Hunter's Torn Quad

The first show of the new ECW era was one of the most terrible, mind-numbingly awful one-hours of television in modern wrestling history. Looking like something excreted by Vince Russo after he overdosed on LSD and caffeine pills, the first television show of the ‘new’ ECW could only have been put together by someone with absolutely no real clue or concept about what made ECW. It was filled with the kind of craptacular gimmickry that was the hallmark of Vince Russo, along with the kind of nonsensical booking that is fast becoming, if it hasn’t already, the hallmark of Vince McMahon. Within ten minutes of ECW restarting, their two faces, Paul Heyman and Rob Van Dam, had been outsmarted and reduced to second tier status in favor of the WWE top guns John Cena and Edge. Edge and John Cena almost effortlessly outsmarted and beat up Heyman and Van Dam, before casually walking off without a care in the world, while the rest of the ECW locker room sat in the back with their collective thumbs up their collective asses. In the next segment, which literally reeked of WWE, we had Heyman rallying the troops and declaring that if WWE wanted to bring it to ECW then ECW would bring it to WWE this Monday on Raw. The first plug for a television program on the new ECW and it’s for a WWE show. How about doing something to plug for the next ECW show first? The first match featured what could go down as one of the worst gimmicks of the modern era but, fingers crossed, will only go down as a one-night aberration the likes of which harkened back to the dark days of WCW, as The Zombie came shuffling out, complete with powered face and B-movie make-up. When The Zombie started grunting, literally, into the mic, I was immediately reminded of an Ultimate Warrior promo. Thankfully, it didn’t last long as The Sandman, along with his generic sounding uninspiring music, came out and caned The Zombie into the ground and quickly pinned him. That right there was the first ever match of the ‘new’ ECW era, and I don’t think I could come up with a worse way to debut the new ECW. One of the worst booking disasters was having Paul Heyman announce that, due to what Cena and Edge had done to Van Dam, he was scrapping what he had planned for the rest of the show and was instead going to have a battle royal, under extreme rules, with the winner going on to face John Cena at Vengeance, and also coming with the rest of the ECW crew to Raw on Monday. The major problem I had with this was Heyman shouldn’t be coming on and telling people that whatever he had planned was scrapped because of what WWE did to them. It makes Heyman and ECW look like pussies for caving in to the attack from WWE and abandoning whatever plans he had made to make the first ECW show memorable for the fans. Shouldn’t the ECW fans be dictating what happens on ECW television? Heyman should have come out and said to hell with WWE, we’re doing what ECW does best, an extreme battle royal, and I’m now going to put the winner of that battle royal into a match with Cena at Vengeance. That way, you still wind up with a match set for Vengeance, but it puts ECW over stronger because they’re not seen to give in to WWE and are also the ones forcing Cena into a match. The way it was played out made it appear as if ECW were doing something they didn’t really want and they came across all the weaker for it. I don’t know what the point of Kelly was. A big-titted bleach blonde bimbo teases going naked and then does one of the least-sexiest dances I’ve ever seen and doesn’t even show her ass or full breast, after two big teases that she would. I know nudity wasn’t going to happen, and the people at home probably knew that the nudity was never going to happen, but why on earth do you tease something like that that you aren’t going to deliver? Sure, it might peak the ratings for one segment, but it sure will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. And what was the deal with that vampire-like clown half-way through the show? Heading into the debut of the ‘new’ ECW, some people were holding up hope that it would at least show that WWE Creative were capable of trying something new, and that there might be a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. Instead, we got all that worst elements of WWE, WCW and ECW rolled up into one giant piece of shit.

