Hunter's Torn Quad

1) It would take a turnaround the likes of which we’ve never seen before for WWE to have something that could even come close to legitimately drawing over 100,000 by WM XXIII 2) It would take such a turnaround, plus the convergence of all nine planets in the solar system into perfect alignment, for them to have something that could approach the level of fervor that Hulk v Andre had. Unless a time machine is invented and they get Austin in his prime v Hogan in his prime, it just isn’t going to happen, and if the match isn’t suitably historic then it won’t be allowed to overtake the WM III legacy.

Did anyone else notice the first 'Royal Rumble' clip shown, after the countdown, wasn't actually from a Royal Rumble ?

Hunter was never intended to go to Smackdown. The whole deal was done to ensure Hunter was seen as more important than everyone else. You know, because he really needed the boost(!)

I believe Cade is out injured at the moment. And he has some talent, but not enough to justify being anything more than an opening match wrestler.

I don't understand that. Wouldn't that be a good thing to draw more than 93,000? Yes it would be, but the 93,173 number has such a mystique to it that Vince doesn't want to destroy it. Would that be another case of putting ego in front of box office? Or is he right to want to protect it, in your opinion, VTQ/HTQ? It's not a right thing or a wrong thing. It's where he wants to protect a memory, even though, in his heart, he knows it's false. It's like when Crusher and The Baron, I think, did that angle with Lawler at one of the PPV's a few years back; the fans knew they weren't the tough guys they were back in the day, but they didn't want to have to see it in front of them.

*jumps on the bandwagon*

I don't understand that. Wouldn't that be a good thing to draw more than 93,000? Yes it would be, but the 93,173 number has such a mystique to it that Vince doesn't want to destroy it.

I don't think Vince will ever run a WM, or any major event, at the Silverdome ever again. Vince is very protective of the image of the mythical 93,173 number now; on the few times in recent years they could have legitimately drawn a crowd bigger than that, WM X-7 for example, he’s opted not to, simply because he wants the magic number of 93,173 to stand forever. By that same token, he’s also not going to want any potential crowd they could draw there, which would never be announced as bigger than 93,173 even if it was, to be compared to it. Vince wants the myth and lore surrounding WM III to live forever, and he won’t do anything that, in his eyes, could damage it. That means no WM in the Silverdome, and no crowd that could legitimately beat 93.173.

Only in certain parts of the country. Yeah, the parts that typically draw the most for SD house shows.

--Without giving away spoilers, last night's Smackdown part of the taping was bad from a wrestling standpoint. With both brands in the house together, it was really clear that Guerrero was by far the star of the promotion. The in-ring wasn't good on either show. From tonight's WO.com update

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura v Yuji Nagata and Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 1/30/05 This is the IWGP Tag Team Title match from this past Sunday night. Everything looked good, as you would expect, but the crowd heat wasn't there, even in the closing stretches of the match. The big story was Tenzan having to get his back attended to at ringside, leaving Nagata to go it alone for most of the remainder of the match. The star of the match was Tanahashi, who looked the most vibrant and alive of the four participants, and showed the most fire. The ending was good, with some nice false finishes, but the crowd just didn’t come alive, even though the action itself was good. In front of a hotter crowd, this would have probably hit ****, easy, and hopefully they’ll go at it again sometime. Sadly, the most newsworthy aspect of this was the condition of Hiroyoshi Tenzan. I don’t know how bad his nerve problems are, but I can only assume they must be real bad, because he looked like a completely different person in this match. He’s lost a good 20lbs since the Tokyo Dome in January, and his arms looked shockingly thin and haggard. Also, and I don’t know how this works, but he looked shorter for some reason. I don’t how to explain that last one, but Tenzan looked in terrible shape physically, and I hope he gets better soon.

It's from September of 1987, and is a really good match, that goes about 9 minutes. Owen Hart v Keichi Yamada

It's almost impossible Hogan is the mystery entrant. If he is, it would be the ultimate example of being a mark for the pop. Hogan's return can generate one big buy rate boost, and you don't get that without advertising it like crazy. Not to mention the fact that he won't be winning, and you know Hogan isn't making his return with a loss. Same deal with Lesnar. Doing the mystery guy deal with either Hogan or Lesnar would be bad business. When either guy returns, and they both will at some point, the best thing for business is hype the hell out it beforehand.

Because doing those matches in the first six months will make the most money. The key is, while those big money matches are being done, to build people up, so that when the first set of big money matches have been done, you can move on to another set of big money matches, this time with Lesnar putting over the new guys. It was totally different. The focus at the end of WM XX, as well as being on Benoit's win, was the, supposed, dawn of a new era on Raw and SD. With Batista and Lesnar, it would be the teasing of a meeting between two monsters. The new monster's crowning moment should be his alone. As for Lesnar shaking his hand, that isn't the Lesnar that is going to draw. For a potential Batista v Lesnar match to get the most juice, Batista needs to be seen as on the top level, and for that to happen, the closing moment of WM XXI should be a triumphant Batista standing over a fallen and unconscious Triple H. There shouldn't be anyone else involved.

