cabbageboy

I enjoyed this a lot tonight, even with the obvious Jarrett title win. The X division 6 man match was really great I thought, and the Ultimate X match was certainly better than the PPV. It was certainly refreshing to see a 2 hour show full of actual quality wrestling action. The only thing to do now is to get some actual angles and give these guys some personas. I quiver at the thought of someone like Heyman booking TNA. It'll be interesting to see what the ratings for this special will be.

I'm pretty sure the people in the arena saw actual matches, since I remember hearing ring music and things like that during down moments. How about Bischoff's talk show a la the Tonight Show? That stuff sucked. Oh God, I'm glad someone had mentioned the Kane/RVD bondage shit. When RVD gets back I think Kane owes him a hug.

I'll explain why FSU isn't getting much love. They aren't all that good, it's that simple. They played Miami in a shitfest to begin the year when neither team had it together. FSU will win the next couple but then go down in the Swamp to end the regular season, and then Va Tech will assrape them in the ACC title game. And there is no excuse for Ohio St. being that high considering they might finish 3rd in the Big 10. Not to mention Penn St. has 1 less loss and also beat OSU.

This headline is so bogus. I clicked to read that Bret was coming back to Raw in the coming weeks. Who gives a shit if he's on some net talk show?

That KOTR tourney was pretty much the beginning of the end for RVD. That was the big chance to push him while he was insanely over and I think it really hurt his momentum. It was a bad idea to put Lesnar in that spot over RVD at that particular point. The 2002 KOTR flat out killed the PPV...it had such horrible long term effects, from the Austin leaving, to beginning the notion of pushing some green rookie in a hopeless attempt to create a big star, to starting the burial of RVD (which HHH and Co. completed by year's end). No other KOTR tourney--badly booked as they were--had that sort of negative long range effects. KOTR 95 was awful but at least Mabel was jobbed at SS and then forgotten. HHH got little from winning the 97 KOTR but his career picked up by the end of that year anyway, so no harm done. Billy Gunn was jobbed out to the Rock in 99 with little fanfare, so it didn't effect much of anything. I do think Angle got something out of winning it in 2000 though.

In regards to that 2002 KOTR tourney, I do believe that was the single worst booked fiasco in WWE history. They pissed Austin off to the point where he left, they buried RVD in the finals and his career has yet to recover from it. And for what? To push a guy who bolted for the NFL less than two years later. Is it any wonder that tourney killed the KOTR PPV for good? I gave Austin more shit for leaving then than I am now. I doubt anyone would have remembered the next week that he lost to Lesnar with an Eddie run in. Also, by 2002 Austin's drawing power was toast anyway.

Think about this, of those guys Benoit, Eddie, and Cena all got over initially on Smackdown, which is a show that is mainly free of the sort of bullshit politics that hampers Raw. I wouldn't say there was ever any major new interest in Benoit, people already knew the guy was a great wrestler. Batista wasn't held down due to being HHH's pal. Ironically Batista is also the one guy of those mentioned that they haven't fucked up as of yet. Benoit got depushed big time after his title run until he was jobbing to Orlando Jordan. Eddie got jobbed to Bradshaw and spent a whole year jobbing to Rey. Eugene got over in a fluke fashion and his gimmick simply never had any staying power. Even Cena is now quite stale and the fans are turning on him more and more every show. Christian's main problem is that he doesn't fit that farm system motif of guys that they want to push (Batista, Cena, even Eugene) and he's not the uber respected veteran that was going to get his gold watch title run (Eddie, Benoit). Besides, given his constant jobbing and lack of credibility is Christian really a serious title contender?

Because War Games is one of the few bonafide ideas that is almost impossible to screw up, unless you have the entire match build around the Warrior running in. It just requires two teams coming in one at a time and they beat holy hell out of one another, massive bladejobs, etc. Let's say that Foley actually did get in shape. For what? Carlito? Foley could have gotten into 1996 shape and that match with Carlito would have still been fairly crappy.