ECW News: For ECW to survive, Dave thinks they are going to have to draw a completely new audience, mentioning that the audience of six years ago is not large enough, and that a lot of them have moved on anyway. Says the reactions to at house shows and television show that last year saw WWE give ECW a successful one last goodbye, and that it was seen as the symbolic end of ECW. Kurt Angle now has torn rib cartilage. Angle’s move to ECW shows that the company isn’t confident that the old ECW can carry things, and that they have a commitment to succeed, with Dave pointing out that Vince hates failure and the ECW relaunch has had a lot of publicity. Dave points out the weird dynamic of the last Raw before the PPV not being a typical ‘go home’ show, with the main angle being Vince and Hunter’s deal. Even though ECW is being billed as rougher and more violent, the working idea is that this will benefit Kurt Angle, as Kurt will be wrestling a new style, playing the badass role that Tazz did, and so he’ll be taking less bumps. Dave thinks time will tell if the idea if marketing Kurt the same way as Tazz will work, even though he’s more talented. ECW will air live on Tuesdays. Vince had meetings with people from Sci-Fi, where suggestions were made for things like Martian and Vampire characters, and even a storyline where an ECW wrestler would go into other dimensions. Compromises were reached, with no Martians, but there will be a group of vampires. At one point, Sabu was going to lead the vampire group. Gangrel, Luna Vachon and Dennis Knight (Mideon) were going to be part of the group, but Knight looks unlikely to come in, and Gangrel might be doing something else, and be given a new name. Paul Heyman will be an on-screen character, going on the road full-time. To placate Sci-Fi, they’ve been told Heyman’s character will be a cult leader of sorts. A quote from one person involved with the project: “The ECW project has become a monster, and not in a good way. I feel for Paul, as this is not going to be easy. He’s got enemies. The Sci-Fi channel want unrealistic material for pro wrestling on its TV show. Vince has an out-of-touch vision of what ECW is. If Paul is able to succeed with this, it will be a miracle.” It’s been noted that instead of Heyman and Dreamer being in charge, everyone on the creative team will be involved and Heyman’s power, while a lot, is lessened. Dreamer’s power has been greatly lessened. Vince has ruffled a lot of feathers internally. The original idea was for an internet television show and a low profile third brand. Now, with Vince in a position where he has to succeed, he’s going full on, as the original ideas were for Cena and Edge to be WWE heels with the rest of the card being ECW guys. Some are unhappy with Vince being so gung-ho for the idea. Some are unhappy with the increased workload. Some, like Brian Gewirtz and Michael Hayes, hate Heyman, and don’t like that he’s back, and has a lot of power. Stephanie is very publicly 100% behind the project now it’s clear that Vince is totally committed to making it work. There have been arguments over the writing of Raw, to not let ECW get over as anything more than a cult hardcore subculture of wrestling. Dave says that the go-home Raw being built around Vince and Hunter, the ECW main event guys being chased off by low level WWE guys, and Cena being pushed as a babyface, are things all out of the failed Invasion playbook. There are also those saying that the Foley/Funk dynamic was originally supposed to be a major part of the promotion, but was dropped after the one interview, which just happened to be a success. Sci-Fi are said to be understanding that they can’t be too outlandish, but that they are also wanting to appease the hardcore Sci-Fi fans who have been complaining. As a concession, Sci-Fi liked the idea of a non-Vince McMahon like authority figure, portraying a cult leader who has people drinking his kool-aid. For small buildings, ECW will charge a flat fee pf $25 per ticket for house shows. The Rest: JBL is seriously considering retiring, due to combination of back and knee injuries. At his last Smackdown tapings, he told people this was it for him. Dave points it that it must be bad, because JBL was going to win the World title, and, in the past, played a college football game with a broken leg and wrestled through a severe knee injury wearing a big brace. Creative were told JBL would be out for three months, but JBL is saying he’ll decide then whether to come back or not. JBL has said that he feels this is it, and he’s happy with what he’s done and feels he can leave with no regrets. WWE sent out a press release announcing their purchase of the Stampede tape library. WWE don’t have any of Bret Hart’s matches, as Bret purchased he rights to those years ago, when he realized those were the only matches he’d likely ever have the rights to. With their library ownership, WWE are going to produce a one-hour show called “WWE Classic” using the old footage, which will be syndicated this summer. At this point, though, it will only be for overseas and not the US. The Wrestlemania 22 DVD was the 4th best selling DVD of any kind in the US in its first week of release. The DVD has already shipped 212,000 units, and is guaranteed to the biggest selling wrestling DVD of all time. Animal was released. He threw a fit after angles he suggested where he’d work with the main event faces were turned down. He had wanted to become an agent. Wreckless Intent sold 66,000 in its first week. In week two, sales dropped 65%, which is considered very bad. Paul Burchill’s pirate character was dropped. While he was having trouble working as a babyface, the main problem was that he was copying Johnny Depp and Vince had no clue what he was doing having never seen the film “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The character was created to be like Depp’s character in the film, but Vince envisioned it being more like Jean Pierre LaFitte. Paul London has a staph infection in his arm. Beth Phoenix suffered a badly broken jaw against Victoria on Raw and she had to have a titanium plate put in. She’ll be out for two months, which screws up a lot of plans. Lillian Garcia suffered a sprained wrist and hand(?) after getting knocked off the apron by Charlie Haas. Greg Gagne showed up as booker in OVW this week. He got in the ring and taught some basic moves, like dropkicks. Greg kept talking about the old days and was complaining about Vince putting his father out of business, and was trying to act tough. It was noted Gagne was out of touch, not even knowing the names of some recent headliners. Big Show has been telling friends he’s unhappy with how many jobs he’s been doing lately. After signing a contract to be a wrestler in ECW, Tommy Dreamer was told by John Laurinaitis on 5/31 to cancel all his Indy bookings right away. On 6/2 in Danbury CT for North East Wrestling, Dreamer refereed an Abyss vs. Chris Sabin match, saying that WWE told him he could not wrestle but said nothing about refereeing. In Tacoma at Raw, during the commercial breaks, Lawler told the crowd to not chant “ECW” and chant “Raw”, to try and get an “ECW” chant going, but the crowd chanted “Raw” anyway. Then, still during the break, to get a big chant going when they came back on air, Lawler tried again to get the chant going, but to no avail. A third attempt to get a chant going also failed. In the first fake Kane segment, Drew Hankinson’s Kane mask started falling off just before he went out and his pants started falling apart. When he hit the chokeslam, his tights fell apart entirely, though it wasn’t visible on TV. Vince was mad about this, figuring someone should have known the costume wasn’t going to fit correctly. When the Kane/Kane II angle was first meant to start, some months ago, Glen Jacobs told Drew that his career was winding down and he was going to pass the torch to him. On a weekend house show, a seven-year old fan asked Paul London why he no longer did the 450 splash, and London told the kid he wasn’t allowed to do it anymore and told him, “Isn’t that lame? “. The kid agreed. To give his character credibility, Vito has been told to wear a dress whenever fans are around, and, at least at the house shows, he’s been wearing a thong as well, as a comedy spot in his match is seeing how many times the dress can get pulled up and the thong exposed.

