were really over at one point, too - until the company cut their legs off. In fact, it's shocking that they're still as over as they are, all things considered. Janetty is over because he was made to seem important. Treat the other guys the same, and they will be over. Nevermind that Tajiri and Venis have been wrestling about 10 years or so. Regal even longer. Richards approaching that amount of time. And what does experience have to do with it? Brock Lesnar doesn't have a whole lot of experience, and he's better than most wrestlers in the company. On the other hand, Viscera has a ton of experience, and he's terrible. I wouldn't call him a good wrestler based on one match with Kurt Angle. He WAS a good wrestler, yes. Is he still? We'll find out. BUT.... Regal's better than him. Tajiri's better than him. Venis is better than him. Conway is better than him. Most of the Heat jobbers are better than Marty Jannetty. As opposed to being dead like Hurricane, huh? Oh well that just seals it then. Hurricane's the most over-rated? No argument. You've just said it, so IT MUST BE TRUE! Hurricane isn't as good as some people make him out to be, but he's a more than capable wrestler..... but you didn't say wrestler, you said performer. In that case, he's one of the most underrated performers on the roster. He always manages to get over, despite being given nothing. With a roster full of Helmesleys, Takers, Michaels, Hollys and so on.... I really don't think Hurricane's attitude matters much at all. If there was anything he proved, it was that he was still an OK wrestler. He hardly proved that he was better than a lot of wrestlers, simply because he isn't. Like I said, put Val Venis in that match. It would be better. Put Tajiri in there. It would be better. You're basing off the fact that Jannetty had the chance to perform a twenty minute match with a top star. None of those guys get that chance, so you don't see what they can do. I don't see what Angle's carrying ability has to do with anything, but I'm sure you just threw that little comment in because you heard someone else say it. It wasn't a fantastic match. No it doesn't. It really doesn't. It was probably better than Angle/Jannetty, but Angle/Rey? No way. Angle/JBL LMS was better than Angle/Cena and Angle/Jannetty, but Angle/Rey is the SDTVMOTY so far. Oh, and BTW, Angle/Cena was on PPV, when I was merely talking about TV matches. For the record, I actually enjoyed the Angle/MJ match and I wish Marty the best of luck.

BTW people, Rey/Angle was far better than MJ/Angle.