cabbageboy

RVD is always a great interview in these type of instances. I too was shocked when he said HHH was the best wrestler in WWE today. Anyone get the feeling that he's fed up with being buried and if it takes a bit of insincere asskissing then so be it? It almost reminds me of late 2001 when Jericho started kissing up to the bookers to get the unified title. What's up with Jerry Lynn anyway? I thought he was still with TNA as an agent, so you could probably toss him out of the ONS mix.

I agree on that MITB idea. Change it around every year. Last year was a ladder match, this year make it a 6 man elimination match or a 6 way HIAC type match.

It'd be cool to see the MVC finally be considered a major conference. Right now it's listed as being the #6 conf. in the country behind the Big 10, Big East, ACC, SEC, and Big 12. It's actually AHEAD of the Pac 10. Thing is, at best the MVC will likely be in the nebulous borderline area along with the Atlantic 10, etc. Some good teams that make the 2nd round and all that, but not many contenders. Actually the A 10 is pretty solid, given that UMass, Temple, St. Joes, and Xavier have all made regional finals in the past 10 years.

I agree with Bob on this one. I too thought Harris was easily more notable than Hurt in that movie. In fact when it came out I recall some thinking Hurt had chewed the scenery and overacted. My picks are Brokeback for best picture, Hoffman for Capote (they gotta give it to someone playing a homo, but Ledger is too obvious), Witherspoon for actress, Weisz for supporting, Giamatti for supporting, and I guess Clooney for director since he's likely to go home with SOMETHING.

Glad to see my RVD MITB idea has caught on. The MITB is one of those excellent ideas that they totally stumbled on last year to have some filler at WM (albeit killer filler). The only unfortunate aspect is that I had Edge holding the title going into that ONS PPV, which would give it more meaning (He who lives by MITB dies by it). Hell, if Rey is fucked over at No Way Out I'd toss him in that MITB as his opportunity to get the #1 contendership back. Throw in Benoit, Shelton, and a couple other guys and THAT would get me to watch WM.

I absolutely cannot believe that they would go through with this. Talk about a fucking retarded idea. It would do the following: 1. Kill Rey's heat and credibility to be a moron and put his shot on the line and then lose. 2. It would kill the Rumble's credibility as a major event. In the name of what exactly? Pushing Randy FUCKING Orton?! I mean who exactly is going to be the heel and face with him and Angle? Angle has never shown any ability to be an over face and after his heelish antics to beat Mark Henry as well as him likely playing heel vs. UT I can't see this match at all. Angle could much easier go heel vs. Rey than he could be a half ass face against Orton. Here's what I'm thinking will occur and should occur: Orton goes to Booker and tries to cash in his favor, Booker fucks up the run in and costs Orton the match. Then Orton can dick around with Booker and the US title and Rey can go to WM and get his well earned title shot. Here is what

Why of all people would you have RVD face Snitsky in his first match back? A shitty big man like Snitsky vs. an obviously rusty RVD. I think it almost would have been a good idea to have Rob work some Dec. house shows and get back in the groove before his TV return. I doubt anyone will remember that crappy Snitsky match 2 days from now, but it didn't help Van Dam by any means. As far as Rey goes, it's sheer insanity to take him off SD. As hideously depleted as that roster is and then they lose their most popular wrestler? Why not send HHH over to SD, since that roster needs a heel big time? Edge can then hold down that top heel spot on Raw without The Game's conniving.

Of those guys mentioned, RVD is the easiest to move around on the card. Let's face it, this Carlito thing is basically just filler anyway. At most it'll last till the Sat. Night's Main Event where we'll see more Masters cost Carlito the match or whatever. Let's face it, they showed a key moment offscreen on the website...not like this feud is THAT heated. If anything I'm more interested in this Carlito/Masters storyline since that's getting more TV time. Honestly, after Edge is done jobbing in the main event scene, he'll be back on the undercard. Probably in a feud with RVD (and jobbing there too).

I think with Michigan it's mostly that people flat out just don't care about them anymore and are ignoring them in hope they go away. I was about to say the best team in the Big 10 is Iowa, but then remembered MSU just waxed them by 30 recently. The Big 10 is just a warzone, I bet the winner ends up at like 10-6 or 11-5. Or are there 18 conf. games? U of L loses another tonight, to Nova on the road this time. What's sad is that we played about as well as we have all year.

