Slickster

Yeah, to say this push came out of nowhere would be an understatement. At least if they pushed Faarooq it would've made sense- a former WCW Champ who ME'd KOTR97. But I guess they may take advantage of Bradshaw's popularity on Fox News, etc. We complain about WWE ignoring the older demographic; to be fair, wouldn't Bradshaw make SENSE as a champion, seeing as how he's on Fox/MSNBC and has his own radio show? He's not exactly appealing to kids with that stuff, and this could be a step toward changing what WWE considers 'mainstream success.' Before, you had to be on TRL or be popular with the kids. Bradshaw could be an attampt to change that line of thinking.

It would make sense if they give JBL the title (think of RR91 when they put the Rumble on after Slaughter's win).

This PPV will be like a house show with better production values. I'd pay to see it as a house show, but I feel sorry for those who will be there for this at jacked-up PPV ticket prices. That said, IMO there hasn't been an actively BAD JDay event *ever,* so I'll probably like watching this one (the next day once someone caps and posts it online). For me, Cena-Dupree looks to be the best *match* on the card, but T-Taker will be the more *entertaining* affair. My predictions (in order of probable card placement): MysteRVD, Mordecai, Haas/Rico,Chavo, Dupree, Taker, Torrie, Guerrero.

Complaining about how shirts make you look like a wrestling fan while at the same time giving props to the "retro" WW logo makes you look like either a hypocrite, or a 'tard. Hey, some people might like the fact it's got a 'Word Life' WWE logo; others might like the fact that it's not *too* conspicuous and makes the shirt still suitable for non-WWE fans. Everybody wins!

Thanks, Man (of 1004 Modes), glad you liked it. *appeals to crowd for support*

Now, here's the bargain bin: This Goldust mask is $0.98, which is a bargain seeing as how it was 8 FRIGGIN' BUCKS 4 months ago. I mean geez, talk about a markup. Oh, and it's still expensive at 98 cents. Was I the only one who forgot all about these? I guess that Zach didn't have enough $ to buy all of these to sell at his indy shows (for the next decade), so WWE's clearing 'em out at $5 a pop. Worthless unless your initials are ZG- in that case, buy 10! Or don't. I'm not going to make you or anything. At $5, these make the PERFECT late Mother's Day gift. $5 for a badass hat with no WWE logos? GOLD, Jerry, GOLD! The moral of the story here is: if you go to a WM, wait a year until the $45 jersey is $10. Then, you've got your souvenirs. I'm a frigging genius, like Lanny Poffo before he got arrested. Tevye: We must move on. Go home, Golde. Golde: But what about Brock? Tevye: BROCK IS DEAD TO US! We have other WWE Superstars at home. Go. *Golde reluctantly leaves, weeping* Anyway, this $40 sweatshirt is down to $20, so get it if you like refreshing your browser. Endorsed by Eugene! It's $3, down from $10. Reenact the hilarity today! Preferably with a British friend. It's funnier if they have no idea what WWE is, too; then they'll make the same expressions Regal did. What the fuck is that? It says that's the Rock, but it looks like a malfunction to me. There's a REASON why this one is a $5 Shopzone exclusive (but it was once $15!). That's my report. Thoughts?

Leading off is IMO one of the BEST WWE shirts EVER made: Perfect for non-WWE fans too, like the 'EVIL' shirt was. The joke works on 2 levels, so I might actually buy this one. Plus, there's a faint 'Word Life' logo beneath the writing, so it's got the retro appeal too. We have a winner. For the ladies there's this new Trish T-shirt: Again, WWE has made a shirt that doesn't scream 'I AM A WWE FAN STONECOLDSTONECOLD' and looks good too. Now, onto the less-than-stellar Judgment Day T-shirt: You gotta love the big rectangular front graphic that makes it look like a Cafepress knockoff. And I'd say something about how the 3 matches on the back were the ONLY matches going into the last week before the show, but never mind. Next up is the Deadman's new ballcap: It looks...okay...if you ignore the fact that classic Undertaker and red don't go together. If this were blue or purple it would make sense, but it looks like they had the 'flames' template made up and they changed the front from a 'Deadman Inc.'logo to the cros-er, 'symbol.' Next up, Lita's visor cap. I was unaware that Lita was so popular she merited her own cap. That, and the trucker-style sides and the piss-yellow front sink this one in my book. This Cena visor makes up for the above two, though: The piping on the brim + the use of the 'shiny' WWE logo make this one a winner in my book. I'd buy it, but I'm cheap.

