cabbageboy

The only problem is how far do you go with this angle? Do they make the JBL/Rey Judgment Day match into some sort of ECW angle, with JBL wanting to get the belt off "a midget who once worked for ECW?" I don't really see how this could lead to RVD vs. Cena. Given that it was the Spirit Squad who humiliated Styles and then Cena fought those same guys, I'd think Cena would be a pseudo ally. Also, Cena has way too much stuff going on right now with HHH, Edge still lingering, Michaels might want a shot. Cena suddenly going viciously anti ECW doesn't make a whole lot of storyline sense, whereas I can certainly see JBL wanting to liberate the title from the ECW alum Rey. JBL could then start talking all sorts of shit about ECW, thus leading to Van Dam challenging him and not Cena.

This Raw quite frankly sucked ass aside from obviously the Joey Styles bitter "shoot" promo. I have to think that the show sucking otherwise was almost intentional however. As in the show was full of all the bullshit and garbage that Styles ran down in his tirade. I think this is only the beginning. There is no feasible way to make ECW the heels in this. Bear in mind Styles on quit in anger after being humiliated by Edge, the Spirit Squad, and then Lawler (who is technically still a heel color man, right?). From here I think we'll see Vince or perhaps another guest GM humiliate the ECW guys on the roster. This leads us to Van Dam being royally screwed out of the IC belt in heinous fashion. The reason Van Dam didn't figure into it tonight is that the note was handed to Joey during his match. Van Dam will figure into this more next week, when he will start being abused due to his ECW background. All it would take is a simply promo where he says that Styles was right. In the end, the only recourse ECW will have is RVD's Money in the Bank. I'm thinking that match will end up with stips added, stuff like if RVD loses then ECW will never be mentioned again, but if he wins then not only does he get the title but ECW also gets to branch off again as a promotion.

Hawk, do tell. Where did you find out this info? Oh, and what was the Punk/Joe stuff all about with Foley? I'm assuming it was in ROH.

I've wanted an Edge/RVD feud forever. In fact how many guys on relatively the same level and been there as long as these guys have never worked a program? I can count a grand total of 3 RVD/Edge matches over the past 5 years. One I saw in person was after No Mercy 2001 and Edge beat RVD clean (IC title match). That really baffled me at the time considering RVD was coming off main eventing the PPV. I think they also had a couple of TV matches during the Invasion, one on Raw and the other on SD. They split there. If they do this Edge/RVD mini feud that'd be a decent way of having Edge screw RVD out of the IC belt vs. Shelton. Then RVD could kick Edge's ass and then focus on the MITB. Basically any scenario not involving Edge going to SD involves him getting buried.

How about Three O'Clock High? Anyone remember that one? I actually got a DVD not too long ago and I think the movie is better now than at the time.

It's a matter of weighing your options. Which do they need more right now: Shelton getting a bit of cred by beating RVD or a strong RVD going into the ECW relaunch?

Having experienced this "Cena reaction" live in person now, I can safely tell you the whole thing is a put on. It's mostly people amusing themselves by fucking with Cena. I mean he got a huge pop for winning, so quite a few of the people booing his offense ended up cheering for his actual win. I don't know what Edge does from here. Maybe nothing. I thought they should trade him to SD since that show is desperate for top heels. Evander, I do think they'll put the title back on Shelton. The only point of RVD winning is because they booked themselves into a corner where he couldn't job before the ECW PPV. So he gets another IC title. I'd just do a 3 way soon with RVD/Haas/Shelton and have Shelton pin Haas or vice versa.

Okay guys, I was too tired from driving back to Louisville last night from the PPV, but here are my Backlash thoughts: --HHH isn't really THAT over as a face or tweener or whatever the hell he is. His segment of the match vs. Edge had pretty much no heat and the crowd was puzzled by it. You guys might not want to hear this, but Cena was easily the most over guy in that match. Crowd popped big for his win actually. In fact it almost makes me think Cena getting booed is more of a put on than anything. --The biggest reactions of the night were by far Michaels and Van Dam. I'd say HBK had the slight edge there, but then his feud with Vince has gotten an insane amount of TV time, so he should be over. As far as RVD goes, I finally got to see him win a match in person. Yay! He now has his SIXTH IC title. I don't know whether to cheer or cry. There were some goofy non finishes on the PPV, yet this was the one match where such a finish was warranted. I think they'll just give the IC back to Shelton in a 3 way soon, thus RVD doesn't have to take a pin before the ECW PPV. --From that match I couldn't help but think though....Shelton lacks focus at times. I mean he hits that insane powerbomb to the floor on RVD and then gets him back in the ring--and does chokes and chinlocks? That stuff slowed what was an otherwise killer matchup. --The Kane/Big Show match may well have been the worst shit I've ever seen in person. It was that bad. --I was puzzled by the women's match and the finish, but I believe Trish got hurt so maybe that was the reason. Dunno. --Carlito is getting somewhat over, but dear god Masters has zero heat. I mean seriously, he was the one guy who got virtually no reaction the entire night. It was amusing to see Carlito put him in the Masterlock and the match overall was pretty decent. Anyway, I have no idea where they go with any of this from here. They seriously need to get the belt of fucking Cena though, if they keep this up for much longer he's going to just start drawing X-Pac heat rather than his current heated reaction. I can't see how HHH can justify being in the title scene at this point considering he tapped at WM and got pinned at Backlash. To be honest, RVD is really the only guy on Raw that Cena hasn't steamrolled. I don't know if they'll do that match or go with the JBL option at ONS, but if it's Cena they really need to job him there. If anything the loss might help him. I think half the reason people boo him is that they're simply sick of seeing him with the title. If he lost it and had to do a prolonged chase people would get behind him again.

