cabbageboy

I think it's time to do something more with Jesse and Festus. They have established that Festus is a moron whose instincts are triggered by the bell, we get it. So let's do something else with it. Let's have Jesse attempt to get Festus over this hangup, take him to a shrink, anything besides the status quo they are doing now. Anyone else think Edge wins at the PPV anyway, with Vicki helping him out? As I mentioned, they can always simply say "Hey, I thought we were broken up so I hit on the wedding planner chick out of desperation. Now we're back together and married and it won't happen again."

Sheesh, the Raw rating was down 0.3 this week mainly due to the Home Run Derby. Even I got seriously caught up in the Hamilton stuff and missed the Beth/Santino match (no biggie), maybe a bit of other stuff. If the rating goes down again the day after a PPV, then it might be a warning sign. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but Regal's run as GM was possibly the worst WWE TV this year. Him turning out the lights and all that crap was just horrible, didn't draw a good type of heat, and if anything made me wonder if he might try that crap on a PPV where people had spent money to see the matches. The only way I'd want Regal back as GM is if they do a storyline where everyone still acts insane and he is baffled as to how to control it.

I actually watched FB 2000 not too long ago so I'll pass on this one, but might join in later with some thoughts on it. HH 2000 is a more hideously awful show, complete with the moronic Sting/Jarrett match with a dozen fake Stings running in.

Oh no, not more of the dreck with a guy having "physical possession" of the belt. What exactly is TNA doing with the Knockouts right now? I mean a title feud of this chick off the streets Taylor vs. Velvet Sky? I didn't see Kong mentioned in the spoilers, so what is she doing? She wasn't even one of the 10 in the Rumble.

This can't be just the end of it. Keep in mind that the whole Edge/Crawford tape might have been filmed during the time when Edge was pissed at Vicki and had called the wedding off. If Edge was smooth at all he would simply go that route and get Vicki back on his side. Keeping the belt on HHH is a bit pointless since he's doing very little with it right now and Edge seems clearly like the star of SD at the moment. This angle is flat out carrying the show though. Just take a look at that midcard action on SD. There isn't anyone who is standing out, no one is doing much, etc. I think they got too many guys from Raw in the draft that either have lost steam to the point they aren't worth pushing (Umaga), guys who have failed with pushes (Kennedy), or guys they don't feel confident in pushing right now (Jeff). That said, I don't know what is going on with MVP.

I've heard some people claim Big Al was 911, but it doesn't seem like the same guy to me unless 911 shaved and cut his hair and went with a blonde look. This is very frightening, but I checked out an Observer list to see if WCW had any matches from early 2000 that were even *** affairs. There was ONE match at all of any kind (DDP/Bagwell from Souled Out got ***1/4). Spring Stampede 2000 at least did have a couple of matches that were rated ***+. But imagine that, for the first 3 months of 2000 WCW produced exactly one match that was decent, and it involved Bagwell.

I'm glad it was mentioned but what exactly do Shane and Steph want these guys to do? Do they not want anyone to feud and create tension and conflict? Do they want everything to be like SummerSlam 1992 with everyone hugging and squeezing each other (not that that is a bad way to book sometimes)? What I find curious is that with the notion that these shows are anarchic and lawless, look what we've had the past 3 weeks. We've seen Jericho DQed for simply pulling tights, which warrants a break and not much else. We've seen JBL and Co. DQed over JBL simply breaking up a submission attempt. If anything it seems like there is an overly strict enforcement of rules, not anarchy.

I think we're actually discussing things on two different levels: 1. What we would have done in a sane world. 2. What happened in the madness known as WCW. I agree that Booker could have been an effective main eventer, but it needed buildup. Benoit had been built a bit as a world title contender and as such was a more viable champ in early 2000. I'm talking in a world where Benoit isn't demanding his release. Obviously in the world where he DID demand his release they should have never put the belt on him. Ideally what they could have done is put the belt on Benoit, then elevate Booker into a title feud with Benoit playing off their TV title Best of 7 series.

