RavishingRickRudo

I think we could get a bunch of good matches out of them. A time limit draw. 2/3 falls (no gimmicks needed, just straight-up 2/3 falls). And an I Quit match. The I Quit match would draw, IMO, on the basis of seeing either guy say "I Quit" since it has been an integral part of their feud that neither guy has given up.

It kinda sucks they killed off Nathanson in the same episode he became relevant.

This Benjamin/Flair match is shit. Flair is very much wrestling like he's an old man. Mama is fucking awful.

WOW. Tonights House was so fucked up. Cuddy giving House a taste of his own medicine (literally) by giving him a placebo was fucking awesome. The chick diddling her daddy and then turning out to be a dude is just way out there.

The LAW guys are morons on every single level. They have blinders the size of mack trucks limiting their perspective. In their world "Taker sucks, Angle rules" so if the two have a tremendous match, you can guess what they'd say. Of course, when Dave started praising the match Dan started to like it a bit more

I think there are numerous wrestlers they would have wanted more than Tatanka.

I hate any cruiserweight match where 80% of the moves done in it are punches and kicks. So I didn't like this one. The Lashley/JBL match was so much better than it had any right to be. Nothing over ***, but it did a good job in getting Lashley over and including Finlay in it was a nice touch. Benoit/Booker was pretty crappy. They were just trading moves for the whole match with little tying them in, and they didn't flow very well. The tag match was crap and the crowd did not want Tatanka there.

Angle was OUT. They showed him out after the match. Taker was justified in thinking he had won because of this fact. "Yes, there was a three count, but he was out too". If he let go, he'd give Angle a chance to recover. He waited all match to sink the choke in, he couldn't finish him with any other of his moves because Angle kept reversing them into the anklelock. He celebrated because he saw that Angle was outcold.

As an MMA fan you realize this, but I'd venture to say that most WWE fans will end up thinking that Taker's an idiot for not letting go of the hold when he was getting pinned. I guess it's also a little bit unfair to compare a legit triangle choke against a worked one, but unless Taz or Cole put over the move in such a way, they didn't do enough to make the point clear. This is why I think promos are needed to explain the finish further. Tazz tried to put over the triangle choke, but since they can't directly say "UFC" or "PRIDE" and I guess "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu" too, he stumbled over his words a lot.

Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton, Newton held on to the triangle choke while put up against the cage in a powerbomb position. He should have let go because he risked getting slammed, he didn't. Why? Because the hold was sunk in. The triangle choke is deadly. I've been in one and I tapped immediately because you feel the pressure immediately. He kept the hold on and Hughes powerbomed him and knocked him out. Hughes was out too. It's pretty insidious because it's a blood choke rather than an air choke and many times with these kinds of chokes it takes a few seconds to figure out if your opponent is unconcious or not.

I don't think I've even ever talked about how awesome Takers triangle choke was. Which reminds me. That was a fucking AWESOME triangle choke. Most guys forget to bring the foot to the back of the knee, but Taker did. There wasn't much space between there, it looked GOOD. Minotaker~!

In regards to the promos: Angle didn't have to release the hold while he was getting kicked in the face. If he believed he had the hold locked -and this is his big move- he could have continued to take the punishment. For Taker to not know what was happening and continuing to keep the hold on, it doesn't really make sense. So he must've figured Angle would go out in the time the ref was making the pin count - he risked it. The theme is sacrifice. That theme, however, wouldn't become clear until they reinforced it with promos.

The UFC has incorporated rules and limits for not only the safety of the fighters but for entertainment purposes as well. I think more fights have been stopped because of cuts-due-to-elbow-strikes and then subsequently booed by the fans, than an entertaining fight being due to elbows. Elbows are like a buzzkill to a fight. These cuts do not establish who the better fighter is because then fighting becomes "who can land the best placed elbow -not for the ko- but for the cut" and it then becomes Fighter X vs. Fighter Y's skin. I think speculation on the effects the cut would have on the fighter is just that, speculation. I can see in some cases where a cut would end up working against a fighter, but I don't think that is necessarily applicable to everything. I also think a fighter wanting to go on with blood dripping down is different from a broken arm. ..Re...cock...u...lous??

The thing is, I think Taker and Angle could do a pretty decent brawl around the arena with a full course of blood. It would elevate the heat and competition between the two. I mean, shit, both guys bloody and Taker wiping Angles blood on himself for war paint and Angle doing the same in a payback spot would be *fantastic*. The finish of this match said that Angle is willing to risk going unconscious to win the title, and Taker is willing to lose a match to knock Angle out. Taker could come out next week and say "I tried to out grapple the grappler, and I held my own, but it didn't work. Next time, it's gonna be in my world. I'm not going to play that game. Next time, it's gonna be a fist fight." So you get get that aspect in and still incorporate some of the stuff tonight to make their next match different, but still contain some of the stuff that made this match so good.

