Slickster

Book him as Mayor Adam West from Family Guy.

Only way I could see an offbeat guy like Mr. Freeze making an appearance is if you completely reimagine the character in the Nolanverse. A guy with a Frigidaire space suit and a Slurpee gun is not going to fit well in the established storyline. Imagine if Mr. Freeze were Gotham's top conflict diamond smuggler. He intimidates his underlings by using liquid nitrogen on their hands and breaking off digits Yakuza-style. You could use him as Batman's first opponent after the movie's opening scene (do a short sequence establishing the villain, Batman attacks, Batman beats the villain's henchmen and puts down the head villain). If we were casting this tomorrow, I'd use David Banner in this role. Give him a Scarface look (suits, pimp cups) with an ice blue motif and a great deal of bling. Some platinum grills with Paul Wall diamonds would give his character a distinctive look and tie into the "ice/diamonds" theme. Plus, you could bring him back at any time or write him off via some poetic justice (Freeze gets frozen with his own liquid nitrogen). I could see the mob being a significant part of the storyline for any character in the Nolan films because it makes sense in real life too. Supervillains can't just place an ad on craigslist to get some henchmen.

I notice the AAA announcers repeatedly calling Lashley 'el superman negro.'

I'd think that Levy wasn't no-selling because he figured they would be easier on him if he went along with everything. You know, like when you have your first match and get the shit chopped out of you by the veterans, then they respect you. You're outnumbered, in front of a hostile crowd and a locker room full of people who won't let you leave without beating the shit out of you. Just lay back and think of England until it's all over.

They had one the night before ONS last year. I think it's got more to do with NBC's schedule availability than with WWE's storylines.

Well, WWE already IS more profitable now than ever before; I doubt that opening up the product to more potential customers will cost them any profits.

It's a logical extension of launching WWE Kids Magazine and reaching more audiences via WWE Studios. I'm not sure the TV-PG change will mean any real significant changes in WWE storylines or characters, but it can help open the door for parents to allow kids to watch WWE product without concern. It's a psychological thing, a marketing tactic to further open the door for WWE to get more kids to watch. I still maintain WWE needs to figure out how to get an AM Raw-type show on the air at a time when more kids will be watching. Saturday mornings don't have the same cachet they did 15 years ago, obviously, but they need to find something analogous to that. Heck, do a streaming weekly highlights show on WWE.com and make it available for download on iTunes and Xbox Live, then market it to young males (even ads on Nick & Cartoon Network).

There's some speculation on a beltmakers' forum that the new ECW Championship belt is a repurposed Triple H custom WWE Championship. Note the iron cross pattern on the plates and the silver/black color scheme. The only thing that says 'ECW' on the belt is a raised plate added when the rest of the belt was finished. Perhaps they had the custom WWE Championship made for Triple H, then decided not to use it on TV and put an ECW logo on it so they wouldn't have just wasted $2500?

Actually, RVD was handed a $150 replica belt that night because the new ECW Championship (with the red logo) wasn't done yet. That's why it looked so stiff; it wasn't actual leather.

Also, the new belt says 'World Wrestling Entertainment' on it. No 'World Heavyweight' on the belt anymore either.

Rycklon is the guy's real name, so they changed it for trademark purposes.

No one in their target audience remembers any of the WCW PPV names...or was around for WCW's existence. That said, Halloween Havoc is a sweet name that should be brought back.

It's not that they lost the rights, they just choose not to pay for them.

I almost think that they paired Tazz with Adamle in order to make Tazz do play-by-play and get experience at playing both roles. I could see him becoming like Gorilla Monsoon version 2, only with more tattoos and less hair.

I demand Gimmick Battle Royal 3.0 for the return to Houston.

They should make Kendrick's second look like Kimbo Slice. He already has the beard, the biceps, and the bling. Give him skullet dreads, a do-rag, and a cigar and you're all set.

MVP's facial expression when HHH talks about marrying one's way into power is the funniest thing I have seen on WWE this year.

It would require acknowledging the XFL's existence and failure.

JR and Foley work well together, though Mick tries to be too 'smart' and Jesse Ventura-like for his own good. I do like how Festus doesn't do anything to save Jesse from a 2-on-1 attack from Hawkins & Ryder because the match is over. All the biscuits and gravy in the world couldn't have made that chairshot taste any better for poor Festus. Man took that right on the top of the head and leaned into it.

Red/white/blue ropes for the 4th of July. Festus is celebrating by dressing as a mentally disabled Uncle Sam. He even has red/white/blue wrist tape a la Sgt. Slaughter. JR tries to get 'Moscow Mauler' over as a nickname for Kozlov. Foley is wearing a JR's BBQ T-shirt and namedrops the restaurant for a cheap pop.

I wonder who will pick up Trevor Murdoch now that he's out of work. I hope TNA doesn't, just because they have too many stars they put over already.

The SummerSlam 2008 poster, with tweaked 'double S' logo.

A bit of a historical note: CM Punk is the first man to hold the ECW Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship (post-2001). If you count the WHC and the WCW Championship as the same thing, then he joins The Big Show in that category. Also, Mark Henry is not the first former WWE European Champion to win a World title in WWE/WCW/ECW/NWA/AWA. Others include HHH, HBK, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Jeff Jarrett, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Dallas Page, and RVD. Henry joins Rob Van Dam as being the only two men to win the WWE European Championship and the ECW Championship. Also, the number 3,200 is of significance to the World's Strongest Man. That's the number of days he went without a championship in WWE. He lost the WWE European Championship to D-Lo Brown on September 26, 1999.

JBL as heel champion can lead to feuds with Punk, Cena, Batista, Mysterio, and HBK. WWE booking dictates there's a lot more mileage in faces chasing a heel champion than in the opposite.

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