Hunter's Torn Quad

Steve Blackman. So uncharismatic I had to post it twice.

Steve Blackman.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Grenier get canned as soon as La Res lose the tag titles.

Have the wrestlers going after them be the ones people care about and/or see as stars. When Evolution had the tag titles, people cared when they were defended, and, by proxy, who were challenging for them. Same when Edge and Benoit had the belts back in May/June. However, when La Resistance have the belts, nobody gives a shit about the belts because nobody gives a shit about La Res or takes them seriously. They're an opening act comedy gimmick, and when opening act comedy gimmicks have titles, they make the titles seem worthless. The booking needed to make the belts have value against is simple; put the belts on people on wrestlers people care about and/or take seriously, and keep comedy well away from the them. Sure, use the occasional light hearted moment from time to time if need be, but don't make the belts seem like a joke. As for point number two, the key isn't limiting the wrestlers style, but limiting how often they do the crazy and spectacular stuff, Instead of the wrestlers being allowed to go to town with big spots, limit them to one or two a night at house shows, a few more on TV, and few more than that on PPV. Teach them how to build their match so that instead of needing to ten crazy spots to get a pop, they only need to do one or two. They have/had the talent on hand to do that. They just need to use it.

If that does turn out to be the main event, then it's going to be really bad. Nash, Hall and Savage can't do a thing in the ring, Brown is still green, which leaves Styles and Jarrett to carry things, and they're not good enough to carry the rest of the participants to anything good.

Speaking of Keller, has anyone seen his newest picture in the Torch ? He looks like a radiation victim or something.

Probably a bit less...they need some time at the end for their angle shit to go down. I was including time for the angle. Which will probably see Hardy relegated to the background while Jarrett stands center stage, with Hall and Nash behind him.

How long do you think Jarrett and Hardy will get ? I'm going with 20 minutes.

Triple J needs his 25 minutes or so to showcase his ***** affair with the junkie.

If Florida suffers a lightening flood right now, the crowd can use Jacqueline to float away to safety.

I only really watch wrestling regularly, as most of what's on TV these days doesn't interest me, but it has had an effect on that in regards to PPV's, because I don't need to buy them. I just wait less than a day, and download them from a newsgroup for way less than $34.95.

Changing the format might actually spark some interest. It's different, sure, but different isn't bad. And this format doesn't erase the tag team division, it gives it more scope in fact, by allowing more potential combinations to be made. I don't think WWE have any credible teams right now, and if they do, The Dudley's aren't one of them, because of how they've been treated for the past few months. How is it boring, when it mixes things up, and can create intrigue ? You are right in one thing; this isn't boxing. Boxing can pull in 1M+ buy rates from time to time.

What do you mean? You want to know why I think is garbage? It would help give your opinion some credibility for one.

Think you could explain that in a little more detail ?

I never said he was going to wrestling tonight, or that I was even considering buying the PPV at all. I'm just pointing out that Savage can't do offer anything at all, so why hire him ?

You realize that you're talking about the same company that signed Ultimo Dragon thinking he was a Rey Mysterio type wrestler without checking him out first. WWE really doesn't have anywhere else to shop around for wrestlers these days. The only ones out there are TNA guys, which are chock full of former stars, stars that Vince has beef with or guys that Vince considers too small. If he'd change his booking philosophy, he'd have a lot more talent out there to work with, but for right now, what you see plus who ever is in OVW is what you get. Dames I concede your points, but my suggestions are presented on the assumption that, for whatever reason, Vince actually listens to them. Granted, that's drifting into the realms of fantasy booking, but if we stuck to what actually was possible, then there would be no point in making suggestions, because few, if any, would be implemented. Thanks.

Not to mention he can barely move on those knees he has. What's he going to do ? He can't wrestle or bump, or do anything else of value.

If they felt the talent in OVW was ready, or had plans for them, they would have been called up. If they develop plans and such for the OVW guys, then they could bring them up instead. But even then, they couldn't bring up all of them, because it's unlikely that they'd all be ready for prime time. At least with outside talent, they would know, I hope, that the talent they'd be getting would be ready.

