Hunter's Torn Quad

The problem with that idea is that you're forced into having a draw or some other non-finish. Danielson, as ROH Champion, isn't about to lose on a PPV, and Daniels isn't about to lose a non-title match to someone who isn't sticking around. And even if Danielson did come in to TNA for a while, he isn't going to do jobs while still ROH Champion. I'm completely aware of that, I'm just saying Dragon would be the closest realistic name to matching Liger to the market they were looking to attract. You know, my scenario assumes Daniels is X-Division Champion going into the PPV. If he isn't, and he very well might not be, then they could have Daniels vs. Danielson and build to a rematch if Danielson is able to come into TNA for a run.

The problem with that idea is that you're forced into having a draw or some other non-finish. Danielson, as ROH Champion, isn't about to lose on a PPV, and Daniels isn't about to lose a non-title match to someone who isn't sticking around. And even if Danielson did come in to TNA for a while, he isn't going to do jobs while still ROH Champion.

On WOL, Da Meltz said that Orton is going to have be very humble while on suspension and work hard at making amends for his actions, and he definitely can't keep doing what he's been doing, or the suspension will be extended and he might not even be brought back at all.

On WOL, Meltz says there is talk of keeping Lashley and Angle apart for a long time to build to a major PPV match between them.

Vince had some input over ONS with him and Heyman comprimising on certain things that went down on the PPV, most notably Heyman being able to get in RVD's promo, Tanaka's chair shots and Tazz showing up last instead of Austin. Hunter putting over RVD, or anyone else for the belt, isn't as hard to imagine as it seems on the surface. Hunter wants to get that big 17th World title reign and for that to happen he has to drop the belt six more times, and doing it to RVD at ONS makes a lot of sense because it gives the ECW fans the one finish they want above all others.

Not a good show, but not bad, and it'll be quickly forgotten. I like Stephan Bonnar and hoped he would win, but I really think Jardine got robbed. I can see Bonnar getting maybe one round, but no way he got two.

I enjoyed the first episode. Not a great one, but it still did a good job of establishing the personalities of Ken and Tito and their rivalry, which is clearly the intended focus of the show right now. Not many of the fighters stood out personality-wise, which is a shame because it’s a personality driven business, but the ones who stood out were Redheaded Mouthy Guy, the two Brits and the deaf fighter. I’m hoping the deaf guy wins so we can get another feel good ending. The one guy I will state right now has almost no chance of getting far is, I think, Kristian Rotharmel; the older one who Tito chided for gassing out easily. In addition to his questionable stamina, he doesn’t seem to really want it, and I get the feeling that he’s just looking at this as a way to make money or something and he doesn’t project any real desire to win. The fight was ok and I have no problem with Stine losing as he’s another person that didn’t seem to have his heart really in it. Who was the one who didn't see the merit in Ken's exercise involving lifting the bags? He's one I don't see cutting it.

