cabbageboy

By the way, I just checked on boxofficemojo.com and they said POTC made 132 million this weekend, which is a new record. Holy shit.

I dunno if I was hugely negative but the problems I had with the film are the following: 1. The entire thing was simply too long for what it was. Let's face it, this isn't LOTR with 3 books and a staggering amount of pages. I think directors need to think more along the lines of "What can I cut out here to make it tighter and faster?" rather than "What else can I throw into it?" 2. As I said, Davy Jones and Co. were flat out sickening. I'm not sure what it was but the makeup on Jones and the crew was just cringe inducing. Barnacles growing out of the face, crab legs, it was grotesque to the extreme. In the end I'll give it the Maltin special: **1/2.

Yeah 5.75 is what it costs at my local theater for a matinee showing. Anyway, here are some thoughts: Anyway, I liked it pretty well but enjoyed the first one a bit better. At least this one served up more of the same audience pleasing fun and didn't take a really wrong turn like the Matrix Reloaded.

Well, Raw this week also had the whole RVD situation fueling it, so it was a bit longer than usual. Anyway, I hadn't considered guys like Hardy and Kennedy. If anything Matt could be that one guy who is at first an ally of Rey and Batista, but at some point gets brainwashed and joins the Ministry. He can go back to the brooding goth look. As far as Kennedy, I'm not sure. I might have him as a lone wolf at first having matches with guys on both sides, until one night on SD he has a match with someone from the Ministry (Jamie Noble, doesn't really matter) and the entire group attempts a major beatdown and then a "sacrifice." Batista, Lashley and Co. hit the ring and Kennedy joins them in running off the Ministry.

I guess you can throw Regal/Finlay into that tag feud with London/Kendrick and the Pitbulls, then toss in some funny skits of King Booker surveying his kingdom on SD as UT and the Ministry wreak havoc. Batista can turn to Booker for help after his guys start getting decimated, with Booker not really turning face but realizing that the Ministry is a greater threat to him than anyone else on SD.

I don't get the point of having Batista kick the shit out of Mark Henry tonight. In theory we're supposed to pay to see exactly that at GAB. I am begging and pleading for that match to be no DQ however. The last thing we need is some lame DQ because Batista uses chairs or whatever like last year at GAB. Let him crush Mark Henry and then hopefully go after Booker T. for the title. This might sound deranged, but I am kinda interested in the Punjabi prison match. It's at least something...different? I read a while back that UT might reform the Ministry. Could Khali be his first recruit after he "kills" him at GAB and he's reborn? Get Mark Henry for the Viscera fat black dude role, maybe The Pittbulls as the Acolytes type tag team. Then you can have the "Smackdown Superpowers" group of Batista, Rey, Lashley, London/Kendrick oppose them.

Speaking of Paycheck, I maintain it is the worst of Affleck's stuff from his career killing 2003-04 period. Yes, I found it worse than Gigli, Jersey Girl, and Survivng Christmas. Know why? Cause it actually could have been decent.

Yeah, isn't USC practically in South Central or thereabouts? See, there are reasons why I applied to UCLA's grad film school rather than USC's. Where would you rather be, Westwood and Bel Air, or South Central? Of course I didn't get in, so it's a moot point.

Nah, Jim Powers had quite the physique back in the day. Dusty Wolfe was your typical scrawny white dude with a mullet circa 1988. A great jobber however.

Well, I have little doubt that Orton is on the juice regardless of whether this is true or not. Remember when he was on Raw last year discussing the draft lottery while injured? He had shrunk considerably, Vince even noted it on the air.

I think ECW did a 2.8 the first week, something like that. Anyway let's just see if they get back to the 2.2 or so they were at prior to July 4. And in regard to the Invasion costing WWE half their audience? I took a look at the Raw ratings in 2001 and in May and early June they were hovering in the 4.2-4.5 range and were roughly in that same basic area by the end of the year. In fact the initial Invasion Raw shows spiked the ratings in July/August anywhere from 5.0 to 5.7. It's not like they went from doing a 5.0 to a 2.5 by the end of 2001 (well aside from the obvious Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve shows).

Is GoldenKlose really a troll though? I'd say more of a flat out mark who hadn't posted before. A troll is someone who actually knows what they are doing.

I think this entire RVD/Sabu thing has been blown out of proportion. Yeah, they embarrassed the company in a minor way, but I hardly think them getting caught with some weed and prescription pain pills should wreck their careers. As far as RVD killing his push, I don't really think he did. From the PWInsider report he was scheduled to lose the title at SNME anyway so all this did was speed up what they already had in mind (and ironically protects RVD's heat since even the dumbest marks would realize something was up). In terms of the ECW title, he'll end up regaining it after a certain point when this blows over and the court case is settled. Here is one question I have that I haven't seen reported anywhere. How fast were they really going? From the sound of this town it's a speedtrap. It would suck if they got pulled over and all this hell was raised over them being like 2mph over the limit.

Mike, I honestly think at this point that Orton cannot even be carried. Take a look at his work since he came back from injury last summer. He's gotten very sloppy and uses all sorts of restholds, even compared to before. As far as RVD's mic work, he's just not good at doing heavily scripted promos that make him seem intense. He's hilarious as a cocky tweener or heel that seems vaguely wasted, mainly because this plays to his strengths.

