Hunter's Torn Quad

It was RVD.

I think both men should come out of WM XXII as champions, but that Cena should go in as a challenger. I can see him dropping the WWE belt at NYR if it's a Raw PPV next year, and then winning the Rumble to get a return title match at WM XXII, which he will win. After WM XXII, I think Batista will drop the World title in screwjob fashion, possibly to a heel that heads a faction of some kind, and he'll go through all of them en route to regaining the World title at Summerslam.

However Bret feels about the part Vince played in Owen's death, I'm sure he has long since stopped hating Vince over it, just as he has stopped hating Vince over Montreal. This doesn't change how Bret feels about Vince's role in Owen's death, Bret has just moved on from the hate, which is a good thing, because keeping hold of hate for so long is not healthy. And I hope whoever it was that said Montreal was a work was joking.

The NWA from 1987 to stop Dusty Rhodes from killing JCP. The NWA from 1989 to stop George Scott from screwing up the promotion of Clash VI, as well as to head off Jim Herd, who was as bad as Vince Russo when it came to having a clue.

It was meant to be Brock pinning Undertaker, with some sort of cheating leading to the finish. The exact nature of the finish was being debated all the way until showtime, but all the writers and agents were agreed that it would be a pinfall finish. However, on the day of the PPV, Undertaker decided he wasn't feeling the pinfall finish, even though it was never going to be clean, and refused to do it. And yes, the DQ might not have been so bad had Undertaker not guzzled Brock up. Here you had Brock Lesnar, the young stud of the company, a monster with incredible strength and power, and he was being beaten all over the place by a 40-year old who was already falling apart even back then. Realistically and logically, it should have been Lesnar in the role of physically dominating the match. Instead, we got Undertaker flexing his political muscle, and deciding it was better that he sell almost nothing the whole match, treat Lesnar like a jobber, and tossing him through the entrance set-up like he was nothing. Even if a case could be made to defend the finish, nothing can defend how Undertaker treated Brock.

Shawn was refusing to do the job. He was making noises all week up to WM 14 that he wasn't going to put Austin over, and was flat out saying that he wasn't going to do the job. Undertaker made it clear that he was going to do the job in the ring, or else he'd do the job for real when he got to the back. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I heard it a little differently. I heard Shawn was refusing to job all the way up to the day of the show, and then Vince had finally convinced Shawn (or threatened him, who knows) to do the job on the day of WM14. Taker was just there to make sure Shawn actually did the job as well as put Austin over without any shenanigans. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Shawn was protesting up until the very last minute, and made it clear he didn't want to do it, and wasn't going to. Undertaker convinced him it would be good for his health that he did do the job.

Yes, it does, but that's not exactly a rare thing in wrestling, or life in general.

The impact of Montreal cannot over overstated. While Vince was indeed good at playing a heel, it was Montreal that really made the Vince heel character work, because it played off of a real life occurance, and not just another wrestling angle. Austin v McMahon would have done well without Montreal, but it did far more well with it than it would have without it.

Shawn was refusing to do the job. He was making noises all week up to WM 14 that he wasn't going to put Austin over, and was flat out saying that he wasn't going to do the job. Undertaker made it clear that he was going to do the job in the ring, or else he'd do the job for real when he got to the back.

It came from where all inside stories come from, and yes, it is true.

That's true - supposedly, one of the reasons WWE.com did such a major change lately is just to try to break news before other wrestling sites. That may be all this is, period. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> One reason behind the change to WWE.com was to get out inside news before other sites, but the primary reason was to get that news out with a WWE spin on it. WWE.com, before or after the change, has always been another vehicle for WWE spin, and the WWE promotional machine. As for the Lesnar no-compete clause deal, it is not as cut and dried as Lesnar being stuck with nowhere to go but WWE, because a judge is by no means going to side with WWE in that matter, and might even rule against them on it. One other thing that has a bearing on WWE wanting to keep Lesnar from competing anywhere else, is that Ultimo Dragon is still under contract with WWE, but has been competing in Japan regularly since pulled from the roster, and WWE hasn't minded or done anything about it, which, if the legal issue between Lesnar WWE really is still ongoing, is something Lesnar's legal time might want to check up on.

It would succeed in reducing the drawing potential of a Brock v Batista WM 22 main event. Quite why anyone with a brain would want to do that, I don't know.