I don't remember CNN actively supporting Franken's book; that was an issue between him and Fox News.

...Except that Cole has said that the CURRENT U.S. Title is the same as the one defended in Mid-Atlantic/WCW since 1975. And Tajiri WORE the WCW CW Belt as the WWE CW belt from 4/02 to 6/02. In fact, it's the CW Belt in the SmackDown: Shut Your Mouth video game.

"The only remnant of WCW that still exists is the championship that's wrapped around the Rock's waist. And from this night forward, will no longer be known as the WCW title; no, it's simply known as the world championship." -Vince McMahon, RAW, 11/19/01 Umm....if it's no longer referred to as the WCW Title, that means that it WAS the WCW Title.

And the most damning points of all: -Rey Misterio is listed as a former Cruiserweight Champion AND a former WCW Cruiserweight Champion. -Eddie Guererro is listed as a fomer US Champion AND a former WCW US Champion. Those two titles were the OTHER two ex-WCW titles who have been continued in WWE (both with WWE's admission that they were ex-WCW titles). Like the World Heavyweight Title/WCW Title, champions of that title BEFORE 2002 are made distinct from those AFTER the WWE brought the titles back into circulation. Again, this prevents confusion among the marks about when Ric Flair won the WWE US Title; after all, he's on RAW! This is another reason why WWETitleHistories.com no longer exists.

My edits to this section are underlined, like this. YIKES!!!! THREE UNDISPUTABLE REASONS WHY THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IS THE OLD WCW BELT 1. On the night Bischoff awarded the belt to Triple H, he said that Triple H had been the last person to wear that belt. Flair came out later and talked like he'd held that championship before. (Rewatch the episode if you don't believe me.) Yeah, and Flair said WCW was the best for years. He's working. He's in-character. He was told to say it. It means nothing. In response to point #1: I know he was 'told' to say that; but fuck, then why didn't RVD or somebody go out there and say the stuff he said, like about how important the title was to him? Why? Because FLAIR HAD HELD THAT TITLE BEFORE. They had HHH beat Flair to legitimize his claim to a World title. ..... The WWE can claim all they want that those are the same, but they're not. It sounds real nice that Frank Gotch, Lou Thesz, and Triple H held the same belt, but they didn't. They're making the exact same claims that WCW made about the WCW Title; shouldn't that tell you that they consider the belts to be one and the same? Granted, they *are* flawed arguments, but I don't think they would have used those claims to 1901 had WCW not done the same thing. They've never come out and definitively said it, but it is clear that the WCW Title AND the World Heavyweight Championship are the SAME THING. Why do they list Goldberg as a 1-time WCW and a 1-time World Heavyweight Champion? To make a distinction between the era when WCW controlled it and when WWE controlled it. If the site said that Jeff Jarrett was a 4-time former World Heavyweight Champion, the marks would be very, very confused.

No, not end of story. Yes, he got a belt for being no.1 contender and not getting a title shot, but I'm arguing that he didn't get the actual WCW title, he got a brand new title. Brock held the Unified title, switched brands, and now Eddie has that Unified title. Yeah dude, you're damn right. Why people can't understand that is beyond me. It was never said that TripleH took one half of the Unified title, yet some assume he did. The confusion come from the fact that the World Heavyweight title is the old WCW big gold belt but get a hint brothers ! Because on Confidential that week (and on last week's final episode) they established that Hogan/Flair/Sting et al. were all great 'World Heavyweight Champons,' indicating that Benoit's belt has a lineage going back to WCW. It was never stated outright on WWE TV, but get a hint brother!!