I don't get that finish at all, it was just too weird. Honestly, at this point I think a lot of the crowd has just given up on booing Cena and just not giving a shit. At least that's what I'd think from tonight. In other words he's getting closer and closer to X-Pac type heat. It's like the stages of coping: First comes rejecting something entirely, then you come to terms with it, then you are apathetic and ready to move on. Man, could this RVD/Carlito feud be more blatantly filler? I'm betting that Carlito enlists Masters to help him beat RVD, but Masters "screws it up" (as in turns on Carlito, sort of) and costs him that match as a receipt for tossing him from the Rumble and the E.C.

Honestly, if you had a Cena/HHH feud that lasted as long as the Angle feud...there would be no heat. The reaction would end up similar to Orton/HHH where the heat would die totally and no one would boo Cena, no one would cheer Cena, no one would care period.

I've seen some of those on OVW. The greaser gimmick wasn't that bad, but not that great either. I think the Castro Alejandro gimmick is pretty funny actually, I saw that on an OVW house show. As far as Cena goes, I'm on record as predicting Kane's movie will draw more money than The Marine. Promoter, you're being a bit naive though if you think there's this big new Cena title run and all these different directions to go with him. Here's Cena's future: He'll have a horrid, negative heat title run and then HHH will use this to job him big time at WM and get the title back. I do not think Cena is getting X-Pac heat though. X-Pac heat is a sort of groan inducing "I refuse to react...period" attitude when a guy is horribly stale and no one cares. With Cena, people do care....they'll either cheer or boo. No, the guy on the roster who is so not over as to have X-Pac heat would have to be..... Randy Orton.

Promoter, interesting you mention Dec. 96. Cause that's what they treated Edge like last night....Sid. The irony of that is that Sid was ratings death when he had the title after beating Shawn, so they panicked and put it back on Shawn at the Rumble. The odd irony is that Sid ended up getting it back due to circumstances and defended at WM. Edge is obviously a much hotter heel than friggin SID. His TLC match with Flair was the highest rated match on Raw in a year....was that because people thought "OMG, Cena might do a run in! I better watch!" Anyway, why would RVD do a run in on that Carlito/Masters match tonight? What would be the point of that? If anything it looks like Carlito/Masters might win the tag belts or maybe do a breakup feud when they screw each other over. And no, I do NOT want to see RVD in yet another makeshift tag team.

The kneejerk reaction to those HHH comments are "HHH is a fuckwad for saying that about Angle." But then I thought about it, and frankly he's right. Both Angle and Jericho to my way of thinking were not 100% heels in the Cena feuds. Heels shouldn't be right about things or bring up legitimate shortcomings in the face, since the fans will start listening and siding with the heel. Jericho picked up for Christian in criticizing Cena for being a Marky Mark/Vanilla Ice wannabe, and said that his rock band Fozzy was better than Cena's rap. Rap is a polarizing form of music, so quite a few people sided with Jericho. I don't think Jericho was even meant to be a serious threat, but he still has fans who objected to him being pushed as such a joke challenger. Angle kept mentioning that he was obviously the superior wrestler and people agreed with him. Add to it that Kurt has never exactly gotten the right reactions for any length of time, and thus fans sided with him. Edge played an excellent heel vs. Cena. Note that in the past few weeks Cena had been cheered mostly and booed sparingly. Edge is great at playing a total scumbag lowlife, someone who wants no sympathy from the crowd and while he believes he is right in his own mind, he doesn't have such blowaway in ring skills that he can criticize Cena's. Until last night he was also booked strongly in that he actually beat Cena for the title. Basically they REALLY fucked up last night. As far as the Terry Funk ONS II stuff goes, what does it mean that he'll be the main draw? I'd think anyone would realize that show should be built around RVD, especially given his promo at the PPV last year saying how much the show meant to him.