I don't know what was funnier; his citing iggymcfly as an example of common sense, or his attempt at trying to look cool/funny by quoting from Pulp Fiction.

To make the most money off of Brock's return and a WM 22 main event against Batista, neither man can be beaten before the match happens. To make the most money, to get the biggest number of casual fans to buy WM 22, and hardcores will buy it anyway, the casual fans have to be able to believe that they are watching two unbeatable monsters go at it, with the lure being that one of these men, finally, will be beaten. If either man has a loss going into the match, then it's going to be a little difficult for the casuals to believe that, and you're not going to get quite as many buys, and therefore not make as much money. After all, if one of them has been beaten, it doesn't mean as much for the other to beat them as well after someone else has already done it. Is the very simple fact that the most money to be made off of this match needs both men going into WM 22 unbeaten really that hard for some people to grasp?

Unfortunately, while Hunter is around, even with Vince there, you'll be unlikely to get the next big thing reaching anything close to Austin, etc, levels, because as soon as he sees them as a threat, Hunter cuts their legs off. Even if Gewirtz was the best writer they have, he's still the shits. He can write great toilet humor, but that's about it. Whether Heyman or anyone else is the head writer for one program, Stephanie is the head of both writing teams, and Vince is the one who has final say. The credit or blame for anything ultimately lies with him. The Orton program was Hunter's idea and his baby. Hunter doesn't let anyone write his stuff but Hunter. Too bad he was never given the ball to run with in the first place.

Your name sort of stands out, but not your posts, as nothing you've ever posted immediately comes to mind.

He wouldn't be the first.

While the moment of Brock's return can be a surprise, that he is returning at all should not be a surprise. It needs to be hyped up like crazy beforehand. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Couldnt you do a surprise run-in at the ppv though, hype that up on Smackdown to get ppv replay buys for it (it would be just a quick run-in F-5ing Batista and maybe even JBL too) and STILL push a return to Smackdown 2-3 weeks after that though, which would draw a decent number hopefully? I just would rather be surprised AND still anticipate the debut of him back on normal WWE TV as thats kind of killing two birds with one stone. The people who get the ppv could be happy as hell that they actually got SURPRISED and the people who can't get the ppvs can still anticipate actually seeing him on the normal show in due time. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Absolutely not. Brock can only make his return once, and you have to make the very most of it that you can. That means hyping it like crazy, not wasting it just to surprise people. You can let people know he is coming back and promote it like crazy, and still surprise them with the manner in which he returns. That way, you're building to his return that generates interest, but you can still pull off the right kind of surprise, that being the manner of his return, that makes money.

Hunter and Nash both have good minds for wrestling. Their problem is they almost only use their minds to benefit themselves to the detriment of the company they work for.

While the moment of Brock's return can be a surprise, that he is returning at all should not be a surprise. It needs to be hyped up like crazy beforehand.

No hotshotting the title. That just takes away from Batista's aura, and if they go with Batista v Lesnar at WM 22, they can't do that. If Batista beats JBL at Summerslam, and he should, and it should be booked as a brawl with Batista on most of the offense, then he can move into a program with Orton, with Orton going for revenge over his shoulder. That can be extended through a PPV or two, maybe even involving Undertaker in some fashion to lead to Batista v Orton v Undertaker, with Batista beating Orton, ending their program, and moving on to Batista v Undertaker, off of Undertaker not getting pinned, and they can meet at the Rumble.

