BHK

Velocity: Bubba Ray Dudley (w/Spike Dudley) vs. Scotty Too Hotty Bob Holly/Billy Gunn vs. The Bashams small match sequemce spoiler: you may want to tune in just to see Gunn use the Styles Clash Jamie Knoble vs. Shannon Moore Smackdown: Spike Dudley vs. Paul London(non-title) The Undertaker vs. Orlando Jordan Nunzio vs. Chavo Guerrero Team Cena (John Cena & Charlie Haas & Rob Van Dam) vs. Team Booker (Booker T & Luther Reigns & Rene Dupree) in a "Summer Games Relay."

Yeah, he was about to pin Bret after a tombstone but Diesel interfered by pulling the ref and then giving the finger (Kevin Nash started the Attitude era you see) setting up Nash/Taker for Mania 12. Ah, yes. I forgot abut the Rumble match, thank you. I'd never heard of the MSG match, though.

Is it just me or is that false? Off the top of my head, I remember SummerSlam 97 and IYH: Final Four, both instances where Hart went over. I can't remember any other matches between the two though, let alone one where Taker went over.

True, there are. However, it's the little details that matter sometimes. Lawler & JR wearing suits now for example. It shows that htey have more respect for what they do. Conversely, as Loss said... He's correct in that also. You can't exhibit both images at once. Obviously, I'd prefer the former image. However, it's going to take a long time and a lot of work before anyone views wrestling as legitimate again. THen again, it's Vince's own fault, he created that sterotype to a point, and now he's trying to kill it.

She'll be back in 18 months or less. with Brock. Bank on it.

Well, obviously, any low rating is bad news. I honestly don't know how the WWE reacts to their ratings, however, if they do it on a week to week basis, that needs to go out the window. Raw scoring a 3.2 is bad, however, it could jsut as well be up to 3.8 next week. Now, if Raw averaged 3.2 over a moth, or maybe to, THEN alarms would be going off in my head. If they're reacting and changing the product based on weekly ratings, this is wrong. They have to look at things in the long term, they have to. It's the only way the product will thrive, short term fixes NEVER EVER EVER WOORK. Now, conversely, if Vince & Co. actually ARE looking at the show's ratings long term, then disreagrd everything I said above and kudos to them. I also wish that the IWC at large would keep this in mind when reading and reacting to ratings. It's hard when you have the reporters badmouthing it in the actual news item, but that negativity should be disregarded, especially when their opinions are based on a weekly rating, not a long term one. It's not chance that 2000 was the best business and best WRESTLING period for the company in a long time. In theory, if you put on a good consistent product over a long period of time, the people will come. In theory... EDIT: As far as the football argument goes, instead of blaming MNF for low ratings, how about WWE tries to put on a good product so people want to watch that instead of football? Stunning concept, I know.

SUMMER SIZZLER August 9, 2004 Eugene wants revenge after his mentor, William Regal, was ripped apart by a furious Triple H last week. And he’ll get it tonight: Eugene will team with World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit to face Evolution’s Cerebral Assassin and Randy Orton. So close to Toronto’s SummerSlam spectacular, it’ll be interesting to see The Crippler get in the ring with the rising star challenging for his title on Aug. 15. It’s a mix of emotion and talent that makes for one hell of a RAW match. Not to be outdone, two-thirds of SummerSlam’s Intercontinental Championship Triple-Threat Match will square off tonight: Chris Jericho faces Edge in a grudge match brought on by their problems in recent weeks. The animal Batista must be brimming with confidence knowing his two Toronto opponents will soften each other up tonight. There’s one crucial piece missing from SummerSlam’s “Till Death Do Us Part” match — a contract signing to ensure a commitment to the unusual and binding stipulation involving Lita. All three involved will meet on RAW to ink the deal. Will Matt Hardy and Kane save their energy for Aug. 15, or will the contract signing bring more fireworks? Be sure to tune in (9/8 CT, Spike TV) to find out which girl from the 250,000 RAW Diva Search Competition is going home — and surely there will be more interesting things in store for the gorgeous Diva hopefuls. Obviously, I'm expecting the typical hard sell for the PPV. I'm expecting Triple H to get the best of Eugene and Benoit to get the upperhand on Orton and then the "The person to get the last laugh on TV loses on PPV" formula to kick in. I'm also seeing Batista winning the IC title on Sunday, as that will create an interesting dynamic with Orton/Dave as champs and Triple H with no gold. Oh yeah, and the diva search segment. Edit: changed the preview to the updated one on WWE.com

I'm glad they picked this over Tajiri/Rhyno. I really enjoy the team, and they're actually building up their chase for the titles, and giving it meaning, etc. for once. If a better, longer, blowoff to their chase means putting their match off till post-SummerSlam, I don't mind. Also, there's only two things that can save the Divasearch at this point: 1) Rock, Jericho, or someone else that's good on the mic shows up and just toally gives each one a verbal beating, while the crowd pops. 2) The Divas learn to take bumps and then they have to face Kane in a 6 on 1 handicap match the night after SummerSlam. Other than those, this is the biggest waste of time on WWE programming ever.

I still don't like it. Even getting over the fact that it'd get old pretty fast, why waste a chair on weakening an ankle, when you can just waffle them over the head? Becaue he forgot one. 10) The Pillmanizer. So much cooler than the standard chair shot.

Hm. He nakes a good ppoint, though. WWE pushed the gimmick of an insane person, which is a mental deficiency, but they can't push a retard? That smells of double standard to me.

