cabbageboy

Hawk, it's all a matter of the WWE style and the Japanese style. Rosey is a better "Sports Entertainment" type wrestler than Jamal, and Jamal got over in Japan because they could care less how sloppy or stiff he is. Whereas in WWE Jamal is just a mediocre heel with a 1980s gimmick. And I still insist that Armando add some heels and form a real stable.

Here is my gripe with Umaga: AAE has just HIM as his guy? I mean come on, you compare Armando to Slick but Slick had a stable of jobber guys about like Umaga with a tag team or two to boot. Umaga can't be THE guy. He has to be one of a few scrub heels. Umaga is like if Slick managed the Warlord and nobody else.

The disturbing thing is you might be right about that. On various PWInsider audios they have pondered if they are building Umaga for Hogan at WM. Where he of course jobs.

I'm thinking it is going to be HHH vs. Edge, with Edge as the champ (and HHH obviously winning). This means Edge will end up finally beating Cena at some point, likely with an Orton run in. You can then do Orton vs. Cena at WM.

Um....yeah. Umaga is this year's recipient of what I term the "dead end push." We all know this is just going through the motions stuff, much like Rikishi in 2000 or the whole Muhammed Hassan deal last year (though Rikishi was actually over). Or Chris Masters during the past year. Because right now the world champ is a heel on Raw and if Cena managed to regain it Umaga might get a token PPV title shot and then job. I kinda feel sorry for Rosie in all this. He gets released and they bring back his lesser tag partner and give him a major push. As far as Orton goes, the reason they put him against a bunch of old guy "legends" is that at this point they can't put Orton over anyone that has any real use. Much like Umaga he's stuck at the moment since there is a heel world champ, and I really doubt WWE would job HHH out to him, or Cena. He's already beaten Michaels in dubious fashion and got little from it. Given Orton's antics over the past year, who can they justify jobbing to him?

Okay, I just got through watching TNA and I have one thing I'd like to have cleared up: What the fuck is going on in this promotion? No, really. I've even been watching and I am at a loss to understand half of this shit in the main angle involving Jarrett, Cornette, Larry Z., etc. Let me see if I understand what has happened over the past couple of months: --Jarrett is paranoid that the new commish is going to fire him because he is a cancer in the TNA locker room, and thus wants to get the title back so he can prevent possibly being fired. --Zbyzsko is constantly worried about being fired himself, even though I've never quite understood what he is so worried about. In fact I'm not sure if he's a heel or face authority figure, given that he made a bunch of rules that cost Jarrett the title vs. Christian but also is abusing Raven. Here is what I don't get about any of this: Why did Larry and Hebner help Jarrett regain the title? I mean this entire thing makes zero sense on any level. Did Zbyzsko not read his own contract stating that he had a no cut deal? Jarrett has denied even being in cahoots with Hebner and Larry Z., which is odd given the usual heel "We fooled you!" schtick after pulling off such a massive screwjob. Considering Jarrett ended up getting the belt in the end and Zbyzsko didn't lose his job there's really no reason not to come clean about it like "Ah ha! Fuck you, Cornette! I got the belt and these guys helped me!" I guess what I'm saying is I don't see what Zbyzsko and Hebner gained by their subterfuge. Hebner has been fired (and yes, I figure he'll be back) and Larry was punished by having his head shaved. Neither of them really gained anything by helping Jarrett get the title! Larry was in no real danger of being fired, and I fail to see how helping the most hated man on the roster win the title would in any way help secure his own position in the company, especially with a law and order "new face" GM coming in. Why would he give a shit if Jarrett or Christian or Sting had the title? Why would Hebner do such a blatant bit of ref corruption knowing that everyone was looking at him to slip up? Let's face it, where can they really go with this angle that could produce something decent? They could just forget about it with time, which might be the best idea actually. Because the only real logical conclusion here is Cornette turning heel, having been in on a mass conspiracy with Jarrett, Larry Z., and Hebner. It's the only thing that explains why he gave Jarrett the belt back and didn't particularly punish him, meanwhile giving Larry some token hair match punishment to give the illusion that he's cleaning up the promotion (and "firing" Hebner with every intention of bringing him back). The thing is, that idea is the only logical angle but it still really SUCKS. It still leads to more Jarrett main event push and another tedious heel GM character to boot. If this is the case, isn't this whole thing ultra confusing and much ado about nothing? It seems like a very byzantine angle to comprehend and I don't see any possible payoff that leads to something decent. Seriously, why is it that nobody seems to realize how truly hideous this angle is?

