Dark Age

Oh come on. I mean, yeah, the Mr America/Stephanie/Vince stuff was awful. But at least we had Eddie and Tajiri vs WGTT in the undercard. Remember that good run of shows they had just after SummerSlam? Ended just 2 weeks before Stepha left. They never got back to that level again. I'm not saying Stephanie CONTRIBUTED to SmackDown! being better, but her stay as GM (July 2002 - October 2003) smokes everything else SmackDown! has done prior to, and since, then.

SmackDown! went completely awful when Stephanie left. Just saying.

Edge or Orton seem likely. On SmackDown!, Cena or maybe (big maybe) Booker T. Other than that, I see no one. Christian, Batista and RVD are all long shots.

Benoit should be given the belt until death. I'd say have him job at next year's Mania to Edge or Jericho. Triple H winning the title back is just stupid, Orton is not ready for the title, Batista isn't good enough, Kane is dead, Eugene is a joke, and that's about it. Maybe a heel Shawn to transition to Jericho would be nice. Really though, I see no reason to end the reign at all. It's not bombing, it's not harming anyone or anything, let Benoit run with the belt until he runs out of steam. If he suddenly loses the interest of the crowd, he drops the belt. If he starts dogging it (yeah right), he drops the belt. If someone more over and just better equiped for the title comes along, he drops the belt. At the moment, there is no one better to run with the title than Benoit.

That's pretty much just as pointless. Why not just deliver a springboard or tornado DDT? The 'shooting star' bit really adds nothing but flashiness. It doesn't make the move anymore meaningful. Opponent is standing. Fleisch would then springboard into a shooting star press, but with an extra rotation so that he's almost coming down in a senton splash. His legs would pull (in theory), the opponent's head to the mat, and he would then be spiked. They'd land in a piledriver.

Oh don't get me wrong, Ray, I understand that. The matches with Austin, Hogan, etc, they're fine. But can you honestly tell me that the matches with Brock and Goldberg REALLY added to Rock's career in terms of being really important matches? SOME pay per vew matches are fine, but a whole dvd of matches available elsewhere?

I doubt Shawn will be back by Slam. How many Raws do we have left? 2, 3? Not nearly enough time to build Shawn's return, him seeking revenge on Kane, and then the match getting made. Best bet (if they don't do Kane/Jericho) would be Matt/Kane again, I think. I think Jericho vs Batitsa will be on Monday. It's Toronto, they should be ok. Rando, I think they'll save Eugene's return FOR SummerSlam, and have Regal/H there.

No, it's obviously something to do with the scratch logo.

I guess you could put some Flex stuff on, but it's not like you would get anything good. It would be interesting. Didn't Tom Zenk have something to do with Flex? And like I said, if they had the dark matches with Brawler and Candido, that would be great.

It was Ryan Shamrock, under the name 'Alicia' I think. They never went anyone with it, as one week it was just completely dropped without explanation.

Why does Fleisch do a shooting star piledriver? Does it have ANY advantage over a regular piledriver, or is it just to say 'wow look what I can do'? Move sure seems pointless to me.

Another idea taken from CV: Tape house show matches. Release a DVD at the end of the year with all the best house show matches.

I'd be down with those. Considering they brought out the 'Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches', then why not do the same with all gimmicks? Ladders, tag matches, street fights, etc. Throw in a best of 'Insert Championship' as well. Bets of Raw 2000 would be fun, but with a ton of complete matches.

I was thinking they would have Flair and Trips beat down Regal after the match before Eugene saves. They gotta have room for Jericho and Kane, so Eugene/Flair seems out. Unless Raw has 5 or 6 matches.

SummerSlam seems to be becoming more and more of a clusterfuck. I have NO IDEA what any matches on the Raw brand are going to be, and we have what, 2 shows left? They seem to change who's feuding with who from week to week, drop stuff in mid point and move onto something else, hint at stuff that's never going to happen, and everything else in between. Edge is going to be feuding with who going into SummerSlam? Orton, Triple H, Benoit, Batista? Jericho has even been mentioned. Just stick to something and go with it.

Eh, I see no reason for Edge/Triple H as long as Edge has the IC Title. Title vs Title would be pointless, and Triple H going after the IC Title doesn't seem right. They could switch the roles of Orton and Trips, having Triple H go after the IC, and Orton after the World, but that = Triple H, IC Champion, and that ain't happening, and shouldn't happen.

They normally get these things right. Benoit/Kane was advertised well ahead of time, as well as some other stuff (which I can't remember). It's not set in concrete or anything but both matches make sense, and the fact that they were even THINKING of running these matches at shows around SSlam time should say something. Long sentence.