I can see the fans chanting the Philly area code to mock the 619 chants.

Randy Orton's theme music is more suited to a just turned babyface. They need to give Maven's Tough Enough music to a babyface they plan to push to the top. I can easily see it being something played to end a triumphant babyface win in the main event of Wrestlemania. Goldberg's music, his original music, was great.

I'd like to some people try to explain their 'opinions'.

Despite being broken down, Kurt can still pull off a great match on the big stage, and Kurt will push himself to do that at ONS. Orton, if he feels like it, can, at the very least, be carried to something pretty good. He'll be motivated to have a good showing in his first PPV match back, so I think Orton will have his working shoes on this Sunday. Given all that, it's easy to see how, on paper, Angle vs. Orton could be in the pretty good to very good range.

I e-mailed Da Meltz about this and here is his reply, not that it'll change the minds of the more hardcore Hogan fans:

The complaints have merit. For all of the 'stars' TNA have made, who has TNA been built around? Perrenial WWF/WCW midcarder Jeff Jarrett. Who were the guys put in the top mix with him in 2005? Old WWF/WCW guys, like Nash, Page, Waltman and others. Recently, it's been guys like Sting, Steiner, with cameos by washed up WWF/WCW guys like Luger, Bagwell and Rick Steiner. Who is the NWA Champion? Christian Cage, a guy, while talented, was a perpetual midcarder in WWE and lost most of his matches. Sure, Samoa Joe, a fresh, non-WCW/WWE talent was added to the mix recently, but for most of the last 18 months the top stuff has involved guys that are either washed up and past their prime, or guys that, while talented, lackl credibility as main event stars. For TNA to be taken as something new and fresh, it would help to feature new and fresh talent in their main events, and not rely on WCW/WWE retreads.