Wrestlemania thoughts The tag match was ok, though it wasn’t anything special and I’m guessing that Carlito and Show didn’t get the belts because Carlito and Masters are set to split up soon and they’d rather have a team that is sticking together be the ones to get the belts. Not that it matters, because whoever do get the belts will be getting squashed within a month by a useless relative of someone in power. MITB was pretty good but not as good as the MITB from last year. Shelton Benjamin was the star of the match, like last year, and did some great spots. The crowd was hot for RVD and they popped big for his win. The Batista-Orton deal seems to foreshadow what, at least for this week, is the preferred main event for Smackdown at Wrestlemania 23. Benoit and JBL was not the PPV quality match that they had been reportedly having at house shows, but they didn’t get a lot of time. It was decent, but that’s about the best you can call it. Edge and Mick Foley had my MOTN with a great hardcore match. Lots of great spots and the finish will be in the WM highlight reel for years to come. It was far better than Foley’s match with Orton a couple of years ago because there was a lot more done. The backstage deal with Booker T, Sharmell and the freaks was funny at first but it ended up feeling like a bad SNL skit. Ted DiBiase looked a lot like Jimmy James from Newsradio. Skimmed most of Booker and Boogey Man, but I don’t think I missed a lot. The women’s match was surprisingly good until the finish got blown beyond all hope. The real story was the crowd turning on Trish huge and Mickie becoming, for at least one night, a super over babyface. Vince looked like a walking cartoon character. The casket match appeared to be better than it had any right to be, and Mark Henry looked ok. Not good, but ok. Undertaker was feeling it, especially after his big running dive. Vince and Shawn had a capable affair, but it certainly wasn’t as good as Vince and Hogan from 2003 and I don’t think it got as much heat as it should have done for such a strongly pushed program. They covered up as best they could for Vince’s weaknesses and the big finish capped things off nicely. The SD main event had some “WTF?” booking with Angle getting a visionary tap out on Rey, which keeps Angle strong but kills Rey, especially after he tapped out rapidly on Smackdown last week. Angle looked tiny and his physical transformation over the last year or so is very sad but not unexpected. The time of the match was totally unforgivable. Would it really have killed Vince and Hunter to shave 5 minutes off of their respective matches and give these three the time to have the great match that they seemed more than capable of delivering? The finish got a good pop which was a surprise considering that the crowd booed whenever Rey or Orton were on offense. I skipped the Playboy match or whatever that nonsense was called. Hunter and Cena had a far better match than I think anyone was expecting. With a minimal amount of gimmickry, Hunter and Cena had a really good match, excellent for Cena, and it had an incredible atmosphere with the pro/anti-Cena fans never staying quiet for long if at all. The finish was initially a surprise but it wasn’t much of when you stop and think about the turmoil and second guessing going into the WM weekend when it came to the top matches and their finishes. I’ll give Hunter credit for doing what I don’t think anyone predicted and tapping out clean. I know people want and can’t wait for Cena to turn heel, but Dan Wahlers made an excellent point in his latest column when he pointed out that a lot of the backlash against Cena is because it’s a rebellion thing and the fans are bucking against the system. Once booing Cena is the ‘correct’ reaction it’s not being cool or rebellious to boo Cena then it is likely that the reactions to him will stop being so loud and compelling. The best thing to do right now is to keep him babyface because it’s the ideal way to maintain the huge reactions he gets and to keep people wanting to pay to see Cena, whether it’s to boo him or cheer him. Wrestlemania 22 was better than 21 because, while the peaks might not have been as high as last year, the valleys weren’t as deep, and the whole show was more solid. I don’t think it was worth $50, but it was a better PPV than most people thought it would be.

How many buys do you think WM will get, both domestically and internationally? For comparison's sake, last year's did around 1,000,000 buys total, but only about 650,000 buys, which is very low for WM, were domestic. Do you think international buys can carry the WM brand again, or will the international scene be just as low as the domestic level?

--As far as what is going to happen at Mania, just yesterday alone, they changed major match results and finishes five times. It was crazy as Vince just kept changing his mind and the indecisiveness has made any post-Mania planning almost impossible. People involved are "losing their minds" as stressful as it has become. From Meltzer's latest update.

And when that happened, it meant that all three guys in the Smackdown main event had been beaten within six days, just over a week before the event. Someone explain how that makes any kind of sense and makes the match in any way more important or special?

He's the King of Kings, so he'll come out carrying a large wooden cross on his back.

How about Vince not letting it go and using it as a tv angle on a regular basis?

Hogan has to wrestle for the pay deal thing to take effect. And I'd be surprised if he didn't show up at WM. He'd get the biggest pop of the night and chances are that his appearance would be the thing people remember the most.

Eric took over just before Superbrawl III when he and his friends orchestrated the demotion and quitting of Bill Watts.

Logic says no, but logic also says you don't have a WM main eventer tapping out clean on the last TV before the event.

And the logic behind giving away a Smackdown PPV main event, possibly one of the only ones they'll get out of Rey's probable title reign, is...? It'll be a short match with a DQ ending. *WWE World champion Kurt Angle defeated Rey Mysterio after Mysterio went for the 619 but was caught and pulled into the ring with an AnkleLock and Rey tapped. Orton hit the ring and he and Angle went at it. The show ended with Angle hitting the Angleslam and locking the Ankle Lock on Orton You were saying? This finish is mind numbingly stupid. It's standard WWE policy to fuck things up, but this takes things to a new level of stupidity.

You must really feel strongly about this.

Coach is there because Vince likes him. Doesn't matter that he's beyond terrible. As for Jim Ross going along with it, do you really expect him, or anyone, to turn down the chance to call matches at a Wrestlemania?

If this were the 80s, he'd be in the main event of Wrestlemania getting squashed by Hulk Hogan.

So I'm guessing that rumoured tag title run for Spanky and London is a slowly built one... Or this result will be used to make the former penises the number one contenders and Spanky and London are just transitioning the belts from MNM.

Someone sent this to the Observer site. Looks like anyone going to see WM in person will need to adjust their plans a little.

Even if anybody did, Cole and Tazz would still say it was their first ever singles meeting.

And the logic behind giving away a Smackdown PPV main event, possibly one of the only ones they'll get out of Rey's probable title reign, is...?

Raw delivered a 4.2 rating last night, second straight week at the same level. Da Meltz.