cabbageboy

It's funny but I've heard Masters compared to the Natural Born Thrillers of late and the comparison is a valid one. WCW made the mistake of having all the New Blood guys as the heels in that feud with the Millionaires Club. So in a roundabout way it did huge damage because the idea was to push the young guys, but in the end we're supposed to be cheering for the old guys to beat down these young punks who are obviously beneath them! It's the same thing with Michaels/Masters now. Every guy they bring up seems to debut as a heel, thus we're not supposed to like him and then most aren't any good in the ring and can't get over that way either. Why is this? Why does WWE bring in rookies and seemingly make all these guys heels? The only guy they brought in from OVW as a face was Eugene, and he's currently more hated than most of the guys on the roster.

One of the unsung aspects of Smackdown this year as been the improvement of John Heidenreich. I recall seeing him a year or so ago at an OVW taping and the guy couldn't even hit Kevin Nash spots correctly. He was abysmal. While he may not be mistaken for Ricky Steamboat anytime soon he HAS improved a lot in the ring and he's a kick on the mic.

Masters hasn't had much of a mega push really. He's challenged a bunch of dipshits from the crowd and some lower card bums like Rosey. In fact the only really decent guy he's even beaten in an actual match is poor Shelton (who is being buried for some reason). Hell they didn't even follow through with the Big Show feud because they probably didn't wanna job Show out to Masters. Two wrestlers have to be on roughly equal levels to have a win mean anything...it's kinda like that Jordan/Benoit fiasco at GAB. In fact in those cases it seriously hurts the more legit guy like Benoit (or in this case Michaels if he jobs). Either way it makes zero sense to job Shawn on the PPV right after he jobs to Hogan. In a way it almost cheapens Hulk's win, do they want that perception?

Yeah but the timing here is all wrong for that sort of job to someone. If anything Shawn just needs a nice easy win in a feud to re-establish himself a bit after losing to Hogan. They aren't really hell bent on pushing Masters. As I said, I think this is just a throw shit against the wall to see what sticks kind of push on the lame duck Spike TV shows before they go back to USA...and then Masters will be mostly forgotten.

Bear in mind that U of L is in the position of having to carry the conference and we barely snuck by friggin UK. I took a look at WVU's schedule and it is fairly favorable for them. They get both Pitt and U of L at home and don't really play anyone of real note in conf. on the road.

I repeat: Chris Masters has ZERO chance here. Nothing. Nada. If you guys think Shawn is going to job to Hogan and then go out and job to a heatless rookie, you haven't watched this man for the past decade. This PPV is a lame duck crap show anyway. Masters is getting a whatever push just to kill time until the real stars return for the USA launch. That's all this is. I've detested Shawn since roughly Oct. 1992 and not even I could justify him losing to Chris Masters.

Well, I'm just thinking RVD/Shawn for WM is a natural for WM....having read that RVD interview on WWE.com Van Dam said he wanted to face Michaels at some point. Either way, HBK/RVD or HBK/Eddie is fine by me as long as Shawn is looking at the lights, haha. I am dumbfounded that anyone thinks Chris Masters is going to win at this PPV. I repeat: Michaels jobbed to Hogan and wasn't happy about it particularly. There is zero chance of him jobbing to a heatless rookie.

I wonder, do enough people care about Mudhoney to hate them? If so, then they go on my list.

I don't think he should really sweat this too much. He'll at least get a win over Masters at the PPV and then maybe when RVD gets back they can start some sort of program, either tagging for a while (before the dissention and hopeful WM match) or maybe just into a feud. For the time being we can put the Shelton rumors aside...the guy hasn't won a match in forever.

Illinois had their chance last year, I kinda doubt they nearly run the table again. If there is one problem that the Uber Big East will have it's that everyone is going to beat everyone else's ass. It'll be really tough to tell who is truly a legit tourney contender (maybe everyone??). Even leagues like the ACC had Duke, UNC, and someone else like either Wake or Maryland, but after that the league drops. I think the BE being so stacked will hurt some teams like Marquette, ND, etc. Since they'll be lucky to finish .500 in the league it'll be tough to justify them making the tourney. It'll be cool to see U of L play Notre Dame again, haven't played them in years.

There's a big difference in working stuff like OVW and working a legit old territory though. An old territory really was a place where guys got immersed in matches and angles and improved, and there were veterans around to get these young rookies better. In OVW it's just rookies fighting other rookies.

The Rock is certainly on Austin's level, maybe not in a markish perspective in that Austin beat him seemingly every time aside from WM 19, but in terms of being a draw he's certainly comparable. Hell in 2000 when the Rock and HHH were on top the WWF did its best business. I personally dunno about Hogan's so called rub, but him going against Austin means very little to the every day grind of WWE. All it does is keeps the every day talent down and perceived as 2nd rate. That said, if this does go down have a look at this possible WM card: Hogan/Austin Batista/Lesnar (if Brock is back) Cena/HHH (you know it's happening) RVD/HBK (I'd like to see this one, and RVD has given interviews saying he'd like to face Michaels).