Superman Returns was put in an almost impossible position. With any sort of sane budget it would be considered a big hit, but it needed to do massive POTC, Star Wars, or LOTR kind of business to turn a profit. While I thought it was pretty good it really didn't offer anything new, just the old "Superman stops Lex Luthor's plan for world domination" plot that we've seen before.

I am amazed that anyone thought Dead Man's Chest could get anywhere near Titanic's 600 million. That would be like asking it to double the results of the first film, which made about 305 million domestic. There have been far better movies than POTC that haven't even grossed what Shrek 2 did, much less Titanic.

I don't recall this Bubba and Brock semi feud. Brock left for SD in Aug. 2002 and Bubba didn't really get much of a singles push of any kind until that bizarre minor feud with HHH in Sept/Oct. 2002.

I am seriously hoping they let KC James do his Memphis heel schtick he did for a little while in OVW. He's one of those guys who isn't especially good but I like him for whatever reason. Why not make Aaron Stevens into Aaron Idol rather than Idol Stevens? That'd keep the Memphis vibe going. I enjoy SD for the most part despite the depleted roster. And yes, I too would like to see Tatanka make a run at the US title. The guy should have had singles gold in like 1993. I've actually kinda enjoyed his matches with Sylvan thus far, though Grenier is no Rick Martel. Think he'll steal the feathers?

Well, think about this for a moment. Why is Zbyzsko kissing Jarrett's ass? All Jarrett does is whine about how the upper management is out to fuck him over (which is curious coming from a heel) and how little influence he has. I suppose I am giving this entirely too much thought, but it's utterly mindblowing. 1. You are Larry Zbyzsko. You know that a new GM is coming in and heads will roll if you fuck up. Nevermind that you have a no cut contract, you're still paranoid. So what do you do? Help Jeff Jarrett regain the belt, the one thing guarranteed to piss off the new GM. WTF? 2. You are Earl Hebner. You have no clear ties to Jarrett whatsoever. In the first few months on the job you have seemed vaguely duplicitous based on the past but you haven't done anything truly crooked as a ref. Do you want to show the new GM--Cornette--that you are an honest ref? Of course not. You'd rather help Jarrett regain the title, a move that pisses off Cornette and he fires you. 3. You are Jeff Jarrett. You have an ill defined relationship with Zbyzsko, seem to order him about, but there's really no reason why he'd bother to listen since in storyline you have NO actual pull with TNA upper management. In fact Larry made some stips that barred run ins and led to you losing the title to Christian (in a match Hebner reffed to boot). Yet now Larry and Hebner out of the blue help you win the title, and then you say "Gee, I have no idea why these guys helped me but thanks!" 4. You are Jim Cornette. The new face of TNA management. First night on the job the very guys you have an eye on do a blatant screwjob and help the man you despise regain the title. So you start by firing Earl Hebner as a scapegoat, fine. Can't fire Zbyzsko? Why not just send him home a la Kevin Sullivan? Have him lose the humiliating hair match and put him on the bench with Waltman and Co. Oh, and what to do about Jarrett? Strip him of the title? Fire him outright? Nah, just let him have the belt anyway and set up a 4 way where his buddy Steiner can cheat for him. Seriously, there can't be a goofier storyline than this since the Hummer angle in WCW.

I do agree that Brooke looks entirely too much like her dad to be hot. I mean it's like you'd think she was fairly hot and then someone says "Oh and she's Hulk Hogan's daughter" and then you can't help but notice the resemblance. Orton should thank his lucky stars if Hogan really is hurt. All SS held for him was further jobbing and humiliation. Now he might get a win on the PPV.

