cabbageboy

Razazteca, honestly I had totally forgotten about the whole deal in Canada. It seems like two totally different angles. Who cares about that crap in Canada now since Jarrett has jobbed the belt to Christian and regained in another screwjob since? Just confine this to the current Slammiversary screwjob and the aftermath and it'd be much better. The biggest problem I have had with this whole angle is that entire characters in it make no sense. The motives are totally unexplored. D'Amore helping Jarrett made sense at least. But Zbyzsko? I still have no idea what his relationship is with Jarrett, or why he would ally himself with a guy who in storyline is on the outs with TNA upper management (especially when Larry is worried about his own job). Zbyzsko seems mostly concerned with keeping his phoney baloney job, not in cashing in $$....thus Jarrett simply bribing him would be a copout. The annoying thing is that none of this shit will go anywhere because Jarrett will just lose the belt soon anyway and it'll all be dropped. The Canada angle was dropped once JJ lost to Christian after all. Another hilarious aspect of all Jarrett angles is someone crying "Conspiracy!" when we all know this going in. The Jackie Gayda thing with the tape...who cares? We all know Jarrett did a screwjob, so crying about a conspiracy is pointless. Ditto Hebner whining about Zbyzsko...it was a blatant screwjob, so move on.

Well the problem is that the whole Canadian conspiracy was so poorly set up and explained. I mean, it seemed literally like "Oh, we're debuting on Spike, so let's put the belt back on Jarrett." It was at a seedy house show with bad looking footage. Zbyzsko's whole role in it remains truly baffling, as does Jarrett's so called storyline "power." One week the guy blathers about TNA management trying to get rid of him, the next he is telling Eric Young "stick with me and you'll have a job for life, kid." There's a decent mysterious storyline going on here somewhere, but you have to REALLY dig to find it. Larry Z.'s characterization on TV has been the biggest problem. What are his motives outside of the Raven angle? Why does he give a shit about Jarrett? Why would he want Jarrett to have the belt, but make rulings that cost him the title against Christian? Then why would he do a massive screwjob with Hebner to help Jarrett regain? Between Zbyzsko, Cornette, Hebner, and Jarrett I don't know what the fuck is going on here. It's definitely car wreck style amusement, but how can they have a conclusion to this angle that is either satisfying or one that doesn't contradict what has happened? They have underplayed this whole Jarrett/Zbyzsko relationship to the point where I don't grasp what they are conveying. Isn't it just easier to do a storyline of "Jarrett bribes Zbyzsko to get the title back, everyone knows it, then Wrestler X kills Jarrett for the title?" The more you have to think about a wrestling angle the less chance there is of drawing money with it.

Yeah though I'd say the ratings being down over Labor Day is a legit reason. When it comes to ECW it's just a drop from roughly 2.3-2.4 to a 2.1, so it's not a huge deal. If the ratings decline further on regular weeks then it becomes a disturbing trend.

This sucks. I was going to at least tape SD tonight but it appears that the local UPN station has switched to something else and didn't have it. I checked the current WB station, no dice there either. Guess I'll have to just wait for the 22nd to see SD again.

One thing that irks me is this: If they are reinventing the Bond franchise then why is Judi Dench still M? Seriously, isn't this the time where you clean house and get a new M, new Moneypenny, etc. I'd keep Cleese as Q, since he wasn't that established in the role.

I am utterly baffled at some of the experts who have picked the Dolphins to do anything. What is the evidence of this? That they had a 6 game win streak last year after they were far out of it and couldn't make the playoffs? Big deal, I remember some lousy Bengals teams that started about 2-8 and won their last 6 to finish 8-8. It seems like a lot of people somehow forgot how truly horrible Dante Culpepper was last year minus Randy Moss. It was a blessing he got injured in all honesty, because he was going to get benched at the rate he was playing with the Vikings. When he got hurt Brad Johnson stepped in and the Vikings were 4x better, if for no other reason than Johnson was at least a steady journeyman who wasn't fucking up all the time.

Bret: vs. Bulldog from SS 92 (how could anyone not have mentioned this yet?) Flair: I'll go outside the box and say vs. Mr. Perfect from Raw 1993, Loser Leaves Town. Some of these matches mentioned aren't really even that good. I don't think either the Bret/Shawn ladder match or the Bret title win over Flair are much.

This might sound silly but why isn't Scott D'Amore still Bobby Roode's manager? Whenever I see these Roode bits on TV I always ask myself that question. Last night I think showed the problem TNA has with TV show vs. monthly PPVs. The TV show has entirely too much in the way of squash matches, and it moves almost too fast to the point where nothing gets over aside from Jarrett's silliness (mainly because he's on every week if nothing else). As much as I trash the whole Jarrett/Hebner/Zbyzsko angle I can't help but watch it. I swear nothing Cornette has done thus far makes any sense. He wants the belt off of Jarrett ASAP, right? But then books a non title match vs. Samoa Joe, when Joe is the obvious guy who would cut through the bureaucratic red tape and kill Jarrett. Why would Joe winning necessarily hurt Sting's title shot in any way? Just let Sting have the winner of Joe/Jarrett.

I do remember the Conquistadors were the last survivors on the heel side of that epic tag match. That was awesome, haha. Of course the Powers of Pain destroyed them.

Really? I thought Strike Force was in the 88 Survivor Series match with the 10 tag teams. That's a lot of teams though, haven't seen that PPV in over a decade. I would like to see the first two S. Series shows again.

The Can Ams though are just a blip on the radar of WWF history though. Honestly I have seen just the WM 3 match with them and a few vignettes on old Prime Time episodes. Hell, Strike Force at least gave the world the following: --A cool match where they won the tag titles from the Hart Foundation. --The WM 4 title change with Demolition. --A couple of solid Survivor Series outings, though I think they were eliminated in 1987 and 88. --The prototype for many a tag partner heel turn at WM 5.