Ah, but that's the thing about Luger. He was working the local FL scene from 85-87...in other words if he was green and sucking nobody on a national level cared about it. Masters is on national TV in major angles and he's hopelessly not ready.

The Big East is going to be so tough that there's no way I can single anyone in particular out. I think most of the C-USA teams joining will prove to be little more than jobbers (Marquette, South Florida, DePaul, etc). Cincy is screwed due to the Huggins thing coming at the worst possible time. Basically U of L is the only C-USA team that will be join the BE and do anything notable. Nova will be solid, UConn good, Cuse likely decent, Pitt their usual vicious selves, WVU is a real dark horse. To be honest I don't see a real clear cut team to win like UNC was. Seems like most of the FF teams lost everyone.

I want to see RVD/Shawn at WM next year. Look, they can't just keep bringing old retread guys back and giving them the biggest paydays. All it does is make your actual 365 days a year talent look bad. Rock/HBK accomplishes nothing and is just a wank fest. Jobbing Shawn out to the Rock makes no sense but I can't see the Rock jobbing to Shawn given his dislike of Michaels. See if this makes any sense: Stuff like Hogan/Austin would draw a bigger buyrate than Hogan/Cena, but Hogan/Cena is more productive. If Hogan agreed to put over Cena that would really MAKE his career. But Hogan/Austin? Honestly, who gives a shit who wins that?

Bear in mind that Luger was solidly in the upper card at this comparable point and a member of the Horsemen I think. Are we really to believe that Chris Masters is going to be having 40 min. long world title matches with HHH about a year from now? If so, allow me to stab myself in the eye. What does "understanding your job" even mean exactly? Does it involve understanding that yes, you will be jobbing to Michaels on PPV. The WWE in ring style right now is comparable to WCW circa the Watts Era in terms of giving people nothing to mark out for. Thing is, those guys busted their asses and had a lot of in ring talent to compensate for the lack of top rope spots.

I have no idea why they would put this Ashley chick in a match right now. The whole point of pro wrestling is that "These people are trained, you cannot just come in off the street and do it." Yet with this Ashley chick they literally just took a chick off the street and put her in a match. Not just a pillow fight or a mud wrestling match but an actual match with wrestling involved. Am I to understand this guy who got fired booked this particular segment? Hell, he should be fired for that, not the yelling part.

I assume he just means Kansas St. over the past decade or so when they've actually been ranked but never quite do anything notable (like beat Nebraska when it mattered). Before Snyder of course they sucked.

I wish I could have seen GAB 90 but it was off the 24/7 by the time I got the channel. Gotta love seeing a pasty Mean Mark before he put on the full length black UT outfit, haha.

It is WM 17 without a doubt. At WM 15 Rock really wasn't on Austin's level, just some punk holding the title until Austin could win it from him. By 19 Austin was a shell of himself and the Rock destroyed him in uninspiring fashion. 17 was the only one where both men were on relatively equal ground and it was certainly the best match.

I actually have thought that Kurt might be so intense he'd not let go of the ankle lock with Cena in the ropes, thus getting himself DQed. Frankly I wouldn't mind seeing titles change a bit more frequently...not like WCW 2000 mind you, but more than 2 times a year.

Malenko/Scotty is a bad ass match. The only problem I had with it was Scotty doing the Worm on the leg after Deano had worked it the whole match. Certainly the best match of Scotty's career, at least singles.

I don't really care who wins but I'll say Ohio St. just because Texas is bound to tank against someone this year so they might as well get it out of the way.

It was mentioned on and off for years that Vince owned the company, I think even on air. Like when they'd mention some charity event the WWF was a part of, they'd show Vince as being the owner or CEO. Sure they had Gorilla as the president or whatever but everyone knew Vince owned the company. I recall Lawler mentioning Vince owning the WWF during the ECW angle in 97 as well, when he said "Why Vince lets you guys have time on Raw I have no idea." I think it really started being known on TV around the time of the steroid trials. It was such big news they had to acknowledge Vince as the owner, and I recall Lawler or someone congratulating him for beating the rap.

Here's the thing...when Rude debuted in the WWF he wasn't particularly good either, but he got better. Maybe Masters needs to start insulting fans constantly as Rude did? Maybe work in some variations on the Masterlock, like that Dragon Suplex variation or maybe a version where he just goes forward with it and drives the guy's face into the mat. Idea: Job Carlito out of the IC division and make him Masters' manager.