Precious Roy

I was kind of hoping Orton would lose his spot, not that I dislike him, but I thought it would have furthered his "quest" to regain the belt, forcing him to have to win the rumble to get his shot, plus I think the main focus of the match should be on HHH-Batista-Benoit-Edge so IMO there's no reason to have him in there, he's basically an afterthought to me. Only thing is, RAW doesn't really have anyone else the fans would buy in the match, so it was highly doubtful anyone would lose their spot. I could see them doing something stupid like putting Snitsky and/or Kane in, though I'm relieved they didn't. Even so, I think it would have been pretty cool if they threw someone random like Hurricane or Tajiri in, just to give them a rub.

I don't think Jericho's potential has been wasted. He's more or less a JTTS, yet is STILL one of the most consistently over guys in the company, and he can always get back his heat after a loss just by talking. If they ever have the brains to pull the trigger on another title run, as a face this time, I see no reason for him not to become an even bigger star than he is, it's just a matter of them going that route with him. Face Jericho v. heel HHH is still a money feud in my eyes. But either way, he is rather bulletproof, yet could still be so much more than what he is. I still think RVD could get over like he was during the Invasion, he has the ability, the crowd still marks out for him, it's just a question of the E having the faith to push him and him becoming more motivated after being convinced that the E actually has plans for him. His staleness has just as much to do with his attitude as his booking, but I don't see him as a lost cause yet, just an unlikely case of righting the ship. I think Hurricane and Tajiri have been wasted horribly, another case Vince's size fetish burying extremely talented performers who the crowd wants to support. Will they ever live up to their potential? Probably not, but it's still there. The one guy I get the most bummed over is Val Venis. He was basically the WWE prototype, big guy with a great look who can work the "WWE Style" as well as anyone, yet they misbooked him so much that he's become an afterthought to the fans. I still think of a match he had with Steve Austin on SD back in the day where he showed the potential to be a main-eventer, put on a super hot match, but the E just never handled him right, and fans just refuse to take the gimmick seriously.

They messed up with pulling the trigger, so I can see them either pulling the plug on Orton v HHHawkeye at Mania, or at least cooling off on it. I think if Batista v HHHawkeye isn't the planned Mania main event right now, it's at least the main event that Vince and/or HHHawkeye want, and are laying the groundwork for so they can say they have to do it because the fans want it. Once they screwed up the Orton angle, I think it was obvious that Batista was likely to get a shot at the WM main event, purely because of his look. Vince, and HHHawkeye, are marks for physiques, and Batista has the juiced up look they like. Batista is homegrown as well, which works on his favor, so I'd say all signs point to HHHawkeye v Batista at WM, with maybe Orton getting a look in as part of a possible three-way main event, or something like that. Whatever the case, I don't think Orton is their main focus anymore regarding long term plans, at least as far as the WM main event is concerned. Also, Randy Orton is still quite young and has many strong years ahead of him. As fresh as Batista is with the audience, he's still in his mid-30's, and with his physique and the style he has to work to keep up with the guys like Benoit and Jericho, I'd say he has a good chance of breaking down in a few years. Best to strike while the iron is hot and get everything they can out of the guy, because Orton will still be around when Batista rides off into the sunset.

ouch!

I thought the point of the show was to entertain and uplift morale for our boys over there, so Vince ranting against the media's portrayal of the situation on the ground kind of goes hand in hand with that. If I were a soldier I would have been like, "FUCK YEAH VINCE!" Whether or not they should have aired that is another thing, but personally I didn't have a problem with it, and I'm pretty liberal and don't even agree that the media has been negative, but whatever, it's not like anyone takes Vince seriously, he's an entertainer.

I figured the holidays would give the ratings a boost, and it was one of the more complete shows in a while too. Maybe not announcing the opponents hurt, I don't know....

Jado and Gedo weren't even "future superstars" 10 freakin' years ago when they first started getting pushed, how the hell do they qualify now? HTQ is right, they're midcarders, nothing more nothing less.

It's about time. Pasqualoni had some good years in the 90's with Harrison and McNabb, but the program has been shit for a while now.

Well, Ruben Sierra should be back, and Tino returning seems likely, Giambi's situation is still up in the air, but we definitely need someone to split time with Womack and a 4th outfielder. I don't think we'll get Beltran, but he would give us all the outfield flexibility we need, as well as allowing Bernie to DH most of the time.

Hahahahahha, real classy Jim

Well, Hitler had simmilar motivations as well, the confiscation of Jewish wealth and property as well as the desire to not have to share the "fatherland" with what he deemed an inferior race. All that is also true of the American pioneers' slaughter of the Native Americans. The situations are comparable, though we tend not to look at Manifest Destiny in that way as it's been glorified by American history.

Cool, I'll look forward to that

Baron Davis is back, and don't forget that they have the almighty Jim Jackson

BWG is right, it's possible and probable that Payton juiced

Eh, I was younger but I marked for Borga. They didn't go all the way with the logical Luger feud, which killed the character IMO. He had very good heel heat for a while, and it wasn't blatantly racist or anything, the guy just played a good heel. And seriously, Poland!?!?! There wasn't any underlying aspects of the real world that fueled his heeldom, he was just a random foreign guy.

That dog looks exactly like Hitler. Creepy....

That would be a major sign of weakness, a "tell" to steal a poker term. They already can't find a taker for Sosa without basically paying his contract, signing Beltran would sink them... Cubs fans, sorry to break it to you, but it's a pipe dream. Only NY and Houston have legit shots, and my money is on Houston at this point.

Oh yeah, that period was the greatest stuff the "Stone Cold" character did, and totally set the stage for everything that followed. The entire character was realized in 97, and everything until his heel turn was basically coasting off of that.

It's gotta be Batista telling Triple H to fuck off. Triple H turning on Batista doesn't live up to the buildup. Batista finally killing HHH will blow the roof off the place, Triple H turning on Batista gets a lukewarm response at best, and makes Batista look weak right off the bat. I've got my fingers crossed that they get this right, because they can't afford to blow it like they did with Orton.

I call Ric Flair, "Deez"

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. OF COURSE the fans were going to boo him, and those videos were hardly neutral. If they wanted him to be a face they would have had to actively push him as one, because jingoism and stereotypes are so fucking engrained in the WWE's audience. If that was really the plan then the writers are dumber than I thought.

I sure as hell hope so. There was a point in time where HHH/Orton would have been a perfect WM match, but they jumped the gun, and now nobody really cares. It isn't the money match it should have and could have been. Batista and HHH has me hooked though. Just keep doing what they're doing, pull the trigger in time for Mania, and BAM, instant hot match. World Heavyweight Champion DAVE~! Batista works for me.

I'm glad someone at TSM is willing to bring Dubya into this debate because I see similarities between him and these dictators. I do too, but I'm not going there. USA! USA! USA!

And by the way, my grandfather read the first print of Mein Kempf and my father was born with the innate knowledge of it's content, and my father passed that along to my brother, who then told me about it.....

Hey, George W. Bush has charisma too, and he likes pineapples on his pizza!