RedJed, the problem I have with that idea is that I can't really see how you book the stuff leading to it. Sure, it's easy to say will get booed like hell at the ECW PPV, but he's technically not a heel at this point and I'm not sure if he'd do some anti ECW bashing before the PPV. And let's face it, that's half the point of these shows. WWE guys run their mouths about ECW being inferior, then at the actual PPV ECW proves their worth.

Is this really good news though? More than anything I just want RVD to WIN the match and get that elusive world title. Frankly I care way more about that than I do seeing ECW come back to take the place of Velocity. Sure, Van Dam going against JBL would have less pizzazz to it, but at least he'd be the obvious winner of that match. At this point I would just have Edge win at Backlash. Will they? I dunno. I doubt it.

Nah, this JBL/Rey crap won't last too awful long. Know why? Rey is also hurt. Word is he'll lose to JBL, who will then get his ass kicked by RVD at One Night Stand. I'm telling you guys, just make SD into ECW. The show is on its last legs.

If we're talking about moments from UHF, how could anyone forget: --Spatula City! Or how about.... Conan the Librarian! I love him chopping that dude in half for having a late book, haha.

I am now reminded of the line from Naked Gun 33 1/3 where Leslie Nielsen said "I will give him one last chance...and I don't mean one of these Major League Baseball 'Steve Howe' kind of last chances!"

Actually Angle cheated a fair amount to beat Mark Henry at the Rumble. But yeah, I too am getting really sick of this Mark Henry shit. I thought it was mildly amusing when they did it at the Rumble, but seriously. He's jobbed to Angle. He's jobbed to UT. The only way anyone would believe him as a main event guy is to put him over some major stars, and I doubt they'll do that. I don't really get how JBL fits into this. Shouldn't he be defending the US belt?

Truth be told, I don't think it was ever mentioned explicitly this year. Besides, since the match was Raw and SD they can always say the winner has his choice. It's the Benoit Rule, he who wins a title shot can face whomever he likes. The main problem I have with the JBL idea is that JBL has been booked to look like a tool over the past 6 months. Since Batista creamed him out of the main event scene, he really hasn't done anything of note until his US title win. In fact he jobbed to the Boogeyman. Dangerous A grasps something that some on the net apparently don't. I keep hearing on sites like pwinsider.com that they should do a screwjob on RVD, but the thing is this: If you're starting a new promotion, how will it have any credibility if the top star just jobbed (even via screwjob) in his biggest match? Yes, I know the WWWF originally started with Buddy Rogers like that, with him jobbing the NWA title and the McMahons not recognizing it and keeping him as the WWWF champ. Thing is, he was quickly jobbed to Sammartino, who was the real top guy in waiting. RVD would have to be the top guy in this new ECW for a long while to come, so him looking like a fool really can't happen. As far as the WCW or NWA title history....do you think Vince or Heyman give a shit? In my scenario the belt itself isn't thrown down a la Shane Douglas, but instead RVD spray paints "ECW" on it in a scene reminiscent of the NWO. No one really ever says this, but that Douglas thing was a really low trick. I think what you'll see here is a situation where Heyman and the ECW side recognizes RVD as the ECW world champ, whereas Teddy Long won't recognize it and will still claim JBL as his world champ. And they can then do a rematch to clear things up at SummerSlam. There could be the further stips that if JBL wins, the ECW crew will disband and never been seen again. If RVD wins, ECW can gain control of SD. This is all of course if JBL actually turns out to be the opponent. He's already issued a challenge to Rey, so we'll see.

There's no way this will last very long. Either the entire thing will vanish into thin air within a year, or they are going to have to start doing separate tapings and ECW shows. The only other option besides that is the idea suggested that ECW simply do a takeover of Smackdown. While SD still has some solid action the overall direction of the show is so uninspired that virtually anything would be an improvement. What is SD's main point right now? It's main concept? Main angle? SD right now is like watching an entire show of secondary angles and characters. So at least an ECW invasion and takeover angle would be a direction if nothing else.

I can't believe no one has mentioned this one: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You kill my father. Prepare to die." Here's an Arnold classic moment from the Running Man: "Hey Killian! This was Sub Zero....now he's just plain zero!" It's such a dumbshit line but it's hilarious and awesome. Obviously there's "I'll be back" from Terminator and a bunch of other Arnold movies. I was trying to think of an 80s defining moment from Top Secret, but there's about 10,000 things that come to mind and I can't narrow it down. By the way, wasn't Robocop 2 from 1990?

