Hunter's Torn Quad

I think it's more than a little unfair to compare Eddie's obvious talents to Norton's obvious lack of talents. Not only that, Norton got over in Japan in large part because he was big and muscular and he had so many great workers to make him look good. In WCW, Norton was just another jacked up stiff and didn't exactly stand out from the crowd. It also didn't help that WCW, as with Eddie, did not or would not do what it would have taken to make the best of him. I will say without a single doubt that had WCW made the best of Eddie, he would have succeeded in WCW and would have been over huge. He got over to a degree on his own; during his feud with Rey in 1997 and when he was teaming with Jericho in 1998, albeit for only a few matches, he was able to get the crowd going with relative ease. Eddie was everything the core WCW fans loved; a tremendous in-ring talent who also had the intangibles like promo skills and charisma. The Radicalz leaving gave WCW four less strong workers to choose from, and not only that, four strong workers who could connect with the crowd. Raven was long gone when The Radicalz left, as was Blitzkrieg who went from having a MOTY candidate in April of 1999 to almost disappearing from television in record time and leaving the company before the end of the year.

Eddie being pushed in WCW: Eddie was more than qualified for a run as a strong upper midcard heel with a main even run in due course. He was tremendous in the ring at that point, and far more athletic due to his body not having broken down and not packing quite so much mass on. In-ring wise, he more than fit the bill. As for questioning whether he had the ‘ga ga’ down, all it would have taken is a look at his work in Mexico to show that Eddie had that down pat too. Heck, he showed it on the AAA PPV that WCW themselves promoted and helped run. Eddie had proven on a nightly basis that he was capable of being an excellent heel and working the crowd into a frenzy. His WWE heel persona was heavily influenced by what he learned, and had already shown he could do, in Mexico. If Eric Bischoff, WCW, or anyone in that company had had the foresight or willingness to look outside of their own world, they would have seen that Eddie had already shown that he had the talent, both in-ring and out, to show he deserved a shot at getting a serious heel push in WCW. Comparing Konnan to Road Dogg: Sorry, but Konnan is on another level to Road Dogg when it comes mic work and an ability to connect with the crowd. Konnan, while adept at turning a phrase, does not need, and never has needed, to rely on a catchphrase to get his point across or get over. Road Dogg, while no slouch on the mic, has never shown an ability to display the kind of fire and passion that Konnan has. Sure, he can be funny and amusing, of a sort, but when it comes to really coming across like he truly believes every word he says to generate heat, Konnan is so much better than Road Dogg that it’s not even close. Once again, take a look outside of America and what Konnan has done and continues to do in Mexico, and in TNA to lesser extent, and he shows on a tremendous ability to get his point across, get the crowd going and really make you believe he believes in everything he is saying. Road Dogg, while funny in small doses and quick on the mic, just does not have that ability. To be fair to him, though, very few people do have that ability, but Konnan has it. And it doesn’t matter that he’s not that hot in the ring. What matters is that he can connect with the crowd, get them going, and get them into his match. Being hot in the ring is nice, but if you can’t connect with the crowd, then all you are is a guy doing moves that the crowd has no reason to care about. The Radicalz leaving WCW: This had a lot of long term impact on WCW. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn were the heart of WCW when it came to putting on a strong midcard. Whether the main event delivered or not, and it usually didn’t in WCW, with these four in the ring you at least, more often than not, had a solid to great undercard. While a PPV is typically sold on the strength of the main event, WCW fans were weaned on a strong undercard; WCW always did put more emphasis on the in-ring, which is something a lot of those who would take charge in WCW were unable or unwilling to grasp. And when WCW fans were buying PPV’s with substandard main events, either from a quality or storyline standpoint, they could at least be assured of getting up to four strong matches for their PPV dollars, and at least then you’d have a chance of bringing them back the next month. Without The Radicalz, WCW lost that, and it was the strong undercard that was one of the edges WCW had over the WWF, and losing that really did help drive off a lot of the die-hard WCW fans, who were willing to put up with a dire main event for a strong and entertaining undercard. Again, while the undercard doesn’t usually sell a PPV, when the majority of your PPV buys are from your hardest of the hardcore fans, you have to, at the very least, put a PPV on that will keep those people coming back, and the departure of The Radicalz left WCW unable to even do that.

From Meltzer. *insert joke here*

--Michael Hayes was named today as new head writer of Smackdown. Alex Greenfield, who had been the head writer since Dave Lagana was reassigned, gave notice to the company because a movie he wrote was green lighted and he has to work in Los Angeles Meltzer. This could make things interesting internally, because when Hayes was with Raw he always politicked to keep SD and ECW below Raw. Not that the company needed help with that, but with Hayes being so upfront about it, it could make his time on SD interesting.

--Raw last night did a 3.7 rating

I knew it! Where in my post did I make it sound like I hated TTK?