If I had the book I wouldn't have done most of what they did last night. I thought about keeping it on Edge and doing Edge/RVD but with RVD just back from injury I figure let's let him get his bearings (do we need another HHH 2002 situation with a guy who is rusty gets main events?). Anyway, I figure Edge has the title still and defends in a 3 way with HHH and Cena. I'm not sure who the crowd is for here, but they'll pick SOMEBODY surely. I'd keep it Angle/Rey on SD. Fuck Orton, let him dick around in a US title match with Booker T. after Booker does a botched run in at the Rey/Orton No Way Out match. Shawn/Vince...that will happen now anyway, can't change this one. Money in the Bank II: I'd have Edge propose this idea to Vince who will agree with him. Make this a co-brand match with RVD, Edge, and Shelton from Raw and Benoit, Matt Hardy (for some highspots), and whoever. Wish Rey was in on this one, but can't be if in the title match. Carlito/Masters vs. Show/Kane. Gotta put a tag title match on the show somewhere and it'd have the dual tension of Kane/Show not liking each other and Carlito/Masters not trusting each other.

How many guys is HHH going to be allowed to ruin? Anyone who thinks he has changed his ways since coming back in Oct. just need to look at that shit tonight. In a way they might actually do that double turn. It buries Cena since he'd be a heatless heel, and then also keeps RVD as the #2 face while HHH can attempt to get cheered. It's a bit unlikely though. Honestly, right now the main thing that could save Cena is some sort of serious injury. Get him off the show for a long while and 6 months later he might be fresh again.

If the Castro gimmick they are talking about is who I think it is, it's Osama Rodriguez Alejandro from OVW. It's a fairly fun little gimmick in a cheesy USWA Memphis kind of way. I don't blame Edge for being distraught, in fact if I'm him right now I say "Fuck all of you" and demand my release. An E and C reunion in TNA sounds good to me. My friend Ian (who is a big Edge fan, has been since about 1998) and I were both in utter shock that they jobbed him so blatantly and clean tonight. They embarrassed and humiliated him and yet had a plethora of false finishes to protect MARK HENRY??? Honestly, I don't even see a double turn at WM with HHH/Cena. HHH has no real heat as face and it'd be a bad idea. And frankly, it also goes back to why humiliate and job out Edge so badly in order to keep HHH the top heel, only to then turn him face? They are just fucked with Cena right now. He's going to get booed to high fucking heaven from here on, because I think a lot of people were digging Edge with the belt. Now I bet HHH wins a tourney of some sort to put himself over all the Raw roster in order to get his WM title shot. As far as RVD goes, I doubt his silly Carlito feud has legs till WM. They might both be in a new MITB type match, but that has no heat for a 1 on 1 blowoff (they can do that on a Raw or the 1st Sat. Night's Main Event). After tonight they seem to be teasing Carlito/Masters more, so they can just have RVD beat Carlito when Masters turns on him, etc. Goes without saying I'd have RVD now win that MITB match and cash it in at One Night Stand. If Cena somehow still has the belt who wouldn't want to see him on the receiving end of a Van Daminator, Van Terminator, and so on?

I swear it seems like they are incapable of thinking outside the box. They are so hell bent on pushing certain guys without rhyme or reason or fan acceptance. I have no idea where these Orton rumors come from, but him vs. Angle at WM has literally no fan interest (if they do it, which I think is idiotic) and also no one to really cheer for since Angle isn't exactly a face. Certainly not after him doing heelish tactics tonight and certain to play heel vs. UT. As I said, literally the only reason to put the title back on Cena is to appease HHH. Cena to me is now just about as big of a lame duck loser as Edge, since he's going to get trashed again by fans. For one thing there was no build to his win tonight. It was the semi main and frankly I took that as meaning he was going to job so they could end the evening with Angle's win. Also, given the stuff Edge said about not being a transition champion, and the Rumble ads proclaiming "The Rated R Superstar's reign begins!" makes me think this was some last minute HHH conniving. I have a feeling they might give RVD his lame duck title run this year, say have him win a MITB at WM and then cash it in at One Night Stand, then just job back to HHH at Summerslam. He and Edge can feud over who was the bigger transition joke after that.

