Hunter's Torn Quad

With Ravex now having released up-to-date real life data, will anyone else give at least the demo a go? I'm thinking of creating a promotion from scratch and seeing what I can do in Japan; I'll leave TNA and WWE to fight over the scraps in the US.

And it's like never missing a beat in terms of finding idiocy to point out. I tell you, that entry will never die for as long as TSM is around.

It's called desperation and overloading everything they've got to try and draw ratings and buys.

Did Foley think Orton has potential? That he was a future star just waiting for a big break? Or did he think that Orton looks like a goofy fratboy who doesn't really have anything about him that screams "star" and just took the money anyway? Was Orton in danger of not getting that big break without Foley? Hell no. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The thing is that Orton did have a lot of potential as a top heel, but they blew that by both turning him babyface against Hunter, when Orton would have made a better heel in that storyline, and by rushing through his title win, split from Evolution and title loss all in a month. Orton could still be something big, and he probably will be because of who he is, but he could have been something so much bigger had he been handled right.

That is true. I would have thought that Austin would have at least argued to return against someone who might have drawn. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's just further proof that Mick and Austin are marks for the paycheck. Foley could really had his pick of the field, and would have made anyone look like gold, on promos and in the ring but they said "Carlito". Foley goes "add another zero and we're in business". <{POST_SNAPBACK}> And what's the first thing they do in the battle royal? Have Carlito get squashed in seconds and be the first guy thrown out.

That is true. I would have thought that Austin would have at least argued to return against someone who might have drawn.

Run a storyline that can draw and I guarantee that Ross can get it over better than anyone else in the company, and guess what that means? More buys, which means more money. That ranks up there as one of the dumbest things I've read on here. Of course it matters who announces. There is a difference between an announcer who can get things over and make them seem important enough to buy, which Jim Ross can do better than anyone in the company, and a guy like Coach who couldn't sell shit. And can anyone else believe that Steve Austin is coming out of retirement to face Coach?

Matt might be the one guy WWE will have put Christian over.

I loved the funeral skit. Blew away any 'comedy' skit WWE have done in the last five or six years.

Jushin Liger, Masahito Kakihara and Minoru Tanaka vs. Koji Kanemoto, Gedo and Jado - New Japan, January 25th 2002 Notes: With the heels in the ring before the babyfaces, they jumped the babyfaces at ringside, and got the early heat on Tanaka. When the babyfaces were fighting back early, they put Jado in a triple submission, with Liger and Tanaka putting him in double leglocks and Kakihara putting him in a cross armbreaker. With the heels back in control they worked over Liger’s left leg mainly, which was well done by all involved, but when Liger made his comeback, for some reason, he used a spinning backbreaker. When the babyfaces made their big comeback, Liger piledrove Jado on the floor but it didn’t lead to anything, and Jado didn’t sell it for long either. Kanemoto and Tanaka had a great looking sequence where they maneuvered from ankle lock into heel hold into ankle lock. Tanaka plays a great babyface, as the heels really work him over but he just refuses to die. Tanaka is in Kanemoto’s heel hook and flat out refusing to tap out when the bell rings and the 30:00 time limit has expired. Tanaka, limping, demands the match continue, and Liger agrees, and they taunt the heels into getting back into the ring and the match continues. Tanaka keeps refusing to die, but is eventually worn down and Kanemoto pins him after a moonsault. Rating: *** The match wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t outstanding either. There was nothing wrong with the match, but with being given over 30:00, it should have been a lot better. Still, it’s worth watching if you’ve got the time to spare and don’t mind just enjoying a good 30:00 match that, to be honest, won’t mean anything once it’s over.

I think it might have been a version of Phil Mushnick.