I hope to GOD they don't do another Chamber match and, thankfully, I don't think they will. Chris Benoit vs Randy Orton Triple H vs William Regal Edge vs Batista Chris Jericho vs Kane La Reistance vs Rhyno and Tajiri That card would be pretty blah, but at least Benoit would still be champ.

I think that will be on a future Triple H DVD.

I have a feeling they'll do Triple H/Regal at Slam. Only problem, I don't see H going that far down the card. House shows for the end of August have Orton/Benoit and Edge/Batista, so maybe they hint at SS?

That looks much better, Curry Man. The problem with a Rocky DVD is he doesn't have any old Indy/Japan stuff like other guys, or any work from past promotions. He's also from a time when all long and good matches came on pay per view, so they are all easily available. Plus, he has not been around for the longer tv matches from the last year or two. My Rocky DVD: Survivor Series 1996 Vs Triple H from 'Titan Strikes Back'. Vs Triple H from 'Final Four' Vs Steve Austin from 'D-X' Vs Foley vs Shamrock from 'Break Down' Vs Foley from 'Survivor Series' Vs Foley from 'Royal Rumble' Vs Foley in a Ladder Match from Raw 1999 Vs Triple H in a Steel Cage Match from Raw in 1999 Royal Rumble 2000 Vs Chris Benoit in a Steel Cage Match Vs Triple H from 'Backlash' Vs Chris Benoit from 'Fully Loaded' Vs Chris Benoit vs Undertaker vs Kane from 'Unforgiven' Any of the billion matches with Benoit from 2000 Vs Kurt Angle from 'No Way Out' Vs Kurt Angle from Raw shortly after NWO Vs Steve Austin from 'WrestleMania' Vs Hulk Hogan from 'WrestleMania' Vs Chris Benoit from SmackDown! 2002 w/ Edge vs Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero from SD 2002 (Either match) Vs Kurt Angle from SD 2002 (Before Vengeance) Vs Eddie Guerrero from Raw 2002 Vs Ric Flair from Raw 2002 Vs Steve Austin from 'WrestleMania' Take your pick from those. Add in some stuff with NOD, from his time in USWA, the dark matches with Candido and Brawler (if they have them), tons of promos and vignettes and you got yourself a damn fine DVD. A few of those pay per view matches are already on DVD, but I felt they were significant enough to warrant a place on Rocky's DVD. Austin from WM17 cos' it's Rock's best match, Austin from 19 because Rocky finally beat Austin, Hogan for obvious reasons, and the Rumble because he won it, but I'd probably cut that because of the time. The rest are all pay per view matches not released on DVD, or tv matches. There's probably alot of other tv matches that would be worth throwing on there. Still, that's a DVD I would buy. Or something similar.

People who own belts look silly. I prefer the World Heavyweight Title.

I would so watch that show. But it needs a name.

Wow, it proved he should turn heel! Tell me, if you have Rock/Brock on a Rock DVD, what would Rock say about it? What is it about the match that really impacted the Rock's career? "Ugh, this is the match that convinced WWE I needed to turn heel when I return for 2 months next year". It adds NOTHING to a Rocky DVD. Brock DVD? Yeah, sure. Rocky DVD? NO. Pointless. There are so many more important/better matches that could go on Rock's DVD. Survivor Series, he 'pins one of the biggest threats to WWF ever'. So, wouldn't that be better on a Monday Night Wars type DVD? It's nothing to do with Rock. It's WWF vs WCW. Put it on a WWF vs WCW dvd. Rock vs Booker isn't that great a match, and it isn't that meaningful AND it is already on dvd. He wins the WCW Title? So, big deal? He won the WWF Title 7 times. Put the Angle match on from No Way Out. That isn't on DVD, and it's a better match. You're telling me that Rock/Booker is one of the most important/best matches of Rock's career and deserves a place on his DVD? I don't think so. You yourself admit Rock/Goldberg is pointless. And MOTN? Where the hell did you get that idea? The match is AWFUL.

WHY? All of those matches are on DVD already, they are all ppv matches, some of them suck, some of them he jobs in, and some are just not meaningful at all. Rock vs Goldberg? Rocky jobs here, adn the match blows. Rock vs Brock? Jobs again, no reason for it on a Rocky DVD. Survivor Series? Why waste on a hour on a match that means nothing to Rock? Booker? The triple threat? Why not throw in a load of tv matches instead, or matches that mean something? You've just gone for all his title wins.