Hunter's Torn Quad

John Cena's first WWE appearence was in a loss to Kurt Angle during the whole Angle Invitational gimmick. Even though Cena looked good in the fight, he lost the match... but still, it didn't hurt him in the long run. It's because he did like competitive that the loss didn't hurt Cena. In no way did Cody look competitive against Orton, which did just as much damage as losing did.

Stephanie took over as head writer in September, just before the love triangle storyline concluded. Survivor Series, though, was the first PPV where she had total control.

That's a good storyline in theory, but it only works if the veteran in question is someone whose opinion the audience cares about.

Jeter rips into Matt Cappotelli and Dean Hill flips his lid over it Jeter is extremely comfortable playing the heel. That was super tasty. ASSSSSSSSS.... HOLE! Dean Hill going nuts is just incredible. The guy hasn't even so much as raised his voice in the entire time he's been in OVW, and out of nowhere he goes off the deep end, calling Johnny Jeter an asshole, flipping him the bird and telling him, "fuck you". It would be like Gordon Solie in Georgia turning into Jim Ross circa 2007 and calling a heel a no-good bastard and telling him to go straight to hell. Jeter is great as a smarmy heel, but Dean Hill is the star of that angle.

Big Show versus Batista Part 1 Big Show versus Batista Part 2 The infamous match that saw many great chants.

Jeter rips into Matt Cappotelli and Dean Hill flips his lid over it Jeter is extremely comfortable playing the heel.

From Sherdog:

How badly is Arlovski on the outs with Dana? They could have Kongo fight Arlovski at UFC 78 with the winner of that fight facing the winner of Vera versus Sylvia for the vacant title at the February show, which Dana had wanted a heavyweight title fight to headline.

To say this sucks would be a huge understatement. I wonder who'll be in the fight for the vacant heavyweight title? Hopefully, not Sylvia.

Guest Booker with Gabe Sapolsky Even if the ideas are rehashed from ECW, and something being 'rehashed' isn't always a bad thing, they'd be fresh to the WWE audience. I'm not a major fan of Gabe's, but I also recognize that he seems to have a good idea of what does or doesn't have a chance to get over well. And even if he tries something and the audience rejects it, Gabe is more willing than most bookers to react accordingly and change things rather than push back and try and force something on his audience.

I think a lot of people are forgetting that part and that Shawn would also frequently bring it up on Raw, that he wasn't 'laying down' for anyone. They also forget that Bret eventually did agree to job to Shawn, as long as it wasn't in Canada. I think considering Shawn's attitude towards losing, that he refused to do it at all and regularly bragged about that fact on television, that Bret's request was more than reasonable. I wonder how many people who are criticizing Bret also criticized Rock for not wanting to properly put over Jericho or Booker, and it might have been both.

What Meltzer is holding back on is the person who came up with the sharpshooter spot that was the crucial part of the double cross. In his detailed account of what went down, Meltzer says Pat Patterson suggested the spot to Bret and Shawn, but it was actually someone else's idea and may have even been a way to let Shawn know once and for all that the talked about double cross was going down.

After watching some old WCW, what's up with "Scott Hall's contract" during the WCW 2000 period? What was the point of this? Was Hall still under contract with WCW at that time? That was during the time that the edict had come down from above that Scott Hall was not to be brought back. I think the idea behind the storyline was that it would hopefully force the hand of the higher ups and they'd have to let Hall come back, but they never did buckle. Also, what's up with "Last Call Scott Hall"? Was this similiar to the Hawk angle or was WCW just making it out to be a storyline? WCW thought it would be cute to turn Hall's infamous off-screen habits into an on-screen angle. At the time, he was getting into a new legal scrape just about every other week, typically involving heavy drinking. One time, he got arrested for drunk driving when he was on his way to collect his kids during his court appointed access time, and I think he might have actually crashed the car as well.

If they get put in the Rumble match, at least we might get some crazy bumps out of it.

If Silva wins, where would Chuck go from there? Retirement?

how bad was it? i started watching again when they were already on USA 1. Spike felt, not unreasonably, that since Raw was no longer doing the high ratings they were in 2000, that they shouldn't pay as much money to WWE. Vince apparently felt they should have more. Also, I heard Vince was so tough to work with during negotiations, they completely alienated the spike people and then had no choice but to go to USA. You forgot 3, which is Spike TV very publicly ceasing negotiations with WWE over a new deal, leaving Vince no choice but to go crawling to USA and accept a deal that he couldn't have liked one bit.

The numbers for Cena's segments say his popularity definitely does translate into ratings.

That this has fallen into their lap is almost reason enough to assume it won't happen, because Vince isn't big on ideas that aren't his own. A combination of Cena's injury and the prospect of Randy Orton, portrayed as cold-blooded thug with no redeeming qualities, becoming WWE Champion plays perfectly into the "save us" aspect of Jericho's presumed return. It fits almost too well that Orton seems certain to become WWE Champion, something nobody wants (in storyline), only for the returning Jericho to 'save us' and upset Orton for the WWE title. I don't see Hunter winning the title, if only because he'll want his big title win to have meaning and get a good few weeks of hype behind it. If Orton against Hunter is intended to headline Wrestlemania, then Orton is going to have to get the belt at some point anyway, but it doesn't need to be tonight. I think tonight really needs to end with the feel good moment of Orton, the top heel on Raw, coming so close to winning the WWE Title only for either Jericho to save us and win the title instead, or some other babyface winning the title instead. Not long to go now, and I'm very tempted to order the PPV.

Booker T versus Buff Bagwell on Raw in Tacoma. So vociferously rejected by the fans that it changed the entire direction of the ill-fated Invasion.

Results, taken from another board:

Some Amazing Kong, so you have an idea what to expect: Amazing Kong versus Nattie Neidhart Amazing Kong puts MsChif in a brutal torture rack Amazing Kong hits very hard