Promoter

He deserved to win that match, it does nothing for Hogan. HBK was a awesome Heel and he could have been a REAL Heel against face Cena. And instead pussied out at the end of the match by shaking Hulk's hand, then became two faced (as usual) and insulted him the following night, then feuded with Chris Masters of all people on the following PPV showing fans that HBK was a face again. Cry me fucking a river. Yeah, they most likely booked that. It seems pretty clear that they wanted tweener Michaels vs. heel Angle vs. face Cena. But hey, whatever, he was a dick like ten years ago so anything he does is his fault and inexcusable. Hey, pretty well said. So, that's the real reason he's "slowing down" after Mania. Hogan played the monster political move by doing all those jobs in 2002. Now, he can argue he gave back to the wwe and that fans want to see Hogan win and not lose in his twilight years. HBK's kliq of 1994-1996 wouldn't have a chance. Why should HBK win that match exactly? The wwe wanted him to turn heel for the Cena program and he turned it down. I think we all know why he did that. Better to leave jobbing to Hulk Hogan than to the new guy John Cena. I just guess Vince and HBK didn't learn from the horrible buy-rate of Hogan/Vince in 2003. So, HHH is trademarking King of Kings. These people are crazy in this company. I expect to see someone named Jesus soon and Vince goes trademarking that with the plan of HHH vs. Jesus at WM 23.

Sounds just right to me. Two recycled storylines that Big Show and Kane have been in. I wonder if the spirit of Big Boss Man and Katie Vick is floating around here.

I think he was trying to top the useless thread file with this one. So who's calling!

Hmm...didn't Eddie's grandma or something also get a heart attack in 2004? Vince is now ripping off Eddie storylines. When will the exploitation stop?

More mama Benjamin and Lightning bolts striking the ring then! Fidel Castro's gimmick fits right in here.

Personally, I think we'll see his sister Brandy appear next week in his corner. Maybe some of the comic view comedians on BET will do a tribute.

I guess they are trying to fill out the thin rosters. I don't mind them being used on 24/7 for kicks, but it is ridiculous now.

Batista also was only a babyface for less than a year as well in his current role. As you said Cena has been face since late 2003. It just proves my point. Once the wwe does a major change in his character the essence of Cena's charisma will draw fans to him again. Look at the HHH babyface pop scenario I'm bringing up. It's because he is not the same dull character hogging the spotlight as he put over Benoit in 2004 and then Batista more than once in 2005. He hasn't worn the belt since Mania last year and the dread of him being champ is not as great as before. The fans turn on everybody or show less enthusiasm towards the wrestler. It's just the way it is.

Read my post again. I did not compare HHH of 2000 to John Cena of 2006 in terms of their ringwork or persona. I was comparing the fickleness of the fans. Sorry that's so fucking hard to understand. Fans are fickle. You seemed to leave out the fickle fans of HBK too. One minute he shouldn't be going over younger wrestlers like Benjamin and then when he's put into feuds with guys he wouldn't hurt long term like Vince Mcmahon it becomes "a waste of his talent". I'm not even saying anyone here particular, but in general. Some people on the net want HHH to become champion again and win at Mania. Regardless of the situation that was not even a joke to be said in 2003 or 2004 showing how fickle fans are including myself. It's like the wwe taking itself so seriously to be so delusional that they aren't apart of the problem of fans turning on the product. All I'm saying is that there comes a time when the fans just get sick of a wrestler and turn on him. It could be anything related to the wrestler that turns the fans on them. That is why I brought up past wrestlers.

I agree. Isn't it funny how they say "making Hacksaw Duggan a recurring character" instead of wrestler, while at the same time wanting to make him a tag team? What a concept! Next week, Thea will return and tag with Shelton against Kane and Big Show. Sports entertainment at its finest

62. Funny, who else are the wrestlers of today are suppose to be compared to? The stars of 2030 Ironically, he is being compared to past champions simply because he's holding the belt

I always wondered about Debra in that storyline. It seems they might have gone with Austin turning on Debra at Mania. I wonder if that would have helped Austin's heel turn along with Vince Mcmahon transition better where fans started to boo?

I think he means people who take to people who criticize Cena without actually admitting that the critics of Cena have valid reasons to be critical. Or that's what it seems like. I'll give you the answer! THE FANS ARE FICKLE AS HELL THAT'S WHY! Cena is not that much different than when he was gunning for the title last year at this time. HHH was getting all kinds of hate in 2000 for going over at Mania and so on. Now, it's looked back on as this great glorious year. Fans were complaining that HBK shouldn't go over the newer talent and now that he's up against Mcmahon they are wasting his talent. Do you see what I'm getting at?

That is true, but why put a damper on everyone's doom parade Guy, I think Hogan and Flair's run has been forever. They are still here! Flair's the I-C champion and Hulk Hogan went over Shawn Michaels like it was 1985 all over again Sorry, couldn't resist. BTW, I think everyone will be proven wrong with John Cena, but we'll see. Let's also not forget about HBK and Bret Hart paving the way for Austin either. They made it seem okay to not be monsters as heavyweight champions. Everything takes time even the boom periods. If Hogan's negative response didn't happen he wouldn't have turned heel in 1996. If Hall and Nash didn't jump there would be no nWo. So, things have to align with the stars too. It's just what they do when things are hot that turn everyone off is the problem. I also agree that the wwe has abandoned all the basics of what brought them back from the dead. They use to book more smart by winking to the smark audience, while still playing the mark audience. I have to say they did this brilliantly in 1997 and 1998. Abandoned it somewhat in 1999 and 2000 and completely jumped the shark in late 2001 and 2002. Look how Vince's character is now compared to how they had it in 1997 and 1998. It seems way forced now and not natural. They use to make the happenings seem more natural which brought the realism to a new level in the attitude era. Remember, the attitude era commercials between Survivor Series 97 to WrestleMania 14? They even had HBK challenging other athletes to do what he did in the ring, while he challenged them in their sport. All little things, but it added a lot. That's why the Mike Tyson thing took off so great at the time.