Raw's future outlook is really bleak right now, or at least very up in the air. They want to do Austin/Hogan at WM....at this point that might not happen. They want to do Cena/HHH I'm assuming at WM...given the crowd responses of late to Cena I'm wondering if they are now second guessing that idea.

Canadian Chick, I wouldn't mind RVD and Shelton doing something, maybe feuding over the IC title. Besides, Shelton has been totally buried for some reason...the dude jobbed to Matt Striker on Heat. I guess my point was that RVD will be the most over guy on Raw when he gets back. There really isn't anyone else that is getting consistent reactions.

What sucks is that I was going to order this show at the last minute, but due to a cable company snafu about us not paying the bill yet we went over the $ limit and it refused to accept the order! Once I heard Styles was calling the show I got more interested. I love how people keep trying to defend Cena as a face by saying "Hey, there are still some people cheering him!" I mean hell when half the crowd is cheering your alleged super duper over babyface, that's a problem. Therein lies the dilemma. Quite a few fans are rejecting Cena because they don't like his actual in ring work. Michaels and Angle are NOT exactly major babyfaces to the crowd, they are getting support because the crowd recognizes they are easily better workers than Cena. I'm telling you guys, when Van Dam gets back he'll be the top face on Raw within 2 months.

DeAngelo Williams however will get to cash a mighty paycheck once he goes pro. I think I'd rather get screwed out of the Heisman and then get a paycheck rather than win the Heisman and be a pro washout. Who would you rather be, Peyton Manning or Jason White, Andre Ware, Gino Torretta, etc.?

I don't think Maria has been in Playboy, believe me I've searched for some pics, haha. She really doesn't seem the type.

If they go with Styles for a few weeks they almost have to make it permanent. They can't have him and then a blow up backstage and then go back to the Coach. Hell no.

As I said in another thread, it is stupid to job Cena at a PPV that nobody on earth will be watching. I'd wait till Survivor Series to do a title change. Why would anyone think JBL has a hope in hell of winning a legit vote? My God, the guy was pushed insanely against the will of the fans to begin with...why would the fans now actively WANT him on a show when he doesn't have to be there? Rey and Matt will win that vote.

I dunno, Dangerous A. I used to tune in for the Cubs constantly to hear Steve Stone and Harry Caray. I stayed with them when Chip Caray took over as well. Once they fired Caray and Stone I pretty much got sick of the Cubs since they now have shitty announcers I don't like and also suck on the field to boot.

Does anyone really believe him when he was saying this was another one time situation? What, like Coach couldn't call the show and then get his ass kicked by Batista, then call the rest? I'm hoping Styles is here to stay.

At least they are showing some sense on this matter. One thing I always liked about Styles was his honesty on ECW. If a match sucked, or a wrestler was lame, he wasn't one to sugarcoat it. The Coach is barely tolerable as an on air character at all, but he's truly awful beyond words as a lead announcer. First off, the PBP man cannot be all about trying to get himself over as a heel. The announcer is there to put the product and talent over, not himself. Second, it would help if Coach had the slightest idea how to actually call a match and get a storyline over.

I can see the argument that Austin should have stayed and gotten the booking changed. I've always thought that while Vince enjoyed making money off of Austin he never really viewed Austin as a serious star but just as someone who caught fire for a while. What I mean is that during the Austin/McMahon feud Vince was playing off his very real feeling that someone like Austin was not someone he wanted to build his company around. Guys like HHH and Shawn are. Thus Vince listens to them and caves in to their demands while Austin ends up walking. I actually did get on Austin's case in 2002 when he walked, feeling he should have at least shown up and if he didn't like it just have the booking changed to a DQ or whatever vs. Brock. Yeah the booking then was slightly foolish but nowhere near the level of stupidity of this Coach/JR debacle. I mean what is Austin going to do? Should he job to the Coach, seriously hurt his own drawing power for WM against Hogan, and not even get JR rehired to boot? After that if I'm Austin I just tell Vince to fuck off and never even call again.

