Hunter's Torn Quad

No, that's been debunked several times over. Herb Kunze "Mankind hit the DDT for the pin at 16:22. HHH chaired Austin's leg to give Austin a vacation. Chyna held off the referee. Jesse & Mankind were long gone. It's no secret that they wanted Jesse to come out of this match as a babyface. That would happen if he raised a babyface's hand or if he decked a heel. That meant that if HHH won, he'd have to take a bump right afterward for Jesse, which would spoil his moment, I guess. It has also been widely reported that Austin refused to lie down for HHH and that the bookers didn't want Austin to lose the title without losing. In any case, any idiot could figure that HHH would win the title the next night on RAW because Mankind can't work any sort of schedule yet" http://rspw.org/tidbits/tidbits.990826 Hasn't a lot of what Herb has 'reported' over the years been proven to be nowhere close to accurate? I've never heard anyone reputable say that Austin refused to job to HHH. The reasons for putting Mankind in the match were both wanting Jesse to raise the hand of a babyface (not just come out as a babyface himself) and because Austin being banged up meant they wouldn't be able to have the expected great match and Mankind was put in to help carry the load.

I would agree with all of that, but especially the referee comments. I felt he was way too quick to stand things up whenever Condit seemed to be in trouble. It got almost comical at times. WEC 35 was another very good show, and I'm really looking forward to Faber's title fight in September.

Those are fun, especially when you stand on the apron and let everyone else beat themselves up while you sneak in for a cheapshot every few minutes. I'm not a fan of battle royals, because they're so cluttered that you can't pay attention to anything and they're almost never any good because so many people in the ring means they're a festival of punch-kick action.

That one has long been shown to be untrue,

I never heard he was ever going to win the title at Summerslam, just that he was going to get the title shot. Had the match against Batista happened, I would have fully expected him to lose, given that the match would have been taking place in Washington which, among other things, is Batista's kayfabe home town.

Taken from another board, via PWI:

On the latest Wrestling Observer radio show, Meltzer talked about TNA and said while they know where they're going with almost all their storylines, they have no idea where they're going with the Sting storyline and are booking it as they go along. Meltzer and Alvarez also talked about few other things, including the general buffoonery of the babyfaces, Joe in particular, and said it's not intentional; TNA think they're actually making Joe look good.

On the latest Wrestling Observer radio show, Meltzer said that WWE kept secret the decision to make Adamle the Raw GM, to the point that John Cena found out in the ring when everybody else did and several potential candidates backstage were accused of lying when they denied it was them.

What were the plans for that show? Was it really going to be yet another "relaunch" or WCW? Scott Steiner was 'taking out' all the top babyfaces for the past three months, and Greed would see them all return in some fashion, I'm guessing to show up and confront Steiner and show him they were back and his days as World champion were numbered.

Fujita is another name I'm surprised lasted this long. My next wrestler pick is someone who plays a great dick heel, has the legit credentials I like, and isn't that bad in the ring, either. I think he can do well in the more performance-orientated North American market, so I'm hoping he'd get over well whenever we hit the ACC. My next pick... Naoya Ogawa! My third venue will be for TV tapings, and I'm going with a venue that guarantees a rabid response. Whether it'll be positive or negative will depend entirely on what goes on in the ring. My third and final venue... The Hammerstein Ballroom!

http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2008/08...nfolo080208.txt

I don't think it'll be deliberate, if it happens. I think they're going to make the Summerslam match more of a face vs. face, shades of gray affair.

I don't see a title change happening. I could see the champions win by pinfall when either Cena or Batista do something to cost the other the fall, and with the parity booking WWE likes, if that happens then whoever gets pinned here will likely win their singles match at Summerslam.

I should have checked his posting history before wasting time with him.

Which means absolutely nothing at all, because Austin and Rock were once-in-a-lifetime hits and virtually nobody will match their popularity or merchandise sales. I have to totally disagree there... Hulk Hogan Ric Flair Randy Savage Bret Hart DX NWO The Rock Austin More to come, I assure you. Cena is NOT that guy right now, and probably never. Guys (or marketing gimmicks) rise like that rise about once every 3 years, as history shows. It's Batista's turn, IMO. Either you're total gimmick, or you haven't a clue what you're talking about. Austin, Rock and Hogan are on a plane all to themselves. I'm a big fan of almost everyone you mention, but none of them are close to those three. Strong numbers on their own? Yes. But reaching the levels of Austin, Rock and Hogan? Not even close, and not for as long.

Which their PPV numbers can attest to.

Which means absolutely nothing at all, because Austin and Rock were once-in-a-lifetime hits and virtually nobody will match their popularity or merchandise sales.

You didn't get my point, did you? And that's also a crowd not representative of the WWE fan base.

Cena gets a huge reaction and while it's been some time since we've had someone try to explain it away as not really being as big as it is, I'm not surprised that someone is, I assume, genuinely trying to argue otherwise. Cena gets major pops on TV, at the arenas, his merchandise sales are huge, and he draws ratings. You don't need to mess with that, and I don't think you can or should either. The reason I say that is that Cena gets those reactions and numbers by being the heroic babyface that people either really love or really hate. People love Cena because of who and what he is and people hate him because of who and what he is. If you take away the Cena that his fans love, then they're going to stop caring about him because they're the type of fan (young, and/or impressionable) who won't stick around to see him get beaten up or whatever. They're simply going to stay home, maybe watch him on TV to yell at, and stop asking mom/dad/care giver to buy his merchandise for them, take them to see him live or buy PPV's he's part of. Conversely, take away the Cena that his haters hate, and make their hatred of him the 'correct' reaction, and you take away their reason to care about him as well. Those people hate Cena no matter what, but I guarantee that a lot of what drives that hate is that they're 'supposed' to like him, and they're determined not to. Take that away, and make their reaction the one Cena is going to want them to have, and they'll not only stop caring about him enough to not hate him, but they'll also stop caring enough to not react when he shows up. They're also going to keep not buying his merchandise. I think Cena is someone who is what he is, a babyface that people either want to love or want to hate, and I don't think he can be anything else. I think the dynamic is just that rare, and that changing it would be a mistake.

First up, my next wrester pick. I'm choosing someone who, while I'm surprised he hasn't been picked already, I'm not totally shocked that he flew under the radar. He was a great shoot-style wrestler back in the days of the UWF-I, and moved on to have a moderately successful career in All Japan. I think he'd have really good matches with Brock Lesnar, and he's someone who would fit just about anywhere on the card. He passed away in January of 2000, and it's his demise to which I attribute his having lasted this long. My next pick is... Gary Albright! And for my second venue, I've decided to go with somewhere in North America. I've eschewed the US in favor of Canada, as I feel a card filled with mostly Japanese wrestlers is more likely to be well received north of the border, and I've picked a venue that I think will reflect that. This venue has hosted a number of major, modern wrestling events, both the sublime and the wretched. My second venue is... The Air Canada Centre!

From Meltzer.

Mis-transcription; the Observer does actually say he retained, so the error was mine. As for HHH bashing Punk for no reason, that's usually down to insecurity. Quite what HHH has to be insecure about, that's another matter entirely.

From ProWrestling.net

Once he came up with a reason not to show up at the PPV, TNA didn't bother asking him again, because they knew what the score was. The great thing about Nash is that he rarely flat out refuses to job; he just comes up with a reason the match can't take place, and so never actually has to come right out and refuse to job.

That was quite the feat right there; he announces the match, and all you get from the crowd is a very light boo and then total indifference. That takes talent, to officially announce the biggest match Raw can have, and yet have the crowd not give a damn.