Hunter's Torn Quad

And if you debut them with other big guys, or put them with bigger guys, their size is negated. A perfect example would be when Matt Morgan and Nathan Jones were brought in to team with Lesnar, Show and A-Train The only thing they had going for them was their size, and that was ruined by putting them in with A-Train, who was as big as them, and Show who was bigger.

Wrestlers don't necessarily have to look different to normal dudes to draw their attention. They can also do crazy shit that normal dudes can't do. Beside, if there are too many hosses, then none of them stand out, and wind up looking normal themselves.

Are there any particular interviews you're referring to here? Bryan Alvarez was constantly asked who it was, and the one time someone brought up Van Dam's name, he never gave an answer. If it wasn't Van Dam, why didn't he come out and say it wasn't Van Dam ? I know a lot was written about Willy at the time of the e-mails in various newsletters, so you can check what Willy said in there, and check what he says against known facts. I would suggest asking Meltzer, but if Willy really was RVD as I think he was, or anyone still with WWE, then he probably won't tell you. I can do some research myself if you're that interested in knowing.

Actually, Hardy was still in the company. He left VERY shortly after though. Like within a month. Still, considering how he was viewed by management, he would have no reason to complain about not being on the card.

How do you know that for sure? I read rumors that it was Rikishi or Jeff Hardy (as well as the RVD rumors). Well, Hardy was long gone before WM XIX, so he could hardly complain about not being on the card. I know it was Van Dam, or at least believe it was him, because when the usual suspects were asked about it, they all said it wasn't this guy or that guy, but when Vam Dam's name came up, they got quiet and never gave an actual answer. So, either they wanted us to believe it was Van Dam, or it was Van Dam. Also, if it was someone who had since left, like Rikishi, it would have come out by now.

It was Van Dam.

If it helps, in his latest update, Meltzer seems pretty sure that the Undertaker-Heidenrape program will get blown off at SS.

And with an attitude like, it's no wonder the number of people willing to pay for WWE is well down.

An 'unknown' wrestler e-mailed 1Wrestling.com a few times around the time of WM XIX, and complained about WWE and, amongst other things, the Miller Lite girls being brought in and taking a spot on the card that should have gone to the wrestlers. Scotsman tried to claim it was him, but he was lying. It was an actual wrestler in WWE.

Okay so what if Stephanie, the then-GM of Smackdown, agreed to give the lineage back to RAW? That her and Eric came to agreement about having 2 world champions? It would have been a nice touch. It also could have set up some wrestlers jumping from Raw to SD under the guise of Bischoff trading them over in exchange for the rights to the WCW World Title. That might have even elevated said wrestlers in some way, because they could say they were worth a World title, and so deserve a World title shot on SD.

Titles, esepcially the World Title, should be made to seem important, because if all else fails angle/storyline wise, you can at least build things around the World Title. The trouble with doing that now, is there is nobody with any credibility at all to push as World Title contender. Everyone is either stale or has no credibility, thanks to poor booking. And I'll wager dollars to donuts that we've been putting more thought into titles in this one thread, than almost anyone in WWE has in the last year.

If the title lineage shouldn't be taken seriously, then why should the title itself be taken seriously ? If they don't care about a title, why should I, a paying customer, care about it enough to want to pay to see it defended ?

It might be easier, but it's not more logical, and here is why. Let’s assume wrestling is real, the titles are real, and Raw and Smackdown really are two separate promotions. A championship that is merged into another becomes part of that championship, for example the IC Title became part of the Raw World Title when they were merged. Now, because the Raw World Title is controlled by Raw, Raw is the only promotion that can really resurrect the IC Title and its lineage. Smackdown could bring out an IC Title belt and say that it is the IC Championship, but that title would have no lineage link to the old IC Title, because Smackdown had no control over the IC Championship when it was merged into the Raw World Title. By the same token, when the Unified Title, of which the WCW World Title was half of, became the property of Smackdown, Raw, because it is a separate promotion, lost all rights as it pertains to the WCW World Title and its lineage, because it was not its property. Eric Bischoff might have brought out a copy of the big gold belt associate with the WCW World Title, and he might have even referenced it to the WCW World Title, but because Raw had no power at all over the WCW World Title or its lineage anymore, he had no rights to ‘take’ the WCW World Title lineage away from the WWE Title over on Smackdown. Therefore, the lineage Raw World Title only goes back to when it the championship was created on Raw, and the belt brought out of the suitcase.

Austin brought back the IC Title on Raw. Seeing as how the IC Title was merged with the World Title on Raw, he could do that.

It was the physical belt that Flair had held, but not a championship whose lineage was part of the NWA/WCW Title. The WCW and WWF Titles were merged into the Unified Title. This was taken to Smackdown, became their property, and was subsequently called the WWE Title. Eric took the old WCW Title belt out of a case, and called it the World Heavyweight Championship. Any WCW Title lineage went with, and is part of, the WWE Title. The World Title on Raw's lineage only goes back as far as the night on Raw when the the physical belt got taken out of the case and award to Triple H. .

1.) Favorite world title match at the PPV ? Not a long list to choose from, but I'll go with Goldberg v Hunter, because they actually booked Goldberg right for one night. 2.) Favorite SSeries team elimination match? I'll go with a tie between Face Tag Teams v Heel Tag Teams from 1988, and Team Austin v Team Bischoff from 2003 3.) Favorite face / heel (or both) SSeries team assembled? The tag team teams in 1988, or Team Austin in 2003 4.) Favorite non-world title, non-team battle match other than Austin / Hart? I'll go with the 1998 SS as a whole. If only for the first viewing, as subsequent viewings took a great deal of shine off, it was compelling storytelling. 5.) Favorite segment? Shawn Michaels apologising to Austin for losing the match and costing Austin his career. Also, Shawn and Vince both juicing like crazy that night. 6.) Things you hated besides the Montreal Screwjob? First and foremost, the utter, total, and complete stupidity of Brock losing to Big Show in 2002. The lazy ass booking to Team Flair v Team Piper in 1991.

Shawn Michaels crica 1997 meets the cowboy and the biker from the Village People.

Credit - WO.com

New stars not being created, and any potential stars getting their legs cut off, or being 'exposed' to provide an excuse not to push them. He was in briefly in late '98 I think, but disappeared for almost a year. He was the one broke Syxx Pac's neck, albeit accidentally.

WCW were so ass-backwards with Palumbo and Hale's debuts. They pushed them strong with pacakges and the like, and then beat them right away.

What do you mean by that? Great undercard, but a substandard ME, at least quality-wise.

Starrcade 1994 did 0.60 Starrcade 1995 did 0.36 Starrcade 1996 did 0.95 Funnily, they added the Flair v Luger v Sting deal because they wanted to ensure a decent buy rate.

He took up a lot of space, but that's about it. Nothing lead up to it at all. Probably not wanting to pay him his required $300,000 PPV bonus, when there was nothing for him to do. He was Eric's buddy. Hogan, most likely. It was meant to be Hogan against Flair, AA and two others, but then Savage bitched about not being involved and wanting a big win, so they had to add four more, hence the cage.

Roberts worked for AAA from April of 1993 to about a year later.

I could've sworn that they originally wanted to end the program MONTHS earlier, but just kept it going. Nope, the plan was always to hold off Sting v Hogan for Starrcade '97.