Hunter's Torn Quad

I like this. Maybe even have Lilian Garcia/Tony Chimmel refuse to announce him to the ring and when he does wrestle in the first few months the WWE officials have an obvious bias against him, but since everybody in the company (including the commentaters) despise him, there's nothing he can do. Another good touch. The ring announcers can't introduce him because, in kayfabe, they don't have his details at hand because he's not under contract, and they can't introduce people who just hop over the guardrail.

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

For those who don't wish to suffer the pop-ups:

The last person to do cause a scene at a WM hotel was Flash Funk, and look what happened to him.

In late 1991, Dusty booked War Games matches to headline a run of house shows. It's more probable that he does like the 6 sided cage, and is just following his standard procedure of running something that he likes into the ground. Was Dusty booking at that point (legit question)? And the only houseshow I remember it headlining was a Meadowlands show, and WCW was trying, desperately, to get a foothold there. -=Mike Dusty was the main booker until Watts came in in May of 1992, at which point Watts was the top guy in booking. When Watts left, Rhodes was the main one booking until January of 1994, when booking turned over to a committee consisting of Rhodes, Mike Graham, Ron Fuller, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, a secretary, the mail guy, a window cleaner, someone who delivered a package at 10:14am that morning, the guy who walked Eric's dog, and a bunch of others. The overbooking of Cage matches, and War Games, by Dusty, was an attempt to turn things around, so whether it would only have affected a small portion of the audience or not, Dusty felt it would affect business as a whole.

In late 1991, Dusty booked War Games matches to headline a run of house shows. It's more probable that he does like the 6 sided cage, and is just following his standard procedure of running something that he likes into the ground.

With this crazy booking, there are two real possibilities: 1: Dusty is fearing for the future of TNA, and is going into overdrive in an attempt to create a big as splash as possible to convince those in power at Panda to stay with them. 2: Dusty is fearing for his job as booker, maybe as a result of an underwhelming PPV last month, or maybe from something he's heard, and is trying to either go down in a blaze of glory, or created the aforementioned big splash, with a view to convincing those above to keep him on as the booker. That said, a card with all the matches under the same gimmick, even with some additional gimmicks in some matches, is beyond insanity.

The idea behind Akebono v Big Show was to create interest in Japan for the WWE product, and maybe lead to a WWE show at the Tokyo Dome or some other big venue. The problem with that premise is that Akebono's value in Japan has fallen a great deal since his career in shoots began, and whatever they do gain from it, if they gain anything at all, isn't going to be anything like what they think it will be.

So let's get this straight; the former heel champion, who made it through his reign by outfoxing and outsmarting all of his babyface challengers, somehow was stupid enough to forget to put a rematch clause in the contract of the biggest match of his career ? Top heels don't have to be geniuses, but they shouldn't be that stupid either. It's to give Kurt something to do on television without taking any bumps. When it first started, it was meant to end with Angle getting challenged by Daniel Puder, playing off of what happened in TE. However, with that idea scrapped, I'm guessing they are keeping it going both due to them not wanting Angle to take any bumps that he absolutely doesn't have to, and because they either don't know how to end it, or are waiting for Smackdown to be held in the hometown of whomever it is they have picked to be the one to end it. They aren't really hyping it, beyond some local advertising, and it's not new for them to hype a PPV match locally, that, to the rest of the world, hasn't been determined yet. As for why they are doing it, it's probably because they don't want to make it look like they're deliberately putting JBL in the main event, and they want it portrayed as JBL having earned his title shot.