Lesnar showing up at the end of WM would take the focus off of Batista's title win. End WM with Batista triumphant, but, possibly in the lead up to WM, hint at Lesnar's return. Then, have Raw the next night end with the two facing off.

Each day that an angle like that goes by, the big matches mean less and less. Lesnar will seem his most special from the first day, and the most money can be made by putting him the main events from day one. It's just that simple. It might make for a good story, having him work his way to the top, but it won't make the most money.

You're not the only one who doesn't want Lesnar back. However, bringing him back will mean money, so it's a question of what means most to people, ego or money. If you're a businessmen, money comes first.

It wouldn't work. Assuming Lesnar returns, I would wager dollars to donuts that the fans are absolutely not going to want to see Lesnar 'work his way up'. Once he first shows up again, they'll want him to be the kick ass Brock Lesnar, and be a main event player, if only because he'll instantly be the biggest name on Smackdown. Anything else won't work as well.

If anyone blew off promotional interviews without a good reason they'd get castigated, and rightfully so. It wouldn't matter who it was.

--James Whale, who does the talkSPORT evening show in the U.K. was scheduled to have HHH do a phone interview to promote his book last night. Whale was constantly promoting the interview until late in the show when he said HHH had pulled out for some unknown reason and "decided he couldn't do it." Whale then ripped on the book, said it wasn't worth buying and threw a copy in the garbage can on the air. He said because of HHH's actions, he would never have another wrestler on his show again, which is a big deal because every wrestler sent to the U.K. for promotional work is usually booked on his show. Whale said he was offered Chris Benoit on the show and had turned Benoit down because he didn't want two wrestling guests on the same show. (thanks to Stu Wilson) --Benoit ended up on the graveyard show on the network hosted by Mike Mendoza at 5 a.m. instead, and only got nine minutes, having to answer questions like, "Is wrestling real?" --There is an excellent Benoit interview up at www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2003560001-2005042323,00.html. He talks about watching Stu Hart making muscleheads scream in pain who had no respect for wrestling, and why he never did it to Benoit. He talked about why he considered Dynamite Kid the greatest wrestler ever and how he and Chris Jericho think Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid are "timeless" matches in that they wouldn't have to change a thing and would still work today. He also talked about Bret Hart (and had the best take on the real situation as ayone), Kurt Angle ("our Michael Jordan"), his most physically demanding match (which will surprise you, but it was the Pittsbrugh match with HHH), being compared with Bryan Danielson, and being announced from Atlanta. --HMV stores in Canada already have the RVD DVD,which will be officially released on Tuesday. --Last night's Smackdown did a 3.8 overnight rating based on 55 of the top 56 markets (Richmond, VA not included), putting it in 5th place for the night, ahead of only WB. It's right at what the show has been averaging in recent weeks. --No Way Out will air on regular Sky Sports 1 in the U.K. and not on PPV. (thanks to Ian Hamilton and Paul Clay) --Speaking of No Way Out, in Canadian movie theaters, they are already running ads, featuring interviews, buiding up No Way Out and announcing champion JBL vs Big Show in a barbed wire match as the main event. That's quality control for you. (thanks to Milan Simnovec) --Joey Yung (who is actually a hot looking woman), who is one of Hong Kong's biggest stars, wore a WWE title belt over her ballroom dress while presenting awards at the HK Music Awards this past week. Credit - WO.com

Yes, I want him back, and the best way to use him if/when they bring him back is to push him to the moon right out of the gate, and make the most money they can from him as soon as possible. Let him 'pay his dues' when they've made maximum box office out his return. Doing anything else is putting ego ahead of box office.

No, Undertaker whining to the office about how not-ready Kronik was got them fired. Actually, it was the bad match that good them fired, and not anything Undertaker did. After the Unforgiven match, Kronik were asked to go to OVW/HWA to train, which was considered WWF's way of saying, "Please quit, we don't want you here." One of Kronik, not sure which, quit, while the other went to OVW/HWA for a week or so, before eventually quitting.

Summerslam 1999 is decent, with a shockingly good Test v Shane McMahon Streetfight, though I don't know if the match holds up well. Unforgiven 2001 is a mixed bag, with a hot RVD v Chris Jericho match, and a horrible match with Undertaker and Kane v Kronik, as well as decent support matches. SummerSlam 2000 is a really good event as well, with some great matches and stunts. I'd call that $25 well spent.

I think ROH were telling the truth about Feinstein as they believed it. I think Sapolsky and Silkin really did believe Feinstein was gone and not coming back. Sapolsky always felt that Feinstein never could return or it would kill ROH dead, because the wrestlers would walk out, and I think he let that hinder what pretty much everyone else figured, and that was that Feinstein would angle to come back somewhere down the line.

That right there tells me you don't know what you're talking about. A World Champion doesn't cut the legs off of people. A real World Champion builds people up, and, while he does beat them, he doesn't make them look like crap in the process. Have fun 'responding to the rest', because I don't intend to waste my time on someone who clearly doesn't know what they're talking about.