Angle and Show going to ECW is just like Test joining The Alliance. When it comes to any ECW vs. WWE matches, it'll be the guys who jumped to ECW getting the wins, so a WWE guy won't have to put over a genuine ECW name. As for the Lawler/Tazz deal, the only part I really didn't like was Tazz not taking Lawler down when he tackled him behind the commentary table. Tazz really should have taken Lawler down there.

I cannot believe that anyone can seriously hold this point of view. I was playing off Rudo's "Hogan did nothing wrong, it wasn't that big of a deal" line. Ok. Who said wrestlers shouldn't look sad? What Hogan did wasn't to get over feeling sad for losing, but to get sympathy and get the attention back to where he always wants it; on him.

One of the guys was Nick Dinsmore.

I'd play safe and just post a link.

TNA fans will never accept Jeff Jarrett in the role of lead babyface. If Jeff really thinks he can pull that off, he's living in fantasy land. And whoever gave Kevin Nash, one of the most notoriously selfish people in wrestling, creative control should be given a pat on the back with a claw hammer.

I cannot believe that anyone can seriously hold this point of view. Because most of the time it is an attempt to put over the new champion as the guy now in the top spot and the face of the company. The Joe/Aries post-match was nothing like the Hogan/Warrior post-match. When Joe handed over the belt, he barely even looked at the crowd. When Hogan handed over the belt, he looked at the crowd mournfully, looking all sad and forlorn to get sympathy. After Joe handed the belt to Aries, he promptly left the ring and walked off, and was barely in the picture. After Hogan handed the belt to Warrior, he stuck around, and when he did leave, he did it all slow and sombre to up the sympathy quotient. The last shot of Final Battle 2004 was of Aries triumphantly leaving the ring with Joe nowhere in sight. The last shot of Wrestlemania VI was of Warrior in the ring, but with poor old Hogan riding off into the sunset. Joe left Aries all alone to have the spotlight firmly on him. Hogan stuck around and made sure to be part of the final shot of WM VI, when it rightfully should have belonged to Warrior and nobody else.

Take a look in General Wrestling next time.

They aren't related, but after that nonsensical insanity, it was good to get a break from the chaos.

Foley isn't ruining his legacy, but he's making it very hard to care about anything he does, both now and in the future.

The match was not bad in itself, but for what the first WCW match on WWE television should have been it was beyond terrible. The first WCW match on WWE television needed to be something different and exciting, and a match that showcased either great wrestling or thrilling high-flying moves. Instead, we got Buff Bagwell holding a chinlock for two minutes of a six-minute match. It would have made more sense to put Lance Storm against Booker T, because he was the first WCW guy to show up on WWE, and it would have made for a much better match.

I defy anyone to feel sorry for Axl Rotten. He screwed up his chance to join WWE last year as well, and he's long past the point of caring about.

I expect Orton to lose, as part of his 'punishment', so if they want him to go to ECW he'll have an excuse to do so. Of course, if Orton does go to ECW, what happens on Smackdown?

Here I am. I've had to add a rule to the WWE Forum, so people should check it out so they are up to speed.

I can see that happening, purely because it'll give WWE another chance to rehash a gimmick that's beyond stale.

In order to collect royalties you need to have your name somewhere on the shirt I'm calling bullshit. Chain Gang shirts don't all say Cena and I'm sure he gets royalties. Hogan got royalties from NWO shirts. His name was nowhere to be found...that was WCW though. Hogan got royalties from actions figures that weren't even his.

I can see the six-man being Jarrett, Steiner and Abyss vs. Joe, Christian and Rhino, because we all need to see Abyss face Rhino for the billionth time, and Christian against Abyss was only on the last PPV, so we need to go back to it fast.

I'm not saying Steiner beats Joe, but that Steiner causes Joe to lose to someone else before the second match.