I knew I wasn't just imagining something with London training at Michaels' academy at least, just didn't quite know who trained him. Like they couldn't say he is a student anyway....I mean who even knows that off hand? I was hoping for a Bret/Diesel finish to Punk/Batitsta at the PPV, but I think we're more likely to get the Feb. IYH from 1996 finish than the Survivor Series 95 finish. As in Kane will be in the role of his brother, costing Batista the match. Or maybe Kane will just attack both men. There's a potentially hilarious storyline with Kane and Punk that they hinted at last night. Why not have them still be semi buddies, playing off their ECW background? Kane can be a total psycho nutjob and help Punk retain the belt, while Punk is creeped out by the guy. This can finally pay off with Punk having to overcome the creepy fear he has of Kane and thus beats him in a match.

Oh what I meant was that Benoit beating Sid for the belt was about the best thing they could have done in the situation since Benoit had been built up to that level via his Bret matches and was seen as a contender. Booker in early 2000? Nah. Kamala, allow me to go into more detail on the debacle known as WCW in Jan. 2000. The week before the Souled Out PPV Bret Hart had to forfeit the world title due to his career ending concussion. At the same time Jarrett briefly relinquished the US belt due to Jimmy Snuka (of all people) giving HIM a concussion with the Superfly Splash from the top of a cage on Nitro. Jarrett would be okay and get that belt back soon after, but he was scheduled for a best of 3 series with Benoit at Souled Out so the damage was done for that PPV. Russo had to come up with something, so he suggested to Bill Busch that TANK ABBOTT should win a battle royale at the PPV to become the new world champion. Who knows if Russo was serious about pushing Abbott with the belt for any length of time, but Busch freaked out and removed Russo as booker, or at least demoted him to a committee and Russo said "piss off" and went home. Sullivan was promoted to head booker the week of the PPV. Here's where it gets truly insane. The day of the PPV about a dozen guys (among them the Radicals, Douglas, Kidman, Rey, Konnan, etc.) basically stage a mutiny and go to Bill Busch and refuse to work under Sullivan's new regime. The kicker is that Sullivan was in fact going to put the belt on Benoit and vowed to give him a real run with the belt and not just job him for personal reasons relating to Nancy. We'll never know if he was serious about that. Either way Benoit refused to work with Sullivan and everyone wanted their release. Amazingly enough they actually went through with the Benoit/Sid match despite Benoit threatening to walk, hoping he would simply change his mind and stay. He didn't. The next day he got into a heated argument with Busch and Busch sent him home along with Saturn, Malenko, Eddie, etc. That's why we got the whole Arn announcement on Nitro the next night declaring the title vacant....Benoit had walked. About a week later Busch said the hell with it and actually released Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, Saturn, Douglas, and Konnan. The WWF wanted no part of the last 2, so they ended up staying in WCW anyway, but obviously the first 4 left at the drop of a hat and went to the WWF. So yes, Sullivan was in fact just barely in charge before Souled Out 2000, and Benoit did in fact demand his release the very day they put the belt on him. Why on earth they didn't just job him to Sid there I have no idea, at least then they could send him packing with a loss. In the end they had him beat Sid for the belt, then stripped Benoit of the title and released him, and then expected anyone to care about Sid when they DID put the belt on him.

Thing is, Vince is clearly not dead...he's just injured and recuperating. So why would Kane be up in arms ranting "Is he alive or dead???" about Vince? Lost in all of this is the thought that Kane is likely going to run in at the PPV and cost Batista this match. Then they can move Kane and Batista into a hoss feud, while Punk can face the Jericho/Michaels winner perhaps.