All the stuff post-WCW lineage (except WCW TV-where did that come from) I agree with, as that was all merged with the IC then merged with HHH's belt. But, Jericho unified the WWF and WCW belts to create the Undisputed title, then HHH won it, then Hogan won it, then Undertaker won it, then Rock won it, then Brock won it, then Big Show won it, so forth. Why would HHH get half the belt for no reason other than he wanted it (in storyline terms)? He won the #1 contenders match the week prior to SSlam, meaning he SHOULD have gotten the title shot at the belt had Brock not decided to stop defending it on RAW. Number-one contenders are usually awarded the title when champions refuse to defend their titles, so HHH was given the World/WCW Title. End of story. EDIT: The WCW US Title was de-unified from the World Hvywt. Title by Stephanie, seeing as how she said the belt was being 'brought back' and the promo materials for Vengeance showed former NWA/WCW US champs (and a pic of the old belt itself). The Western States Title was abandoned. Ditto for the WCW TV Title. IC was de-unified, so it still has the Euro/HC lineage in it. The World Heavyweight Title only has its OWN lineage (back to 1/11?/91) within itself. But wait...wouldn't the U.S title have been de-unified from the I.C title since Edge beat Christian (I think) to unify those two titles during Invasion? TIMELINE: Two separate titles from c. 1985-11/18/01. US champ Edge def. IC champ Test to unify the titles at SSeries 01. Steph de-unified the US and IC titles in June 2003.

All the stuff post-WCW lineage (except WCW TV-where did that come from) I agree with, as that was all merged with the IC then merged with HHH's belt. But, Jericho unified the WWF and WCW belts to create the Undisputed title, then HHH won it, then Hogan won it, then Undertaker won it, then Rock won it, then Brock won it, then Big Show won it, so forth. Why would HHH get half the belt for no reason other than he wanted it (in storyline terms)? He won the #1 contenders match the week prior to SSlam, meaning he SHOULD have gotten the title shot at the belt had Brock not decided to stop defending it on RAW. Number-one contenders are usually awarded the title when champions refuse to defend their titles, so HHH was given the World/WCW Title. End of story. EDIT: The WCW US Title was de-unified from the World Hvywt. Title by Stephanie, seeing as how she said the belt was being 'brought back' and the promo materials for Vengeance showed former NWA/WCW US champs (and a pic of the old belt itself). The Western States Title was abandoned. Ditto for the WCW TV Title. IC was de-unified, so it still has the Euro/HC lineage in it. The World Heavyweight Title only has its OWN lineage (back to 1/11?/91) within itself.

Not quite what I said; I said he took 1 of the 2 titles that existed before unification: The [WWE] Title The World Heavyweight Title [remember, that was what it was called prior to Venge01. The belt continued to exist from 11/19/01 to 12/9/01 and was recognized as equal to the WWE Title.] He chose the World Heavyweight Title and broke it away from the Undisputed Title, leaving Steph and SmackDown! with the original WWE Title.

-Earthquake (and maybe Typhoon) should come back; they're still active and still looking good. And you wanna talk about a great/different tag team; they could be PERFECT for SmackDown!. If I hear the rumbling bass on SD! I'll mark the fuck out and I KNOW you will too. -I would be highly entertained to see Abdullah the Butcher just run out and do an insane, brawl-to-the-back bloodbath with someone, then never show up again on WWE TV. It would fit his character well IMO and it would be fun to see. -Randy Orton should Legendkill Jimmy Valiant before the Boogie-Woogie Man retires on 12/25/04. Just saying.

Yeah, they just did the whole PPV card for the house show crowd; they just had more of the faces win on the non-televised version. Oh, and the rest of the show was lit by battery-powered spotlights and nothing more.

They NEVER 'gave up' half of the title; it was taken from them. Remember, they only controlled 1/2 of the title (it was shared by and competed for by both brands). Bischoff broke off his half of this arrangement and took back half of the title; he chose the WCW half of the title (as he was kinda partial to it). What could Steph do about it? Nothing. The 'Undisputed Title' was a joint venture of the two brands with the creation of the 'GM' position for each brand. One brand leaves, the alliance collapses into two parts.

Revoke my smark card if you must, but what ARE these moves (from the KMthread linked here): Bombs Away Hangman's Hold Oriental Spike Indian Deathlock Slingshot Suplex The Claw (von Erich style) ?

huzzah!

Ironic that the dead-est of the once-great promotions could hypothetically regain 13 years of lost momentum if they put together this match (on, say, an AWA PPV).

No F vs. J nominations?!?!? The #1 movie for two weeks with the 2 biggest villains in horror? WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?

Rikishi's reaction to the news.

- The masked wrestler named "El Gran" on Smackdown this week was played by Paul London. Credit: PWInsider.com