Eddie Guerrero v Rey Mysterio This was a really strong opener, and it had a lot of great spots. With both men talking about their match back at Halloween Havoc in the run-up to this encounter, it was no surprise to see a lot of the spots from that match repeated here, with most of them getting tweaked a little. The near falls were great, and were believable. I don’t know that I agree with the finish, both because it was the opener and the crowd was hot for Eddie, and it seemed the time was right to give Eddie a big win. In a lot of ways this opener was perfect. While not being the tremendous match that some had predicted, it was still strong enough that it started things on a really high note, but it also didn’t set the bar so high as to make it impossible to follow. ***3/4 Chris Jericho v Chris Benoit v Christian v Shelton Benjamin v Edge v Kane – Money In The Bank Ladder Match This was a pure stuntfest, with about the only thing resembling psychology being the timing of one wrestler stopping another from when they were about to win. That said, it was a great stuntfest, with almost all of the stunts, smartly, being hard hitting rather than high risk. It was as long as it needed to be, and unlike a lot of these things it didn’t outstay its welcome. The star of the match, at least for most of the crowd, appeared to be Shelton Benjamin, and he pulled off the majority of the most memorable stunts here, with my favorite being his climbing up the ladder to clothesline Edge down, which required precision footing. Edge winning makes sense, because Christian isn’t credible as a World title challenger, Benoit, Jericho and Kane don’t really need the win, and Benjamin wasn’t ready for it thanks to some really terrible booking over the last month or so. With what Lawler and Ross said after the win, about Edge taking the title shot at any time, “maybe even tomorrow”, it seemed a subtle hint that Edge might take his shot tonight. **** Eugene/Hassan/Hogan I’ll just transcribe exactly what I wrote down on my notepad when I heard Hogan’s music hit: Goodbye money. Bye Bye $$$ I should also say that the throat slitting gesture from Hassan as he applies the camel clutch really has to go. It’s in beyond terrible taste, and crosses the line, even for wrestling. Undertaker v Randy Orton This one was like Undertaker v Triple H at WM X7, in that it was far better than almost anyone expected. Sure, it wasn’t great, but it was a very solid match, with both guys having their working shoes on. Randy Orton’s shoulder injury didn’t play a factor into the match, so there is still no obvious indication of how Orton will be written out while has his surgery. There were some good spots in here, with my favorite being the chokeslam countered into the RKO. The near fall off that, as well as the near fall after Bob Orton used his cast, which wasn’t the original unless someone stole it from Jim Cornette, kept Orton relatively strong in defeat, so he didn’t lose too much steam out of losing. Not only that, but Cole and Tazz did a shockingly good job of putting Orton over as coming very close to having the win, so I don’t think the loss buried Orton as much as people thought it would going in. Orton was probably kept as strong as he could be while losing. ***1/4 Christy Hemme v Trish Stratus This was short, better than I thought it would be, but still bad, with the highlights being Trish very loudly talking Hemme trough the match1/2* Shawn Michaels v Kurt Angle The crowd was really into this, but more from a spectacle standpoint than a classic match standpoint. There were numerous chants of one kind or another throughout this match, with most of the ones about either Kurt or Shawn being decidedly pro-Kurt. In fact, Kurt wasn’t booed a great deal here, while Shawn did get some strong boos here and there. The familiar “You Screwed Bret”, chant was heard, which I think that was more down to the crowd wanting to be part of the show and getting on Shawn’s back just for the heck of it, rather than being malicious or anything like that. The match was your typical WWE-style affair when two top guys are involved, but it was still really great stuff. There were some negatives, three of which were the announcers selling Shawn’s back being rammed into the ringpost, when replays showed his back never came close to getting hit, Shawn’s moonsault onto Angle when he was on the Smackdown announce table being way too contrived, and Shawn kicking out of way too many big finishes at the end. The match got very dramatic in the closing stages, with the crowd getting crazy into it, and it was very clear that they absolutely didn’t want Shawn to win. The finish was a little drawn out, and I think the ankle lock was all but killed off as a serious hold, because Shawn took far too long to tap out, even if he was supposed to be showing fighting spirit. ****3/4. That’s **** for the match, * for the finish. And -1/4* for killing the ankle lock. Piper’s Pit with Steve Austin It was ok, and moderately entertaining, but nothing you’d remember the next day. Akebono v Big Show And the point of this was…..? John Bradshaw Leyfield v John Cena This wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t good either. It was just ‘there’. This was at the level of a midcard television match, and was totally underwhelming. I know why they kept it short, but unless the nature of the characters involved, like a monster who the people don’t want to see in long matches, allows for short matches, a 12 minute match for a supposed major title just makes the title look midcard. Well, the Smackdown title is a midcard title, but they don’t need to make it that obvious.** Triple H v Batista I was very scared going into this match, as the show had almost 30 minutes left to it, and there is no way Batista should go anywhere close to 30 minutes. As it is, they ‘only’ went 22 minutes, which was at least seven minutes too long. As a stand alone match, with any two other wrestlers, this would have been pretty good. However, for Hunter v Batista, it was the wrong match. It went too long, Batista sold too much and too soon, and Hunter dominated far too much. He also played babyface in some spots, particularly when he didn’t even fall down from the ringpost shot that he bladed off of. Batista getting the clean win definitely helps him, and he for sure got a boost off of it, but I think his showing in this match, in that he wasn’t enough of a monster, may have hurt him just a little. **1/2.