Yea, Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Suck – Part 9 Triple H v Scott Steiner – Royal Rumble 2003 Going into this match, there was a lot of speculation as to how it would pan out. Steiner hadn’t wrestled a lot in WWE in the two months since his debut, with his ring action being confined to house shows. And the reports weren’t good, as despite the matches being kept short, Steiner was still blowing up after less than five minutes of action. Therefore, common sense would dictate that his match Triple H would be kept short, so as not to expose Steiner, especially when it’s his first televised match for the company and on PPV at that. Would common sense prevail ? The first strange thing in this match comes during Triple H’s entrance, where the crowd reaction he’s getting sound very strange and robot-like and like something is wrong with the sound, though the commentary and other sounds are coming across fine. The funny thing is when Triple H goes to do his water spitting routine, the crowd noise magically gets restored to normal, and you hear some decent cheers. I’ve no idea why the crowd noise gets edited in such a manner, because it sounds perfectly fine before Triple H’s entrance, and goes back to normal when he spits out the water, so maybe they’re jazzing up the reaction to his entrance. Steiner comes out to a pretty good reaction, though, as we would discover, that was not to last. The match is pretty methodical (read: slow) at first, with some leisurely punches being exchanged back and forth, before Steiner starts to dominate. The action goes to the floor with Steiner punching Triple H a lot and ramming his back into the guardrail, and it’s at this point that the crowd begins to turn on Steiner, as there are some light, but very noticeable boos, directed at him when he’s on offence. Steiner dominates for the next few minutes, with the boos drifting in and out of being noticeable, and Steiner showing not a great deal of variety in his work, which would play a key role in this match soon. Triple H gets control with a boot to the face as Steiner charges at him in the corner, and with Triple H on offence, who is the heel here so you know, the crowd are pretty positive about that, and you can hear some cheers and clapping. Steiner regains control not too long after by countering a Pedigree attempt into a slingshot into the ringpost, a favorite spot of Triple H, and then hits a modified suplex. Steiner tried to get up, but fell into the ropes, and it’s not selling, because it’s clear that Steiner has blown up, and we’ve not even reached the ten-minute mark. Steiner hoists Triple H over his shoulder for some sort of slam, but a series of reversals end up with Triple H hitting Steiner with what was meant to be a neckbreaker, but winds up looking like a modified diamond cutter, which JR refers to when covering for this slightly blown move. A rather interesting spot occurs just after this, when, as Hunter goes to the second rope, Ric Flair encourages the crowd to cheer for Triple H, and they actually do. Now, call me old-fashioned, but given that it’s obvious the crowd loves Flair, why make him the manager to the lead heel ? Why give the lead heel, who is meant to be booed, a manager that the crowd love and will go along with ? Does nobody see what’s wrong with this picture ? Does nobody see the flaw in giving the lead heel a manager that is guaranteed to get him cheers ? Steiner isn’t on the defense for too long, and comes back with a series of belly-to-belly suplexes, each one getting slightly louder boos from the crowd, before we get to the spot that puts the nail in the coffin of Steiner being a credible headliner. Steiner sets Triple H up for a Tiger Driver, and goes for the move. However, halfway through it, Steiner loses control of the move, and winds up dumping Triple H down in what looks like a modified suplex, but is clearly a badly blown move, and the crowd turn on him completely, and boo him out of the building. Despite Steiner dominating the rest of the match, including Triple H teasing two walk outs as well as the prerequisite blade job from Triple H off of a belt shot from Steiner in the aisleway, the crowd just refuses to get behind Steiner. Eventually, very predictably, and after shoving the referee in an attempt to get disqualified, Triple H brings out the sledgehammer from under the ring and uses on Steiner to finally get disqualified, much to the chagrin of the crowd, who boo heartily. The booing continues when Steiner, who is the babyface, gets the sledgehammer away from Triple H and uses it on him, before putting him in the Steiner Recliner, which takes a host of referees and officials plus Eric Bischoff to get Steiner to release. Steiner then takes the World title belt, drops it on a prone Triple H, and poses for the crowd, and gets booed for his troubles. Rating: Going in, Steiner’s limitations were well known, so common sense told you that the match should be kept short to disguise those limitations. So, why didn’t that happen ? Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly, Triple H had the mindset that the World Title should be defended in long matches, regardless of the limitations of his opponent. Second, even though his opponent was limited, Triple H desperately wanted, and still wants, to be Ric Flair, and, because Flair carried some slugs to good matches that went some length, Triple H wanted to show that he could do that too, even though common sense told you that this was not the night to do it. Thirdly, with Steiner exposed to the world on PPV, there would be no clamor for any potential title change, and that means one less threat to his spot. Of course, just four months later, Triple H would face the same challenge with another limited opponent whose limitations dictated a short match, and in that case logic won out, and the match went seven minutes, with Triple H selling all the way. So, what changed ? Did logic finally win out ? Did common sense prevail ? Or did it have something to do with the opponent in question being Kevin Nash, who, is not only Triple H’s best friend, but also someone who was never a threat to Triple H’s spot, so there would be no danger in protecting him and trying to make him look better than he was ? Getting back to this match, it was a sub-par match, with beyond sub-par booking that reeked of ego and a total disregard for business. Whether Steiner had the talent to be in the main event scene or not, common sense and logic, terms that mean nothing in the face of a certain mighty ego, tell you that you hide his weaknesses, and work around them so as to expose that Steiner isn’t very good. By going so long and exposing to the world that Steiner is terrible and gets blown up before the ten-minute mark, a potential main event player had his legs cut off at the knees in his very first televised match, and someone who could have been a solid upper midcard to main event name was taken out at the first attempt. The match itself was bad, but the booking was so off-the-charts horrible that it defies description, and, sadly, is a problem that continues to this very day.

Put it down to most people having zero patience, and wanting all the good stuff immediately. They want immediate or near-immediate gratification from a promotion, and when they don't get it they label the promotion as crap and walk away.

I think if this was done when New Japan were doing well, or even only ok, then Chosu would keep himself well away from the main event. However, with this being a panic move, then I think Choshu might push himself hard, not because he wants to, but because he thinks he has to because of how badly New Japan are doing. Whatever happens, I doubt we'll see Choshu anywhere near the IWGP title unless it is for a one-off nostalgia deal title shot.