I think the big picture here is that this is going to lead to a full scale SD vs. ECW feud, and dare I say in the future we might see ECW do a takeover of SD? What do they have to lose? Smackdown's ratings are declining all to hell, there's no real main concept or angle on the show, so why not do an ECW angle?

Yeah, the JBL thing has the most continuity to it from last year, but it would have made more sense had RVD not shifted to Raw in the draft. I just read that the ECW TV tapings will be right before the SD taping, so this might make some kind of sense. The main problem I have with this is that RVD beating JBL doesn't mean shit. The guy just jobbed to the fucking Boogeyman, so I kinda doubt anyone would think JBL has a hope in hell of beating RVD in an ECW match. Here are some positives of this idea: --JBL would get easy heel heat at the show, and also be the most likely to show his ass and get beat down. --The one style of match that JBL is any good in is a violent hardcore match, and that's what this would be. RVD has chemistry with some odd opponents. --If they are going to do the "RVD throws down the belt like Shane Douglas" idea then doing it with the more meaningless World Title is easier than doing it with the WWE title. I can believe RVD would throw down the World Title in disgust, saying it was a belt from a dead company (WCW) and was brought back as a vanity belt for HHH. --If they wanted to do something cool as hell, RVD could spray paint "ECW" on the World Title belt in a move that would echo the NWO.

X-Pac heat to me means someone isn't getting ANY sort of reaction no matter what they do. It's more of an image of all the fans in the arena simultaneously slapping their foreheads when this guy comes out. Cena is getting Cena heat. It's something I've never really seen before. If there is someone who is close to X-Pac heat at this point I'd say it is Orton.

It's interesting that WCW stuff from the early 90s is often roundly trashed considering some of the fondest memories I have of WCW are from that era. Here is one no one has mentioned: Ron Simmons vs. Vader from Saturday Night, maybe even throw in the Sting/Jake stuff to explain it.

Deputy, that's my whole point. The NWA title was archaic and useless by 1994...so who cared if Shane Douglas put it down? RVD throwing down the title not only would hurt the WWE title's credibility but also make zero sense in terms of Van Dam's quest for the title that began with his return at the Rumble this year (it really almost goes back to the Invasion if you think about it). Also, if they simply screw Van Dam to begin with that would be like killing the new ECW before it even starts. If they have a notion of having ECW become a separate entity again and do future PPVs then Van Dam has to win to begin with. He can maybe do an NWO style spray paint job of "ECW" on the belt, which would be ultra cool without hurting the title. You know, I wonder if RVD knows what he's getting himself into here. He's looking at being the only real star on a pseudo promotion with no actual TV show, a roster of aging hardcore icons, and some rookies from the development leagues. It's almost like being buried by request.

Even in Charlotte how exactly is Flair a serious title contender at this point? I mean on Sunday he's likely to job out to Umaga. I repeat: He will job to a heatless Samoan with a bad gimmick. Jobbing to Umaga....winning the title at Vengeance. If they want to pop the Charlotte crowd just have Flair beat Umaga in a rematch or whatever, at most win the IC title from Shelton. But win the WWE title? Uh no. The problem I have with the RVD rehash of Shane Douglas is that the context here is totally different. Douglas threw down a crap NWA belt that by 1994 was essentially worthless and proclaimed ECW's independence from the NWA, and himself as the new ECW's champion. But RVD throwing down the WWE title? That makes zero sense. Why would Van Dam do that after going through a MITB match to get such a shot? Or badly wanting to win the WM tourney to get a shot at the WWE title? RVD winning the WWE title would be something he'd have spent 5 years trying to accomplish. The best way to restart ECW would be for RVD to win the title but then lose it in some ultra ridiculous screwjob fashion. As in then Heyman can come out and say he still recognizes Van Dam as his world champion, the ECW loyalists on the roster agree, then they do a secession angle.

I think these notes are likely already dated since this was probably mailed before the ECW story broke yesterday. Cause let's face it, with that story breaking they have to have RVD win if they want to give this new ECW any sort of credibility. They can still do the HHH title change at SS as part of this huge angle, whereas it'd be such a huge screwjob that Heyman and Co. branch off from WWE, reform ECW, and still recognize RVD as the world champ.

Let's go back to this One Night Stand thing again. Don't they have to come up with something here to explain how these guys would break off and form another "promotion?" I mean they can't job Van Dam out there. It'd make no sense. Hey, let's recreate a promotion and center it on a guy who just jobbed! There has to be some kind of dispute, as in RVD wins but then Vince flips out and refuses to recognize the title change (something about the MITB not being eligible in a "non WWE" event like ONS). Or maybe RVD wins at ONS and then at Summerslam or sometime like that there can be a disputed decision that would cause Heyman and Co. to get pissed and a bunch of guys bolt. The first scenario is dubious since it would happen in June and I'm not sure how things would sustain till the Sept. relaunch.