Sabu being fined $1000 in theory sounds like he's getting off relatively light here, but as already noted he didn't have actual drugs on him. I have to wonder, was the paraphernalia actually his stuff? Hell, I bet RVD gave it to him or loaned it. Van Dam should have kept the MITB briefcase as a place to store his stash.

You know, I don't necessarily mind enforcing some sort of basic rules in ECW. For instance, it used to drive me nuts when Justin Credible had 5 people interfering on his behalf right in front of the ref and the ref could do nothing. I think as long as a match is 1 on 1 guys should be able to use chairs, tables, etc. But it's the constant run in crap that sucks. As long as they are liberal with the rules and don't DQ people much this shouldn't be a big deal. Van Dam caught with weed, has to job TWO world title belts, gets suspended for 30 days...and he was still out there at the end shaking hands and posing in the ring. Say what you want but the guy does have some panache, some flair for the dramatic.

Frogg, I'm not sure how wise it would be for RVD to eat the weed plus the 5 Vicodin and then Sabu to eat however many pills he had. Incidentally, how is RVD unprofessional? I don't know of any huge heat he has with guys in the back for refusing to do a job. Or sexually harrassing the divas. Or shitting in people's bags. In the past he's done some interviews criticizing the company, but again this is stuff that has no real bearing on WWE and is outside the ring (and also who knows how much he was working and how much he was shooting). Now if RVD showed up for matches wasted and injured someone, that would be unprofessional. RVD landing on HHH's throat= accident. RVD landing on HHH's throat while high on weed=unprofessional.

If RVD was seriously going to be buried he would have just jobbed clean last night and been fired by Heyman on the spot. THAT is a burial. As it is he got robbed and had his longtime friend, mentor, and boss turn on him. I said it last night, long term this angle has some potential. I don't know if it could last until the ECW PPV in December, but the angle could work. The main problem is that Big Show with the belt is likely going to piss ECW fans off to no end, but the jury is out on how this will work. Will it be a "That is fucking horrible I am never watching this again" kind of heat, or is it a "I can't believe this shit, I want RVD to come back and beat his ass!" kind of heat? I'm sure once RVD returns Heyman will deny him a rematch for a long time, which goes along with him being punished. But it also plays into the angle itself, and once he finally does get the rematch and kills the Big Show he'll be more over than ever.

They'll push RVD when he returns from this 30 day suspension....I mean they'll kinda have to. Truth be told, if this ECW experiment just folds in August it'd probably be better if he just got released. If the new ECW survives, he's obviously going to have to get revenge on Heyman and the Big Show, since that is where the entire angle from last night is leading.

Yeah this show did suck for the most part tonight, but I actually found the RVD/Show match oddly compelling. It might not be saying much but I thought this was one of the Show's better matches, at least certainly since his late 2002/early 2003 push. As far as the angle goes, I think we all cannot separate the truth we know about RVD from the angle on TV. The angle itself was actually a good one, but it will produce such terrible short term results that I dunno if the brand will stay afloat. Given the finish I don't think RVD is going to be fired or anything...if that was the case he'd have just jobbed clean to the Show and gone bye bye. It certainly sets up an angle when he gets back where he comes gunning for the Big Show. Anyway, until this angle can take place (or they go off the air) I'm not going to bother watching.

I've found that highly bizarre. I mean what should be more important in the grand scheme of things? Two guys having a mid life crisis and thinking they are still edgy and cool, or a guy from (in theory) another federation holding his world title hostage The reason it's a foolish bait and switch is because it fucks up the booking for no particular reason. This RVD legal crap might take a while to sort itself out, and since it happened in the middle of nowhere there really hasn't been any media attention. They should have just kept it on him till SNME and then job him.

In all honesty I don't think the crowd will riot if Edge wins tonight. They all by now know the deal with RVD. You know, isn't it funny that Jim Ross was sticking to the "Cena is soooo controversial" crap last night on Raw? His opponent just got arrested for drug possession! Man, drug related arrests. Potential riots after his matches. RVD is becoming the biggest anti hero in wrestling. He makes Austin circa 1998 look like Pat Boone.

If they put the belt on Test, I am not watching this ECW again.

What's also hypocritical is Vince being on TV months ago with Michaels saying "I want the old HBK back, the pill popping madman HBK!" I know this was storyline but what kind of environment does this foster? Oh man, that match with Edge is still on for tomorrow? I have no idea how that will play out, but I have a good idea if it happens RVD and ECW will both be buried in Philly.

This seriously has to rank among the worst Raws in history. No wrestling to speak of, lots of campy laugh moments that I didn't care about due to the telegraphed main event. To be honest I don't think they are thinking this thing through clearly. There was no point in doing this bait and switch title change tonight. They could have stretched it out till SNME and then had RVD lose the title. Now they have no match for tomorrow night (or do they?) and no main event for the SNME taping. It really reminded me of the Raw in 2002 when Austin quit and they hotshotted Flair/Vince for control of Raw for no good reason.