I don't think WWE have ever seen Meltzer in what could be called a friendly light. I think what changed the level of their dislike of Meltzer was when they were on a big downward slide, and they were looking to just about anything to get some idea of what to do to turn things around. At that point, they'd entertain ideas from just about anyone, including someone who they don't really like. So the rumor that Meltzer was unofficially on WWF payroll as a consultant in the past is false? I don't believe he was ever on their payroll, though I'm pretty sure he got some kind of offer, but I can't remember the specifics. You could always e-mail Dave about this one. Didn't Vince personally call Dave up and asked for his opinion on how to run the invasion(which felt was a good idea he gave vince) and then Vince did precisely the opposite? Vince did call Dave about that, and I'm pretty sure that when Vince hung up, that Dave felt Vince was going to make a decent going of it. Then Kevin Dunn gave his two cents, and it was over from then on.

Unless Vince pushed for it, Austin wouldn't feud with Jarrett, and I don't see Jarrett as someone Vince would be willing to take heat with Austin for.

I don't think WWE have ever seen Meltzer in what could be called a friendly light. I think what changed the level of their dislike of Meltzer was when they were on a big downward slide, and they were looking to just about anything to get some idea of what to do to turn things around. At that point, they'd entertain ideas from just about anyone, including someone who they don't really like. So the rumor that Meltzer was unofficially on WWF payroll as a consultant in the past is false? I don't believe he was ever on their payroll, though I'm pretty sure he got some kind of offer, but I can't remember the specifics. You could always e-mail Dave about this one.

Russo has no grasp of the concept of "less means more." His thinking is that if one big tittied bimbo gets a big pop, then 10 more of them would get 10 times the pop. Russo would book stips that had no reason to happen, for no reason other than to have a stipulation.

Russo had very little, if any, serious input on Goldust, and didn't become a serious part of the booking until March of 1997. The Austin-Pillman gun angle was the brainchild of Jake Roberts.

I don't think WWE have ever seen Meltzer in what could be called a friendly light. I think what changed the level of their dislike of Meltzer was when they were on a big downward slide, and they were looking to just about anything to get some idea of what to do to turn things around. At that point, they'd entertain ideas from just about anyone, including someone who they don't really like.

Russo became a major factor in booking in March of 1997, after the Raw that featured the Owen Hart v Davey Boy European Title tournament final got a terrible rating, 1.9, and the rating for the quarter hour with the Sid v Mankind WWF Title match got tripled by Nitro. I'm actually rewatching most of the WCW PPV's from 2000 right now. I've seen Spring Stampede and I am just finishing Slamboree, and both of them are overloaded on gimmickry, overbooking, and run-in's.

It had something to do with Jake Roberts. I can't rememebr what exactly, though I can check the issue itself later, but it had do with an incident that Roberts was involved in. Dave was going to print the story, but he got a call from someone in the WWF, and they asked him not to print the story; I can't remember their exact argument against printing the story, but whatever it was, after hearing it, Dave gave it some thought, and decided not to print the story. When Brody heard what had happened, he wrote to Dave, and basically told him flat out that he did was wrong to not print the story, as it's his job to print what goes on in wrestling, both good and bad, and he took Dave to task for going along with the WWF's wishes. Brody wasn't malicious about it, as I think he actually liked Dave. He just felt disappointed that Dave had, in his eyes, caved in.

It's the War Of The Worlds all over again. Maybe he's really a Martian.

Well..when the WWE does attempt to create tag teams, everyone hates it and only sees it as 'pairing up random singles wrestlers'. That's because it is just a random pairing of wrestlers. If a team is put together for no reason, and they just show up one day as a team with no backstory to explain why they are a team, of course people are going to fart all over it.

Go and read some of the threads in the TNA Forum, and you'll find a number of people point out that the NWA Title is a vanity belt for Jeff Jarrett, and why it's been allowed to become so. Things get clearly explained, so you should be able to understand. And if you actually paid attention to ROH, you would know that Samoa Joe was not unbeatable during his title reign. He lost many non-title matches, where the guy who pinned him would actually get put over, to set up title matches.

WWE will never be serious about the Cruiserweight division. The best you'll get is a decent 10 minute match on PPV or Smackdown once in a while, with them allowed to go 15 minutes on rare occasions, and the storylines will rarely be any good, with little if any thought given to them.

Never let it be said that Nash doesn't know when to say the right things at the right time.

I didn't think the match was that bad. I definitely think Goldberg and Brock could have a really good, stiff brawl if they were so motivated, and were actually allowed to.