It's the exact same thing, because in both cases instead of the focus being on the guy who won the match, the focus was on Hogan being gracious and humble in defeat. Whether it was Hogan going into business for himself or not, the result was the same; the spotlight remained well and truly on Hogan, and the winner of the match was secondary. If Hogan had just handed the belt to Warrior and walked away, leaving the spotlight to Warrior on his own, then I might agree. But Hogan milked that whole deal for all he could get. He made sure to take his time and make sure people remembered how gracious he was in losing the match, so that he got the most out of the match, and not Warrior. Yes, Warrior would have likely failed anyway, but Hogan still showed his huge ego by stealing a spotlight that he absolutely did not need.

Another twist on this concept would be to make the card promotions specific, ie: only WWE or WCW matches.

The problem was it made the big story Hogan being a gracious loser and not Warrior had just beaten Hogan to become the new top guy. Hogan did the same thing to Rock at WM X8; even though Rock won clean, the spotlight was all on Hogan for being a gracious loser, and Rock got nothing while Hogan got everything.

From Meltzer, with other puro places confirming.

Edge is not reconciling with his wife - he filed for divorce on April 19th and the divorce is still going ahead. Don't believe everything you read on the Net He is dating Lita <{POST_SNAPBACK}> From this weeks mailbag on Observer.com Nothing else I've heard on this says Edge and Lita are still together.

Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hirooki Goto – New Japan, Osaka Dream Night, August 28th 2003 This match is the perfect opener. It’s good enough that it gets the fans warmed up, but not so good as to wear them out too early. It’s well worked, has a clean finish, and opens the card up with a look at two future superstars. Match 2: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis – WAR, Super J Cup: 2nd Stage, December 13th 1995 I went with this match because, as the second match in the card, it should be better than good, but as with the first match, not so good as to burn the crowd out. I picked this match because it’s the best match between the two for showcasing their very best moves. It might not be their best match, but this one sees both guys hit their biggest moves and hit them perfectly, with not one blown spot all match. Match 3: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka – RINGS, July 1998 What better way to put on a contrasting match than to have Tamura and Kohsaka have the one match that is, in terms of style, the complete opposite of Mysterio vs. Psychosis, and yet is just as exciting. Here you had two guys putting on what, on first glance, could feasibly pass for a shoot, but is in actually a very well worked worked-shoot, and is one of the best of its kind. Match 4: Ian Rotten vs. Axl Rotten – ECW, Return of the Funker 1995 – Barbed Wire Bat In many ways, this was the best of the garbage style of wrestling in ECW. You had lots of blood that got over huge, but you had absolutely no high-risk moves. Sure, both guys came away with some bad looking scars, but neither guy risked their bodies with stupid stunts. This match is here for a change of pace, and it’s the only garbage/brawling match on the card, which ensures it gets over a lot bigger, because it stands out. I know a lot of people won’t like this match being here, or like this match at all, but I felt it was the best match in this style that ECW ever did, and I wanted as many different styles on show as I could put on. Match 5: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin – WWF, Survivor Series 1996 I wanted one great singles match from North America, and this was it. I chose this match over their famous I Quit match because I think this was the better match; it was certainly the better wrestling match. This was a great wrestling match, and the one table spot in the match was worked into it smartly enough that it added to the match rather than made it seem like a crutch spot. Match 6: The Midnight Express vs. The Southern Boys – NWA, Great American Bash 1990 Now this is the pinnacle of North American tag team wrestling. You’ve got a babyface team in the Southern Boys that have a gimmick that, for the area they are in, Baltimore, ensures that the crowd aren’t going to behind them one bit. Not only that, but their opponents, even though they are heels, are so great that they’ve got the crowd behind them before the match has even begun. However, The Midnight Express are so good that by the end of the match the crowd are going nuts for the Southern Boys, and even give them a standing ovation after the match. Match 7: Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue – All Japan, May 23rd 1996 For my World tag title match, I didn’t just want a great match; I wanted a great match that told a story, and this is it. Not only is this a hell of a match, but it also tells the story of Akiyama hanging in with the big names, Kawada and Taue, and scoring his first major pinfall over Kawada, to herald Akiyama’s entrance into the top level of All Japan. It would be a few months before Akiyama was given a room of his own at Hotel Main Event, but this is the match that saw him open the door and put his bags down. Main Event: Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata – NOAH, September 12th 2003 For a major world championship match, for my money, they don’t come much better than this. The atmosphere was electric, the crowd were going crazy, both men brought their A-Game, and you had a tremendous match that saw everything from big moves, great selling, ‘adrenaline bursts’ executed the right way, and all the subtleties you could ask for. When I booked the card, I decided on my main event first. My other two candidates were Steamboat vs. Flair from New Orleans and Punk vs. Joe II. I went with Kobashi vs. Nagata because, not only did I enjoy it the most of the three matches, but it was the only one with a clean-as-a-sheet finish, which is the only acceptable way the main event of this card should end.

From the ROH site. This is great news, because the match can only come across better without commentary.

They'll likely give him a decent offer, if only to keep him out of the hands of TNA or anyone else who could use him.

Or keep the stip, have a Mysterio win it but then get screwed out of the title shot at the PPV before WM 22 so that, win or lose, the guy who got screwed out of the title shot as a ready made program post-WM.

I think you're on drugs.

The change itself didn't cause that much of a dent after all.