Let me ask you guys this: Why the fuck would you go to all this goofy trouble of having Rey win the Rumble, put his shot on the line, have a Booker run in, shit all over your fans....to have RANDY FUCKING ORTON get a WM main event payday? Doesn't that seem a bit....retarded? The way Angle was playing heelish tonight and is going to be heel vs. UT makes me think it's still him vs. Rey. Cause I don't get it otherwise. Another reason it's idiotic is that it's a huge insult and a bait and switch, and it renders the Rumble itself a meaningless match. Ah well, at least RVD finished in the Final 4. Guys who finish 4th tend to do well in the future it seems like. Gee, I wonder if Cena will tag with RVD now so he can leech off his heat too? God I feel sorry awful for Edge now. Let's put the blame where it truly lies here: HHH. You know he couldn't stand another heel being on top and also drawing ratings. Thus in one felt swoop tonight Edge looked like a total jobber and a fluke champion, thus killing his career forever, HHH gets to go to WM against Cena and regain his belt (thus killing Cena's heat too, not that he has any). I'm telling you, after Cena jobs in a Backlash rematch Raw is basically going to be left with RVD as the only guy getting any real face reaction. That would be around the time of One Night Stand too.

It's not RVD. If they have him win the Rumble and somehow screw him out of the title shot then I think most everyone would be PISSED. At least with Rey there's always the argument "Well, can you really see him main eventing for the world title?" Maybe Meltzer has no idea? Anyone think of that?

I hadn't even thought about Shawn winning the Rumble. I'd figured so much that Vince would screw him tonight that it never entered my mind. But really, him winning and Vince screwing him over makes a lot of sense, certainly more than Rey winning and getting fucked over on SD.

Dude, if they actually have Rey win and then job him in the contender match to Orton that would be the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of. If you're gonna have Rey win the Rumble go all the way with it. May I ask...what else can you do with Rey at WM if he wins the Rumble and doesn't go for the title? Put him in a Raw/SD MITB style match? Regardless of what RVD does, if he is in fact eliminated I assure everyone on here the crowd shits on the rest of it.

Orton has literally zero momentum right now, which is death for anyone with Rumble aspirations. I mean he jobbed to UT, then spent the past month screwing with Benoit and taking 3 times to win 1 match in that Best of 7. And then jobbed to Benoit this week. The vibe I got from SD is that he and Booker will have a falling out that costs both men. I am also unsure of why everyone thinks a SD guy is so obviously winning. Look, SD always has No Way Out to do a tourney or contender match and get a #1 contender for Mania. This is Raw's last PPV time to build for WM, so they have to have a Raw guy win in my view. With that considered it eliminates the potential winners to HHH and RVD. HHH winning after blathering about it for weeks doesn't make any sense and would also kill the crowd (I see Big Show and others tossing The Game). Also, if Edge retains against Cena they can have HHH want to kick the shit out of Cena out of frustration for not winning the Rumble. Therefore, RVD is still my pick. He has to at least be in it near the end since he'll be by far the most over guy in the match, and if he's eliminated that'd be the death of crowd heat (I doubt the crowd believes Rey can win something like a Rumble). Besides, if Edge retains as I think he will, he's going to need a WM opponent and RVD is the best choice.

When predicting the Rumble I always ask myself "Who are the most over guys in the match?" Tonight I'd say the two most over guys in the match will be Rey and RVD. Traditionally heels don't win the Rumble since it'd be 60 some minutes to produce a winner people don't like (the 1993 Rumble is a great example of why that sucks). HHH could well pull a power play but right now his feasible matchup is with Cena and I don't think Cena gets the belt back tonight. They can easily do that at WM anyway as a non title match. Edge said something this week on Raw that stayed with me, it was during his "I am not a transition champion!" rant. He said something like "After I get done beating Cena you people will have to find another overrated piece of crap to get behind." I couldn't help but think he was referring to RVD with that statement. Am I the only one who picked up on this? Who else could he be referring to? I can't see it being HHH, who would never let himself be referred to as an "overrated piece of crap" on TV.

Dude, believe me if you ever want to get well U of L is THE team to play at the moment. It's like the blind leading the blind with the Cards right now. If U of L fails to even make the top 12 and go to MSG that might be the biggest embarrassment in the program's history. Ever. It might sound whiny but we got fucked with the conf. schedule. Home and home with the two best teams (Nova and UConn, and the 3rd being Cincy which is looked on as a rivalry). We should have pulled some kind of win off at home, no doubt. But good grief, Nova and then Pitt, then UConn, with some difficult road trips to St. John's (who has been decent of late) and Rutgers today...and then now looking at road trips to UConn, Nova, Cuse, WVU. I joked before the season that even a mega conf. like the Big East would have to have some jobbers. Little did I expect U of L to actually BE one of those jobbers.