Because they had no plans for them presumably. With these theoretical signings, they would have definite plans for them, and so would be willing to hire them. Like I said...it's for cost reasons. Let's say that you're a manager with 4 employees and your company can only afford to keep 3, you fire one and that's it. You don't hire another one...because that contradicts the reason for firing the other. Dames Theoretically, they would have confidence in investing in the new talent, because they would feel that the plans they had in mind would make it worth it to hire them.

How about the damage that would be done to the Royal Rumble by doing so? Any damage that may or may not be caused would be more than offest by the aura devloped at WrestleMania, where the brand v brand stuff would happen, because it would seem far more special if two guys from opposite brands lock up for the very first time at WM, rather than in a meaningless two minute segment during the Rumble. I think he means the Rumble match itself, because if you haven't noticed, neither Raw or Smackdown has 30 wrestlers alone. Raw has around 25 and Smackdown 27. Summerslam and Survivor Series can be brand exclusive, but the Rumble has to have both brands on it just so the actual Rumble match can happen. Then they hire more workers. You really would gamble the number two ppv of the year(correct me If I'm mistaken), and one of the few sure draws the company still has left, on the strength of one brand, which would contain of a number of people the fans wouldn't be familar with enough to pay for? Also, with no confrontation tease taking place during the Rumble and the total seperation of the brands, would these matches be drawn out of a hat, voted for, or something else? Seems using the cross promotional matches on Wrestlemania is putting all the eggs in the big basket, leaving little for the smaller ones. They did well enough before the split, so there is no reason they couldn't do just as well here, assuming they booked things properly. And I think the cross-promotional matches would be more than worth it, because the split would be far more credible, and the inter-brand matches would then seem a lot more special.

Because they had no plans for them presumably. With these theoretical signings, they would have definite plans for them, and so would be willing to hire them.

They had no plans for those ten poeple. They would have plans for the new signings.

How about the damage that would be done to the Royal Rumble by doing so? Any damage that may or may not be caused would be more than offest by the aura devloped at WrestleMania, where the brand v brand stuff would happen, because it would seem far more special if two guys from opposite brands lock up for the very first time at WM, rather than in a meaningless two minute segment during the Rumble. I think he means the Rumble match itself, because if you haven't noticed, neither Raw or Smackdown has 30 wrestlers alone. Raw has around 25 and Smackdown 27. Summerslam and Survivor Series can be brand exclusive, but the Rumble has to have both brands on it just so the actual Rumble match can happen. Then they hire more workers.

How about the damage that would be done to the Royal Rumble by doing so? Any damage that may or may not be caused would be more than offest by the aura devloped at WrestleMania, where the brand v brand stuff would happen, because it would seem far more special if two guys from opposite brands lock up for the very first time at WM, rather than in a meaningless two minute segment during the Rumble.