I have to admit Favre is losing me more and more as this thing unfolds. Does he think for one minute that Green Bay should simply release him and get no players in return? So he can then sign with the Vikings and stick it to them in the division? I can see him wanting a trade if they are 100% behind Rodgers, but he can't be so naive as to think he would get a release to go anywhere. Rodgers may end up being a solid QB, but at this point I think it'll have to be somewhere besides Green Bay. The only way he can top Favre's last season is to go to the Super Bowl and I can't really see it happening. After a couple of frustrating seasons of being unable to live up to Favre, Rodgers will likely go elsewhere and Brian Brohm will end up as the Packers' QB.

You know, this was a really good show tonight up until they decided to go into Hummer Angle or "Austin gets run over by the limo" territory. The whole point of such angles is that it's kind of a mystery who did it, whereas tonight JBL was obviously the guy and should certainly be arrested (even in fake wrestling terms). What's silly is that the level of hate in this feud doesn't warrant all this, nor would JBL as a character do something this stupid. He might hire it done, but I can't see him literally driving a car into someone in a murder attempt. Why the hell did Cena even bother chasing him after a certain point? It's not like he isn't getting the guy in a violent brawl on PPV in 6 days anyway. The rest of the show was great. I'm digging the Kofi/Burchill stuff, Jericho/Michaels is also clicking and I wonder if London will be more involved since I think he's also a Michaels student. The Kane/Punk/Batista angle was cool as well. I even liked the main event up until the postmatch nonsense. I'm still wrapping my head around why JBL breaking up the STFU is any sort of DQ when he's well within his rights to do so before the 5 count. You're telling me Cody Rhodes can't job in a 6 man tag to friggin CENA?

Well, that idea is certainly better than the fiasco of a debacle wrapped in a nightmare that WCW ended up booking. Are you factoring into this the whole notion of guys wanting their release? The sad irony is that I think what WCW ended up doing wasn't even all that bad given the circumstances (Benoit vs. Sid with Benoit winning), but my head spins when I think about WCW putting the belt on a guy who quite literally asked for his release the day of the show. Who would actually put a world title on a guy that wanted his release? Who would release a guy that had the world title? To this day I still wonder what Busch was thinking. Seriously (to play armchair GM/President) if Benoit and Co. had come to me demanding their releases I would have said "Chris, you have the world title, we're not going to bury you or anything like that. The rest of you? Go out and do your fucking job or you're in breach of contract." Of course, if I'm the President of WCW I wouldn't have named Sullivan my head booker in the first place. Let's review these golden decisions: 1. Remove Russo as booker over him wanting to put the belt on Tank Abbott. A bit excessive, could have just told Russo to do someething else, but we'll go with that. 2. Name KEVIN SULLIVAN the head booker, despite the fact that anyone under 40 in the back hates his guts, including the guy you want to put the title on. 3. When a mutiny predictably ensues, instead of backing off on the Sullivan crap you stick with Sullivan and actually release 4 of your top wrestlers, and a few other guys like Konnan and Douglas as well (who didn't sign the form). Don't just ignore their protest and tell them to go to work. Didn't just send them home for a while to cool off but kept them under contract. But no, actually releasing 4 guys so that they could show up next week on Raw. Bravo!

Punk's OVW work is really good stuff, so I would be all for them including some of it. Don't make it a focal point of a DVD, but a few things would be cool. The Albright feud was fun if I recall, lots of Punk being beaten with a leather strap.

Gotta love a headline I saw today on AOL discussing a new Newsweek poll saying basically "OMG McCain gains on Obama!" The last Newsweek poll had Obama up a ridiculous 15% and now they have him up 44-41. This stuff is so laughable and I can't believe anyone in the media would take these Newsweek polls seriously. I mean what exactly has McCain done to seize the momentum to the tune of 12 points? If anything his campaign has actively gotten worse.

Yeah Packer has always been a grumpy curmudgeon and of course a complete shill for the ACC so I don't mind him being gone. Say what you want about Vitale but at least he cares about the sport.