I have this and Benoit/Angle around the same at ****1/2. The RR03 match gets huge points for bringing that audience back to life, so it gets ranked sorta differently. On a storytelling level, Taker/Angle was superior. But then again, Taker/Angle wouldn't be as impactful without Benoit/Angle, IMO, because when Angle put on Anklelock 03, I was convinced it was over because NO ONE gets out of that. Taker booting Angle in the face while the hold was still on is probably in the top 5 moments in that match, and really indicative of the story, because Angle let go. His big move, the one that slays dragons, and he let go because he maybe had a lil more confidence in himself than Taker did. He was willing to let go because he figured he could get it on again, or something. I hope they give this match some good promo spots to help the finish become more clear. Someone needs to ask Taker "why didn't you let go" and someone needs to ask Angle "why did you let go".

I think Taker/Angle tonight was the best laid-out, storytelling, match since Eddie/Lesnar. When you think about how Angle tried *everything* to finish Taker, including AL03, and Taker tried to get Angle in every one of his moves and Angle had a reversal for it. It explains the finish so well, because the Triangle choke was working for Taker, so why would he let go? Angle couldn't finish Taker with any of his conventional moves, so instead he uses Takers own stubborness against him and jackknifes the hold for the pin. I am hearin people say how they killed Angles moves and how they repeated the spots and how it was the usual "everyone hits their signature moves for the big dramatic pops" but this WASN'T the usual stuff because it was building towards something. They had meaning. It wasn't JUST there to get the crowd to go nuts (which it did effectively), it served a purpose in building to that finish. Angles failures were a part of the finish, the reversals were a part of the finish... besides, the whole purpose of professional wrestling is to manipulate that audience into believing and getting emotionally involved in what you are doing, and they so fucking did that especially in the last 10 minutes of that match. There were several points in that match where I was like "what are they gonna do next??". When he first put on that triangle choke, only LOTC and I were marking out. By the third one, more people were into it. Angle not getting the countout was also pretty cool. I wouldn't mind seeing him bring that up and them getting the rematch to be a No Countout so they don't have to keep moving in and out of the ring just to break up the count.

I think JBL could put together a stable of shitkickers and elevate them by proxy. JBL already is associated with Finlay. JBL is sick and tired of fighting for midcard titles and its been too long since he's been out of the main event and he needs some tough fuckers to help him reclaim his top spot. Brings in Regal and Henry along with Finlay and they fuck up Taker and Angle up top. Taker and Angle decide to team up to eliminate them, Angle says they need more guys and recruits Benoit and Rey. Rotate all those guys with each other. Never would happen, but they could do that whole thing in just a few weeks and it would work, IMO.

How good was the spot when Angle pulled down the straps and Taker zombied up? So good. I think they could add dramatic effects such as blood and they could tighten up some things where there could be improvement, I just think they can't do the same match they did tonight on any other night because tonight they went all out on that finish.

It's a shame they have Regal, Finlay, and Benoit (and JBL somewhat) below the main event line, because those guys with Taker on top, mix in Henry and Angle and Rey, and that's a SOLID mix of EIGHT guys and some phenomenal combinations that you rotate and sustain for the entire year. I see no reason to not elevate those guys when you can have such fun matches on top.

Taker vs. Angle, 2/3 falls is DEMANDED. I imagine they will get a rematch 2 weeks from now, or something, given that we have 6 weeks leading up to WM, and Henry will get involved then. I am not against Henry/Taker given their last Smackdown match, though it wouldn't be as good as Taker/Angle. I dunno how Taker and Angle could top what they did tonight... but then again, they were able to top their Smackdown match.

Taker usually brings the workrate, so I don't see what the surprise is.

The problem comes when a guy is getting his ass kicked and ends up getting the win because of an elbow. In that scenario, what are the odds that the guy getting his ass kicked is going to turn it around because his opponent has a cut? I don't think it's that likely.

I think Orton did a better job in the match than Rey. In terms of selling, both his facials and his bumps, and that finish, which was great. I was like "Why the fuck did Orton stumble over to the middlerope" and then it became obvious and I marked.

Taker/Angle was fucking amazing. I swear, I thought it was over when Angle put on the Anklelock 03. Definite MOTYC, possible MOTY. The way they worked the Anklelock vs. Triangle choke was BRILLIANT. Especially when, in the end, the move they kept going for did them in. When Angle had the Anklelock 03 on Taker, Taker was able to boot him in the face until he let go. The difference between the two is when Angle had Taker in trouble, when Taker had the triangle choke on, Taker wouldn't let go. Trefuckingmendous.

I think there are fighters who use the elbows as a loop hole. Florian, for example. They win on technicalities, not because they were the better fighter. They aim for the bridge of the nose or around the eye and hit with the point of the elbow. Part of me thinks it's not worth it, and I would gladly exchange it for knees on the ground. PRIDE RULZ!