Let’s clear this idea about what Dave Meltzer said or did not say about Kurt Angle going to TNA. Dave said that Kurt’s management had said that Kurt was not going to TNA because he didn’t want to upset Vince McMahon. Dave himself said that it was unlikely Kurt was going to go to TNA because of that and also because he, like everyone, was under the belief Kurt had a no-compete clause that prevented him from going to TNA. Dave never said that Kurt was never going to go to TNA; he only said that that is what Kurt’s own people had said. I don’t know where this idea started that Dave said Kurt was never going to TNA, but if people want going to criticize Dave for something he says, at least make sure he actually said it. As for the Jeff Jarrett item that people have gotten so worked up about, I don’t know if it’s true, but I can say this much; Dave wouldn’t have reported something like that if it was something that only one person had said or if he didn’t put much stock in it being true. Now, that doesn’t mean it is true, just that, from talking to his sources in TNA, Dave has strong enough reason to believe it’s true and to put it in print. If Dave thought it was a joke, he either wouldn’t have printed it all or would have printed it but made clear it was something he didn’t take seriously. Now, assuming it is true then I can see why they would go that route. They know how much of the heat for Jeff is the ‘X-Pac’ heat and not the heel heat they would like it to be. It’s not something they like to know, and it’s not something they seem able to fully accept and deal with, but they know it. In their eyes, playing on real life emotional issues may be the one way to get the fans to finally cheer Jeff, as he battles through what is no doubt a very emotional and trying time for the guy. It’s also something that Jeff, growing up in Memphis, has plenty of first hand experience of, because it’s a philosophy that both his father and Jerry Lawler believe in when it comes to running angles. However, the problem with this idea is this; it might be enough to stop the fans hating on Jarrett so much, and that in itself is not certain, but given how long they’ve hated Jeff and the fact that it means he’s going to become the number one pushed babyface, which is exactly how Jeff’s face turn, no matter the angle used, is going to play out, then they’re still not going to cheer him. They’re not sick of Jeff being the most pushed heel, they’re sick of him being the most pushed wrestler, and if TNA thinks that turning Jeff babyface is going to solve the problem, even if they do use such a sensitive real life issue to trigger the babyface turn, then they’re going to very much mistaken. They might stop the booing, but I don’t see it starting the cheering, and I think it’ll lead to the worst reaction a wrestler can get; apathy.

Austin and McMahon teaming is what, along with the botched Invasion angle, helped really kill things in 2001.

Apparently, there are a number of flaws in the original reports. What it doesn't say, among the many mistakes, is that DX and Edge and Orton went back and forth on the mic for a while in the opening segment. Also, Edge and HBK didn't brawl to the back during the main event, but were infact involved in in the finish.

The DX segment with Eric Bischoff a couple of weeks ago lost almost 400,000 viewers. Just because the live crowd pops big, doesn't mean the viewing audience are popping. As for Hunter not losing viewers, you're right to some degree. That gauntlet tag match DX had a month or so ago didn't lose viewers. It also didn't gain viewers. And that was at the top of the first hour, where you never not gain viewers.

The DX segments, which Hunter is the star of, usually have a drop in viewership as often, and as high as, they have a gain in viewership.Cena's segments almost never lose viewers, usually draw the peak ratings for the show, and have a habit of gaining over 1M viewers. For the two most pushed acts on Raw, Cena's matches have great heat, as well as the aforementioned viewer gains, while DX's matches rarely, if ever, get the kind of heat you'd want out of an act getting such a mega push. I'd say that makes Cena the bigger name than Hunter, Unless, of course, you don't factor in crowd heat, viewership gains and ratings into the equation.

Main event or not, Hunter's match at WM will always get the strongest push, so you're stuck no matter where on the card he goes. Three years in a row would be enough for even the hottest modern act, but Hunter isn't even that.

yeah, use your wife's illness to get yourself over, you prick, that'll make you a fucking face. asshole. This was taken from this weeks Observer. It's also not going to work.

He was on the creative team? For maybe a week, if that.

--Added to Cyber Sunday and to be announced tonight is DX vs. Randy Orton & Edge with the gimmick being fans will get to choose the referee. They've been wanting to boost the buy rate for the show by bringing back a legend. --Jimmy Garvin quit the creative team on Friday. A couple of notes from tonight's WO.com update.

Couldn't Orton have won the Raw main event to at least give the illusion that he and Edge are some kind of threat to DX? The DX stuff tonight is a classic example of why it's good for getting pops but not for actually drawing. Did DX ever do anything to get back at Umaga for pinning them or was that quietly forgotten, thus rendering Umaga's big wins meaningless?

Thats probably because Bischoff most likely slammed Flair and Meltzer stopped caring after reading it, I'm guessing. The review on the site was not Meltzer's.

Shockingly, that one might actually have been someone else. Though it really is more likely to have been WP.

I think this is his fifth account in total, and his third attempt at returning. He's been: wildpegasus BritishBruiser Supercool ResidentEvil Dumb Monkey (it seems) Of course, he's probably back on another account by now.

That's what it used to be a long time ago. When? The only time I ever heard Connection in ECW was as part of a music video. Are you sure you're not confusing a music video with the actual opening?

Kevin Dunn is both.