57. The countless threads about why everyone hates Cena. 58. The way it makes Vince more stubborn to prove everyone wrong. 59. I bet in the future people will forget how this is really all going down and praise John Cena. HHH=1999 I'm looking at you!

If I think if that did happen we'd be talking in the WCW folder right now. You know, this idea came up in my mind a few times. That suppose wcw won the war how different things would be today. Would we even watch? I think the smarks have a lot more tolerance for the wwe's crap than wcw's. Is the wwe better for the busines than what wcw would have been if they were in today's situation?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK!!!!

No way!!!! I mean next year they are planning a 20th anniversary of the biggest WrestleMania of all-time at Ford Field in Detroit. Expect things to sky rocket after Mania with HHH and Orton as champions. I think they'll book another Hogan/Austin match and Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement feud next year without actually getting them to agree to these matches. I mean what other match can they do that can actually be tagged along the same line as 20 years ago in Hogan/Andre and Steamboat/Savage. Going out of business? No way dude Think about that in the other thread asking if the wwe will ever get back to its glory days. It will happen in the next few months. BTW, WM 2 was seen as a disaster from a creative standpoint in Chicago along with WM 13 in Chicago. A year later for both situations the wwe pulled off some of the biggest mainstream events in history, so the wwe could be doing this on purpose*or just got dumb luck* pick a choice.

I just think the wrestling business over-exposed itself during the last boom and now everything seems lame in comparison. I think it's that simple. Look at all the stuff that went on in wrestling from ecw to wcw to wwf and look at all the "action" today. I mean how could the masses REALLY get excited over this? The wwe was lucky in 2002 as I think it was heading for a fall after wcw was bought out anyways. People can mock Hogan and the nWo all they want, but when the wwe brought them back it was exciting for the simple fact to see the main guys who helped usher in the 90's boom in the wwf again. Once that wore off, mainstream attention dropped off and horrible storylines kicked in. They were lucky with Hogan/Rock because if that storyline post Hogan/Rock promo on the first night occurred with anyone else it would have completely bombed at the box office. Look at HHH/Jericho for an example. The talent was there, but it could only cover up crap for so long. 1998 was a tremondous year and I think it really started in the summer of '97 and ended around Survivor Series '98 with Rock's surprising win of the title. It peaked with Rock/Austin at WM 15 and has been downhill ever since. I mean it still did good business after, but the real boom era peaked at WM 15 imo. The wwe just got lucky with getting wcw mainstays coming over in 2000. Imagine, if that didn't happen and Russo actually stayed with the wwe? WWE 2000 may never occurred. It's just that all the monkey tricks have been used and the wwe can't write and book for crap more or less today. I don't even blame guys like Cena and Orton as much because the wwe even had Rock and Austin losing steam with their crappy booking and writing that took over in 2001 and 2002.

I'm sure the smoking gun would expose it real quick, but I still believe Vince would really try something like this. For the simple reason that he can and see how much he can work an audience. The man is PT Barnum for sure. It's just that they toned it down in the last decade for a bunch of reasons. All you got to remember is Vince on that show with Bob Costas to see how he tries to work people all to this day. Hogan aint too far off either. In a twisted way I like the old school wwf for how far they went with kayfabe.

TRUE! The net is so finicky. I remember John Cena being trumpeted to become wwe champion at one time here also. The same with Orton. The same with Batista. We can go on.........

You know that theory is pretty funny and scary at the same time. It would tie into Rey/Eddie's feud and also culminate with Eddie as a huge heel whom they tried to get over, but the fans weren't buying it and Rey would be super over in the sympathetic role. This wasn't concocted, but if Vince read that I wouldn't put it past him in the future to try and pull it off. He seems like the perverted type who would do that just to see how well it would go over. As for breaking the law, Vince would just use some lame excuse that it was all apart of the show.

Hmmm....what would be the purpose of HHH regaining the title at Mania? I guess he didn't want to win at EC or anything like that because "at WrestleMania the king of kings returns to his throne". That's why! Batista who he gave the big rub to last year is nowhere to be seen. John Cena who was a legitimate threat will be vanquished. Orton and HHH both walking out of Mania as champions. NOW THINK ABOUT THAT TRAVESTY! Then at SummerSlam the Evolution rematch happens where the titles are unified. That could be the purpose of HHH winning the title again at WrestleMania

I liked the Edge who would prance around on the stage acting like people gave a rat's ass about him in Toronto for SummerSlam 2004. That was hilarious seeing him act like he was this big main event star people cared about, yet got his ass booed. I think John Cena kind of has that vibe going right now.

Yeah, like in Hulk Hogan's book where he stated this woman didn't know who he was. I think it was in a gym or shopping market or something. It had to be true for Hogan to admit not being known unlike that lie about being at Wembley Stadium helping out the poor kid backstage Hogan is hilarious