Benoit isn't even mentioned on the WWE.com main page with the Raw results. The diva search is mentioned twice and gets two videos. This makes the smark in me want to cry. I try hard to believe that since Benoit is the champion, they're making him the focus of the show. However, when it's so blatantly obvious that they're not, it just....it makes me sad. Of ocurse, if they put the title on Orton, it makes me wonder if he will get the same "overshawed by Triple H" treatment. Why? Because if Orton does win the title, they're going to have to find a way to keep HHH away from him for a while so he'll go into other programs (Edge and Benjeman I'm assuming) So, the real question is, if Orton wins, does he gets screwed over by Triple H also?

and rape Demolition's legacy in the process? I think not

It depends. If Orton goes over, then yes, becasue they have to have a way to keep Hunter away from him for a while if they plan on going with Hunter/Randy for Mania XXI.

So since we are talking about Goldberg, was this a legit ***-***1/2 match, or was it the best for him personally, which I'd see being closer to **-**1/2?

Gorbachev. Last leader of the Soviet Union.

Yes. Before Raw went live, about 10 wrestlers (if I remember correctly, the lesser ones, Regal, Mack, Hurricane, and some people that had jsut pulled Heat duty) all came down to the ring more or less at once without their respective themes/pyro etc. I'm assuming this was down to save time and to save the entrances for the more "important" wrestlers. Mack also wreslted a dark match at the show, against a "local" jobber, and won with the powerslam.

Also, it doesn't matter as much to be because I've seen it in its entirety, but why isn't the Benoit/Triple H Ironman on there?

If this is indeed legitimate, I'm marking out at the same time that my wallet is crying. This thing, if it's real, has to cosy at least $150.

What is the differnece to you, exactly?

You know, as a compromise, I'd ahve no issue with free TV matches always being in the 8-10 minute range, while keeping PPV matches in the 10-30 range. I think that would appease both the casual and hardcore fans.

Hey, it could be worse, you could be in school in Washington D.C> at that time and not be able to go at all, like me and I'd guess around $50-$60 for igloo club seats. I wouldn't even touch the floor. $200-$300 for ringside? Forget that, the only way I'd pay that is for Wrestlemania.

He doesn't need to "work the ankle" first. Submission holds can get a tap out without "work the ankle." If you're taking points off his matches for THAT, then you just suck. Sorry. I don't know what I have to do to kill this type of thinking... I've seen you express this point of view on psycohlogy numerous times now, although you've never explained why, I don't think. I see the logic that if, say, Ric Flair is wrestling someone, he would due various moves thorughout the match that concentrated on the leg. Why? Because Flair wants to weaken the leg, so that when he applies the figure 4, his opponent is more likely to submit/tap out, due to the previous damage to the body part. Do you not agree with that logic? Or just think that it's not REQUIRED to work a body part? or something else I'm not catching entirely.

I'm assuming (read:hoping) that the quality will eventually be bumped up to 500K/s and cleaned up as tome goes on.

because Vince ruined the slow burn. Very good answer ... another perfect example of this is when Hardy returned to Raw, and they teased his reuniting with Lita for all of an hour. Or when HHH & Michaels reformed DX for about 2 hours. Vince doesn't seem to grasp that delaying the HHH-Eugene match, people will want to see it more. (or, in the other examples, if people have a few weeks to get comfortable with Lita/Hardy or a reunited DX they will be that much more angry with the ~swerve.) I also think, and i know we joke about this all the time, but I seriously think a lot of times that the shows are written week to week. The booking of Benoit from January-April was the first sign of long term booking I'd seen in a LONG time. I also think, unlike Vince probably, that wrestling as a core with good angle to supplement is what draws an audience, not excellent storylines as your core with paltry wrestling tacked on as an afterthought.

To repost from the SummerSlam webcast thread: note: I reposted the match list because mine includes dates, to give people an idea of which mathes they are. WWE Unlimited is featuring a sizzling deal that will allow you to watch the SummerSlam 2004 pay-per-view and many historical SummerSlam moments from the past for $34.95. As if that's not hot enough, the crew at WWE Unlimited rummaged through their tape library to find 20 of August's other top matches, including WCW, ECW and WWE. See matches below (All video streams are 300K). Note: a one month subscription to jukebox is $3.95 while a one year subscription is $39.95 individual matches are $1.49 http://www.wwe.com/ppv/jukebox/ Matches for August are: Bubba Ray/D-Von Dudley vs. Spike Dudley/Balls Mahony 8/26/99 Rob Van Dam vs. Rhyno8/18/00 Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck vs. Public Enemy 8/27/94 . Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy 8/12/02 Brock Lesnar vs. Hulk Hogan 8/8/02 Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show 8/28/03 Shawn Michaels vs. Yokozuna 8/19/96 Undertaker & Mankind vs. Shawn Michaels & Triple H 8/18/97 Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind 8/11/97 Ric Flair vs. Eddie Guerrero 1996 Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger Road Wild 1997 Lance Storm vs. Mike Awesome New Blood Rising 2000 Goldberg vs. Rick Steiner Road Wild 1999 DDP & Jay Leno vs. Hogan & Bischoff Road Wild 1998 Chris Jericho vs. Stevie Ray WCW, 8/10/98 Sting and Kevin Nash vs. The Steiner Bros. Nitro, 8/7/00 Sting/The Cat vs. The Great Muta/Vampiro Thunder, 8/9/00 Hulk Hogan vs. Sting Nitro, 8/23/99 Lex Luger vs. Steven Regal WCW Saturday Night, 8/31/96 Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan 8/9/80 Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Jeff Hardy RAW, 8/14/95 I'll definitely be ordering this, however, I'll be waiting untill around november or december(or possibly even 2005) because then the match library will be much larger.