Please God let this be true. I cannot take the Coach as the lead announcer on Raw much longer. Thing is, if Styles was going to turn them down why would he fly all the way out to CA? He could talk to Vince on the phone and say "Sorry dude, not interested."

The silver lining in this is that at least now this McMahons on TV crap seems to be put down for the time being. Without Austin there I can't think of any reason why Vince or Steph need to show up on Raw (Cena's issue is with Bischoff, not the McMahons). Besides, having the McMahons around seriously killed Bisch's credibility as a heel character and thus in a roundabout way hurt John Cena since he is feuding with guys like Angle and Jericho (Bischoff's toadies), when Bisch himself is a toady with no real power since the McMahons are all over TV running things. Does anyone know if the WM match with Austin/Hogan is still on?

Predictions: Atlanta at Miami: I think ole Ron Mexico will get it done, though Miami winning here is more interesting for the AFC East. Carolina at Tampa Bay: Tough game to call but I'll take the Panthers in a really tough, manly game. Ugly. Cincinnati at Baltimore: The Ravens are showing signs of life, so I will take them in an upset by about 7 pts. Detroit at Minnesota: What a horrible game. Someone has to win, might as well be Detroit. Houston at Jacksonville: Jags in an ass kicking. Oakland at Kansas City: Should be a wild game, but KC shall prevail at home. San Diego at N.Y. Jets: SD finally gets a winning record with a beatdown of the Jets. Tennessee at Cleveland: Another shitfest. I'll take the Titans to edge the Browns here. Chicago at New Orleans: Watch out for the mighty Bears! Chicago by 10. N.Y. Giants at San Francisco: Giants can't be like the Bucs last week and job to the Niners. Thankfully they have Eli and not Chris Simms. Giants by 28, just so Eli can say he beat them by more than his bro. Seattle at Arizona: Could be closer than expected but the Seahawks are looking pretty strong and should win by 7 or so. Pittsburgh at Green Bay: Steelers will find a way to win, Packers will find a way to lose. Steelers by 3. Philadelphia at Washington: No idea, since both teams are coming off embarrassing beatdowns. I'll go with the Redskins since they're at home. Monday, Nov. 7 Indianapolis at New England: This is the most important game of the reg. season. If the Colts win and go to 8-0, book them for the Super Bowl. If the Pats win....fuck. So what will happen? I don't know, but somehow I have the feeling I'll see Edgerrin James fumbling at the goal line, Manning getting sacked at inopportune moments, the Pats getting every call known to man....and the Pats will win by like 3.

Just as soon as I praise Dusty Rhodes for his SD booking I read this. I can't say I'm shocked about Dustin getting back on with WWE...but Vader?? Has there been any more arbitrary, out of nowhere comeback than that?

Yeah but there is no need to admit anything. Look, the Hand of God couldn't get Mark Henry over, not in a million years. It's not going to happen. Vince doesn't have to admit he was wrong about Mark Henry, just keep him on the shelf for another year and bye bye. It's not like the Big Show, who signed a similar 10 year deal. He actually has some kind of value, so I can see the repeat attempts to get him over.

Yeah but in a couple of those cases they were setting something up at those other nothing shows. I mean Taboo Tuesday? It's a blatant nothing show and it's on a fucking weeknight. It's a time waster of a PPV before Survivor Series...why would they waste a title change there? The No Way Out 04 show had a point in its Eddie title win. The Armageddon 03 was just to get the title off Shawn. The GAB 04....I don't know what they were thinking there. You know the weird thing about wrestling right now? I actually am ENJOYING most of it. Smackdown is a very solid show right now for the most part. I'm kinda digging the TNA show, though it's not great. OVW is probably the best wrestling show out there right now. It's just Raw that flat out fucking sucks a huge cock.