Off the top of my head, I'd build up his return with a series of video packages, hyping that Lesnar is returning on, say, the second SD after Summerslam, to sign his new WWE contract. They can show him working out and getting back in shape, which will show and tell people that Lesnar is in great shape, and could also have him say something into the camera about getting back in the big league and how he is going to prove to everyone that he belongs in the WWE. The first SD after Summerslam has a main event of Batista against JBL (seeing as how he'll be the lead heel on SD at that time), and it ends up with JBL and a few other top heels beating up on Batista (this will later be explained as The Group deciding that, while they can't beat Batista on their own, if they all gang up on him, one of them will win the World Title sooner or later, and then that person gives the others title shots). Nobody comes out to make the save, because they'll switch to the back, and show the faces locker room barred shut, so they can't get out. As the beatdown is going on, the cameras catch someone coming through the crowd, and as this person hops over the guardrail, the cameras catch his face, and it turns out to be Brock Lesnar. Lesnar runs off the heels, and the SD ends with Lesnar staring down at Batista, and the two locking eyes. The next week when it comes time for Lesnar to sign his SD contract, Teddy Long can tell Lesnar that while he did a good thing last week, he shouldn't have done it, because he wan't under contract yet. Lesnar signs the contract, but before he can celebrate, JBL or others from The Group can come out and rip into Lesnar for walking out, with Lesnar firing back with saying he knows he didn't handle things right, but he is here to make up for all of that. Over the following weeks, Lesnar, in trying to prove himself, helps out various babyfaces who are getting attacked, but they don't appreciate getting help from a 'sellout'. Everyone, faces and heels, can deride Lesnar for walking out, and the faces can say they don't want or need his help. Lesnar can beat Orton at No Mercy and JBL at Survivor Series. I don't know the PPV schedule off-hand, so I don't know the specific PPV's SD has, so that might need to be re-done. With Lesnar still trying to prove his worth, we go into the last SD of the year with Batista getting ambushed in the ring by a bunch of people, and Lesnar hits the ring to make the save again, but this time he TURNS HEEL and destroys Batista. The next week, Lesnar explains himself by saying he tried to do the right thing, he tried to prove himself to everyone, but people just wouldn't give him a chance, and he got sick of not being given the chance he felt he deserves, so he had enough, and he snapped. Lesnar then says he came back for one real reason, and that is to be the World Heavyweight Champion, and to that end, he is entering the Royal Rumble. Come Royal Rumble, Lesnar gets around #20, F5's a few people over the top rope, en route to winning the match, and setting up a WM 22 main event against Batista. Build up ensues with Lesnar being hyped up as an undefeated monster who has beaten everyone in his path, and Batista being hyped up as the ultra-dominant World Heavyweight Champion, and at WM 22 people are going to see these to monsters collide one-on-one, and one of these beasts is finally going to go down in defeat. With both men having an unbeatable aura around them, the people having seen that aura develop and envolve over the seven-months leading into WM 22, and that these both men look the part, WM 22 would do huge numbers.

Which is exactly why Lesnar's first loss after his return absolutely should not be done in some throwaway manner, and should not happen before any WM 22 main event with Batista. The first loss has to mean something big, both in order to get over the guy inflicting the loss and to not weaken the aura of the guy suffering the first loss. Beat Lesnar before WM 22, no matter how you do it, and should Batista face Brock at WM 22 and beat him, it won't mean anywhere near as much as if Lesnar goes into WM 22 unbeaten, and Batista is the man who finally stops him. If Batista beats an unbeaten Lesnar on the biggest stage of them all, it will mean so much more than if Batista beats a Lesnar who has done any jobs since his return.

You really don't get it. You would make a shitty wrestling promter.

Kreski worried about more than just creating stories. He had a series of flow charts and boards set up that let him see who had feuded with who, who could and could not team due to past conflicts, etc. He paid attention to the little details like that so you didn't have so many huge logic gaps. Kreski often doesn't get the due he deserves, because people focus so much on was on the roster at the time, and don't look at the little details that Kreski did that made things make more sense. They should be fans of wrestling, though, and have at least followed it for some length of time so they know something about it. That is the same trap Vince and co fall into time and time again, thinking a great writer in soaps or comedy can make a great writer in wrestling, and we've seen the results of that for years now. Wrestling is a unique and totally different creature to anything else, and you simply cannot pluck good writers from one genre, place them in wrestling, and expect them to write great wrestling. The people writing the wrestling have to have had some sort of connection to wrestling, whether it's having a history in the business, or being a fan of it for some time. Because having people, Russo aside, who have a track record of knowing what theyre doing is so bad(!). Heyman and Cornette have two of the best minds in wrestling, of this or any other era, and to dismiss them out of hand for being 'trapped in another world long gone' is beyond absurd, Sure, some of the things they've done in the past might not work today, but that's where you sit them down and and work with them on adapting anything that they've done that doesn't work now into something that does work now. Yes, people trapped in the past probably shouldn't be part of a current wrestling product, but when you've got two of the best minds in wrestling, who can and will learn, and who you can get up to speed on what's happening in the current scene, the very last thing you do is dismiss them out of hand. So you'd just cast them aside and not bother to get them up to speed to where they can help you. just because they're 'old'?