I don't get how Michigan and Georgia leapfrogged U of L in the polls. Was that epic win over Vandy REALLY that impressive for Michigan? Did squashing WKU do much for Georgia? I know Michael Bush got hurt and all, but they can't wait until U of L actually loses to move teams up? Note: I'm not arguing Tennessee jumping over U of L, since at least they had a notable win over Cal.

I heard a rumor a little while ago about Bobby Roode being the guy who might end Joe's streak. I think I'd almost prefer Jarrett to that scenario. The amusing thing here is that Joe is not even undefeated. He's lost in a couple of X Division title matches, albeit he wasn't the guy pinned.

It was really just because it was Labor Day. Anyone know what ECW did this week?

There is also a problem with Striker that he's a well established Raw jobber. I can't see him really beating the Sandman, Sabu, or RVD. Well maybe Sandman if the Sandman is really drunk.

Well as far as Angle's politics goes, what did he really do? I hardly think he whined successfully and got the belt back. After WM he didn't even get another shot at the title and actually lost via countout to Mark Henry at the next PPV. After going to ECW he lost clean to RVD and also to Orton, so it's not like HHH's politics where he keeps himself on top with the world title.

Reading this leads more to the notion that Angle and RVD are two guys who flat out do not like each other legit. It seems like every time these guys face each other one on one something bizarre happens. RVD busts Angle open hardway, breaks his nose (those were matches from the Invasion), Angle drops Rob on his head, Angle tears his groin up, etc. The ultimate irony is that I remember Angle and even Kurt's wife badmouthing RVD for being a reckless performer, then now Angle puts Van Dam and himself in jeopardy in the ring by being a reckless, sloppy performer.

Sting/Christian will be a 1 match throwaway PPV match in Nov. I'm thinking. Just to finish that off. How much time is left on Sting's contract anyway? If he doesn't sign a new deal, then I'd job him to Joe on the way out.

Here's where I think Zenk is kidding himself. Rick Martel was coming off being the AWA world champion when he signed with the WWF in about 1986. I don't really recall Zenk having those kind of credentials, so to me it would seem like Martel would be making more money. I wonder what Meltzer thinks of the WWF's efforts circa 1988-92? That was a time period where there was a better workrate compared to the 1985-87 period.

I can't believe TNA would put a guy not even under contract over one of their biggest stars. Is that Punk/Moore segment online anywhere? I was taking a bathroom break at the time and missed it. I too have wondered about this Sabu/RVD thing, why Sabu isn't pissed over being attacked a couple weeks ago. But then again, this is Sabu and RVD we're talking about here. Back in the day they would fight each other, then team the next week. If they are going to revive the cocky RVD though they need Bill Alfonso.

POTC is getting quite close to 1 billion, but let's not kid ourselves. It's not going to get even near Titanic. Hell, it's already all but run out of steam in the US. Titanic made about 1.8 billion worldwide. If POTC can get to ROTK's 1.2 billion it'll be doing good.

No way in hell is Jarrett beating Joe to end his streak, especially in a pointless non title match. I'm thinking it'll maybe be inconclusive at worst for Joe, or the fans toss JJ back in for Joe to dismantle. Then Sting takes the title from Jarrett, then Joe wipes out Sting to actually send him packing. Is it just me or is Jim Cornette a very idiotic GM in storyline? Okay Jim, you have a vicious and undefeated Samoan killer. You want the belt OFF of Jeff Jarrett as soon as possible, thinking he kills business. So why not, I dunno, book Samoa Joe in a title match knowing he'd destroy Jarrett? I'm telling you, if Cornette isn't secretly a heel aligned with Jarrett, Zbyzsko, and Hebner none of this makes any sense. It all adds up that way really. Cornette fires Hebner, then reinstates him saying there is no evidence Hebner was conspiring with Jarrett (aside from the video of Slammiversary). Does nothing of note to Zbyzsko aside from a hair match. Has chances to either hold the belt up or put Jarrett in a match where he can't retain, yet doesn't do it.

I can see Da Beast now with Shane asking him to help out his dad. "Me sell out to the man? For how much?" I'm telling you, Gaspard is a guy I thought was interesting in OVW even when he was being jobbed out to everyone and wasn't even getting the resemblance of a push. I wish they had put Cryme Tyme on ECW though, so I could hear "CM Whiteboy" just one more time.

I knew something was wrong in my head when I originally heard TWO matches on ECW actually being extreme rules. I should have known better. I'm glad RVD and Sabu didn't help out DX tonight though. It makes no sense. RVD hates HHH (not sure about HBK) so there's no way he'd give a shit. Damn though, I love seeing Sabu and RVD tag. They flat out beat the piss out of Test and Knox tonight. Am I crazy or did I hear Joey Styles actually say something like "Test and Knox have an advantage here?" Yeah Joey, these two dipshits who have tagged all of 2 months are going to stand a chance in a hardcore match against two of the most insane fuckers in wrestling history, and who have tagged with each other on and off for a decade. What we got there was exactly what we should have got, namely RVD and Sabu leaving Test and Knox laying.

I'd say old school Memphis stuff influenced ECW more than anyone. The main difference between places like the USWA, World Class, Mid South and ECW was that ECW packaged it as a hip "this is the new style" promotion. I remember last year during the initial One Night Stand build when Bischoff ragged on ECW, saying they ripped off a lot of WCW ideas. It sounded ludicrous at first, but if you take a look at early 90s WCW it was a very violent promotion. Stuff like the Wargames matches, Cactus Jack doing Falls Count Anywhere, Sting and Vader trying to kill each other, etc.