Strengthen the brand split: This can be done in the following ways: 1) End all mention of Raw on Smackdown, and all mention of Smackdown on Raw. No more segments recapping what’s happened on the other show, and no references to the other show, in any way, shape, or form. It’s impossible for fans to truly believe that Raw and Smackdown are separate, but it would be so much easier to get fans into being more willing and able to suspend their disbelief if the illusion wasn’t getting shattered repeatedly. This leads to point number 2 of this idea…. 2) No joint PPV’s except for WrestleMania. This relates to the first point, in that the illusion, however it might get built up on TV, just gets destroyed when both brands appear on the same PPV. This should be stopped right away, with the only combined PPV being WrestleMania, where any brand v brand matches will seem more special, and the whole event will seem more special, because it really will be the only event of the year where you can see both brands. 3) Alternate the monthly PPV’s, with Raw getting one, then Smackdown getting the next, and so on. This will allow the storylines more time to develop, and things won’t have to get rushed. Give each brand each own unique identity and look: This can be done in the following ways: 1) Change the look and appearance of Smackdown, so that it looks as little like Raw as possible. Put a Smackdown motif in the middle of the ring canvas so that it looks distinctive, change the turnbuckle pads to the single-piece ones like in Japan and RoH, change the way the Smackdown show is set up by having the entrance on the right side of the hard camera or maybe even having two entrance ways, with one for heels and one for faces. The Smackdown show needs to look as different as possible to Raw, while still looking like a wrestling show. 2) Give Raw a serious and well-pushed Women’s division, and give Smackdown a serious and well-pushed Cruiserweight division. Each of these will give the respective brands something unique about them, and something they can both say you can only see on their show. Make it serious, with minimal comedy, and give the fans plenty of time to get into them without pulling the rug out from the wrestlers involved, and thus killing off the fans desire to get emotionally invested in the characters. Emotion draws money, and if the people don’t get emotionally involved with anyone, they won’t pay to see anyone. 3) Make Raw mostly Sports Entertainment, with some serious wrestling elements thrown in, and make Smackdown mostly serious wrestling, with some Sports Entertainment thrown in. Each brand has to not only look different but also feel different, with two totally different products. Give the SE fans a show they can watch and enjoy, and give the wrestling fans a show they can watch and enjoy. That way, you are drawing on from two demographics instead of just the one, which means, if done right, more viewers, and thus, more money. Change the criteria for new talent: Vince loves the big men, but right now, there are not a lot of big men out there, and fewer who really have the tools to be fit for prime time. What needs to be done is to get the best talent out there, regardless of size or charisma, and push them based on their best points, while hiding their weaknesses with effective booking; if a guy isn’t that good on the mic, then give him a mouthpiece, or if a guy doesn’t have a lot of natural charisma, don’t put him in skits, that kind of basic booking that appears to be a lost art. Make Heat and Velocity seem important again: Both shows, Heat especially used to get big ratings; Heat used to hit the 4’s on a regular basis at one point. That went downhill when both shows were treated as ‘B’ shows and the fans saw them as such. Consequently, ratings hit the toilet. That needs to be changed, with both shows being made to seem important, and something you have to watch. Do this by putting more first-run stuff on each of them. Not necessarily big matches, but key angles and storyline developments; something that advances a currently top pushed program. Then, give a quick video recap of it on Raw (for Heat) or Smackdown (for Velocity), with a tagline of something like, “Here’s what you missed out on”, then show parts of the angle they missed. Don’t show it all though. Just show enough that they get the idea of what happened, but don’t see everything that did happen. Make the people start to think, “Hey, that looked neat, I wish I had seen it all”, and then get across that they can see it all, but only by watching the weekend shows. Make house shows seem important again: House shows are in the shits, and a big reason for that is the fans have been condition to believe that nothing of importance ever happens on them. Sure, from time to time, they get a bone thrown, like the odd title switch once every few years, but that’s about it really. Change that up, and in a big way. Once or twice a year, change a title at a house show, and tape it with a handheld camera. Show this on Raw or Smackdown, and tell the fans, “Boy, you missed something huge this past Saturday at our live event in Chicago”. Run angles on house shows, tape them like you would title changes in the above scenario, and show clips on Raw or Smackdown, and make people think that they could see key storyline developments by going to house shows. One scenario that comes to mind involves the Raw tag titles. Hype up a new team through videos and vignettes, and have them talk about how they’re going to mow through the tag ranks and take the tag titles. Le Resistance can mention them in interviews, and say they aren’t scared of this new time, and will take them on whenever they want. Then, announce that next week on Raw, this new time will debut, and will call out La Resistance. However, shake things up, and on the Raw house show the next Saturday, after La Resistance have beaten some team, have them deride the new team, we’ll call them Team X, and say that they know Team X will be at Raw, they aren’t scared of them, and if Team X were here tonight, they’d give them a shot at the tag titles. Suddenly, strange music hits, and Team X show up out of nowhere, attack Le Resistance, and demand the tag title shot La Resistance said they would give them. Team X then wins the tag titles, and when they debut on Raw as tag champions, hype the hell out of the title change, and make a big deal out of it. Make the people kick themselves for not going and missing out on seeing a big debut. A simplistic scenario but one that could easily get over the importance of house shows.