Well, when it comes to U of L this year I will take a possible loss to Miami but I seriously want to beat WVU. I'm amazed that all these analysts seem to be flat out giving WVU the Big East title and an undefeated season. On Around the Horn today Kevin Blackistone said something like "WVU won't have a serious challenge until Nov. 2 when they play at Louisville, and Louisville isn't anywhere near as good." I mean what the fuck? What is he basing this on?

I don't know what U of L is going to do this year overall, but I do know we're going to FUCK UP WVU. You can write it down, and then if WVU comes here and wins that game everyone on this board can make fun of me for months. I'm serious, those assholes screwed us out of the BCS last year and it's payback time. And yes, screwed is the correct term...even the Big East office admitted it. U of L also owes Miami from the 2004 game that essentially kept us out of the BCS. That said, Miami has too much credibility to flippantly predict a win. The game on U of L's schedule that truly worries me is Kansas St. in Manhattan. I have no idea why that one is scheduled the week after the emotional Miami game. I know Kansas St. isn't ranked or anything, but that game screams out "U of L yearly road meltdown."

But here is the thing about Zbyzsko that doesn't make sense: He wasn't being ousted. Cornette said he had a no cut contract, so are we to believe that Larry didn't even read his own contract? Seriously, I am REALLY trying to get something out of this beyond "This is our lame excuse for putting the belt back on Jarrett."

See, personally I wonder what casual fans think if they tune in and see Konnan or the Road Dog on TV in the year 2006. As far as Zbyzsko goes, I actually don't recall him flat out helping Jarrett before the KOTM match. In fact I don't know what the fuck Larry Z. was doing. You can write off the Raven thing as a personal grudge, but he also made some stips that originally cost Jarrett the title against Christian. It's too weird, it can't work having a commish character that does heelish stuff one minute and then does face stuff the next. It confuses people. You can't have it both ways, either Larry has to be an evil authority figure (which makes no sense because he has to answer to higher ups) or he has to be fair and impartial. Think about a casual fan's perspective here. Let's say a fan watched the show after Slammiversary and heard about the Larry/Hebner screwjob finish....then last night here's Zbyzsko out making rulings unfavorable to Jarrett. What the fuck is this? If the guy has no will of his own then he's a useless character and has no business being there. Destroyer, your views are that of the typical TNA fan: Watch the X division stuff (which hasn't been terribly interesting since Styles and Daniels started tagging), and some of the tag division stuff. The problem is that you can't have a highly successful promotion basing it around stuff like a glorified cruiser division, and an ill defined division at that. Fans are supposed to care about the main event scene...that's why it's the main event scene. Anyway, I'm giving TNA till BFG to get the belt off Jarrett and put it on Joe. That said, when they inevitably end Joe's title run by having Jarrett pull some mass screwjob I stop watching.

Yeah but I haven't ever seen something quite like this. It's like some level of incoherence beyond whatever WCW did. I'm still sorta interested in seeing where (if anywhere) this is going, but I have a feeling wherever it goes isn't going to be good. Seriously, is everyone so apathetic about Jarrett at this point that even a byzantine, confusing storyline like this provokes an "Eh" reaction? Anyone care to try and figure out what's going on here?

Rob Van Dam? I am begging for the stoner buddy comedy with Sabu and RVD. The Marine looks like a movie that would have been a fun cheese actioner 20 years ago, sorta like See No Evil would have been a fun crap horror movie about 20 years ago. I was distressed that The Marine is PG-13, since this sort of ultra violent actioner needs to be rated R to work at all. Commando should be their Bible here. Follow it and profits will come to WWE productions.

I think the problem isn't so much extreme rules vs. non extreme matches. It's that they harp on it constantly. I think they should be more like TNA in this regard. There aren't a whole lot of DQs on TNA and if there's a schmozz finish it just ends in a chaotic situation that is tossed out (like Joe/Rhino this past week). What I'm saying is there shouldn't be all these DQs, but there can be matches that don't have constant chairs and hardcore antics. An unofficial thing that isn't mentioned directly.

Scarface is a bloated, overlong remake of an actual classic. It's weird but when it came out the movie was mostly trashed by critics (like *1/2 or **) and now it's getting ***1/2 and ****. In reality it's something like a **1/2 movie. Maybe *** tops. I need to watch Heat again. I recall it being a very solid film, also overlong like Scarface. Typical drug dealer movies or cops and robbers movies don't need to be 3 hours long.

Nah, I don't think that at all. What you suggest sounds like if Mean Gene was reporting from the back in the first hour of the PPV and said "Gee, I heard Hall and Nash talking with the 3rd man. I'm not sure who it is but he said 'brother' a lot."

I guess what I was getting to was that yeah I sorta liked Dustin's 1992-94 work but at the end of the day it's....Dustin Rhodes. As a singles wrestler the guy hardly ever scraped above ***, though he was in some really good tag matches with Windham and Co. Comparing Davey Boy and Bret isn't really fair....Bulldog as a singles wrestler was more of a power wrestler with some traces left of his technical skill. As far as his quality matches go, the SS 92 match with Bret is an all time classic in my book. The Dec. 95 IYH match is killer too and worked in a totally different, more brutal style. I also have enjoyed several Bulldog/Shawn matches but they aren't quite on par with the Bret ones. I wish I had Owen/Bulldog Euro title from Raw on tape, but have just seen highlights on the weekend show. From what I saw it was a classic, anyone have it on tape?

Here's the thing I don't get about Test and Knox and the way they are booked. Tonight they were in a hardcore tag match, but they themselves did little of the actual work. I mean you have guys like Test and Knox that the fans think suck, so why not try to get them some respect? Have them take a sick table spot, run into barbed wire. Or if they aren't going to take those spots make it their gimmick that they are the new wave of ECW pretty boys who refuse to get bloody and make that their gimmick....it could get them some actual heel heat. I bet they have a "New ECW vs. Old ECW" Survivor Series match at that PPV this year. RVD/Sabu/Sandman/Dreamer and maybe Punk (the lone newcomer who likes the old ECW) vs. Big Show/Knox/Test/someone else, and maybe a heel turned Angle.

Well, next week they get RVD back so there is really no excuse to keep doing this crap with the Raw/SD guys. They'll actually have a decent core of main event level guys then, so there's no reason for the guest star of the week. Incidentally what is the point of these guys showing up on ECW if they aren't going to just job to the Big Show? Guys like Flair and Kane serve a purpose since they jobbed and made the ECW champ look good. Ironically it's the SD guys who have been booked stronger (Batista, UT). If Show isn't going to beat these guys there is no point for them showing up. It'll draw over a 2.0 regardless of who shows up. Anyway I enjoyed the hell out of this show tonight. Opener was great fun, Punk's debut was solid and I always love Justin getting his ass beat. The main event was hilarious on a car wreck level. I was actually a bit surprised Batista was shit on so severely....I figured he was better liked among ECW fans than Orton or Cena.

I too find Dustin's early 90s WCW stuff underrated but he's never been the best at anything. It's amusing to hear how Davey Boy is a "lesser worker" and then pimp the hell out of Dustin. Coffin, I actually agree with a lot of what you say. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Hogan, I don't think it can be said that he's a selfish worker in the ring. I have new appreciation for a lot of Hogan stuff from the 80s, since he invariably made his opponents look way better than they were. I mean hell there was a match on a SNME with Hercules I saw recently, and it at least seemed at times like Herc had a shot at winning. I thought another great Hogan match was one with Slaughter from 1991. It was a boot camp match from MSG that I saw on 24/7. It was somewhat like the Slaughter/Patterson match from 1981, but I think Slaughter refined a lot of those spots for the Hogan match. It's amusing that Hogan has this rep for being such an 80s star when in my view some of his strongest work came in 1990-91.