Corey, geez dude I didn't say The Dark Knight wasn't going to rule. I didn't say it wasn't going to make an assload of money. All I'm saying is that it will face tougher competition than Spider-Man 3 faced last year and probably won't break all time records. I could be wrong...hell I HOPE I'm wrong. Does the world need Spider-Man 3 holding an all time weekend record?

While the WWF in 1999 wasn't as good as it was in 1998 I would say on a regular basis Raw was a vastly better show than Nitro. The biggest problem I had with the WWF during that period was that they were TOO much about the sports entertainment schtick and not enough about wrestling. I did go to a Raw in July 1999 and it was a terrific show.

Okay, I know The Dark Knight will rule and all but let's put a few things in perspective here. The biggest 3 day opening ever was for Spider-Man 3 last year at 151 million. The 2nd highest movie that week was Disturbia (which had been out for a long while) at 5 million. In other words there was nothing out at all. Right now? Hellboy 2 and Hancock are direct competitors in the superhero genre. Wanted is another action movie that is out and still doing fairly well. Wall-E is doing well. And so on. This is also the 6th Batman feature film since 1989, with the last film making 205 million domestic (371 worldwide). It will be fortunate to make what Iron Man and Indiana Jones made this year, maybe slightly more.

I think we wanted Vampiro to be better than he was. He had a cool gimmick and was fairly over by WCW 2000 standards, but he just never was worth a crap in the ring. I've at least seen Sid in a few decent matches (mostly involving HBK or Benoit), though he's not especially good for the most part. I mentioned Steiner earlier. Even though by 2000 he wasn't the worker he once was, he still had immense credibility as an ass kicker. Monster heel Steiner vs. face Goldberg could have been the feud to drag WCW out of the gutter had they gone with it a lot earlier. By the time they did do it though they had done the idiotic shoot angle crap with Nash being involved, then had Goldberg/Steiner in a good but too early encounter at Fall Brawl 2000.

Oh god, please tell me TNA isn't still doing the whole "Titles change on DQ" bullshit. That is the single most idiotic way to devalue a belt short of putting one on David Arquette. For whatever reason I wasn't feeling this main event going in, and the booking more than justifies it. But seriously, any time I think TNA has simply dropped that idiotic stipulation they drag it out of mothballs as a booking deus ex machina when they want to change a title without jobbing anyone. I jokingly put a bit about So Cal Val turning on Lethal in my avatar, but doing that hokey and obvious piece of Russo booking would have been better than whatever bizarre crap happened tonight. This sounds more like the HHH/Angle/Steph booking where no one did anything conclusive. Is anyone else scratching their heads over the booking on this show? They haven't really convinced me that this Taylor chick is so special that she should be beating Kong on a regular basis. I'm not sure what the endgame is in this Angle/Styles feud since 1. AJ insists that he isn't banging Karen and 2. Angle doesn't seem to want his wife back anyway. Gotta love TNA running nearly the same angle as a main event storyline with Angle and Styles fighting over Karen and also as an undercard angle with Lethal and Dutt feuding over So Cal Val.

Saw this today and it was great stuff. Hellboy 2 is quite a bit better than the first one, with a better main villain this time around with a clearer plot (though Kroenen is a better enforcer villain than anything in the new one). Dr. Johann Krauss was a fabulous new character and was really off the wall. And the whole setpiece of the Troll's Market was just awesome stuff.

I'm actually a bit perplexed that Hancock didn't have some massive 60%+ drop off. Now next week? Dark Knight destroys everything in its path and it I almost feel sorry for Hellboy 2 since it will get stomped and it was a really great sequel. Meet Dave....all the earmarks of a typical Eddie Murphy flop. No shock there.

I guess what I'm saying is this: TNA needs to cultivate some markets that would be interested in their product. Running all these shows in the Northeast is a bit silly since WWE is too dominant in the area and even ROH probably has more support. A promotion has to have its regional base. TNA right now is trying to be a national company without cultivating any regional support, and this is a bizarre strategy that I don't see ever producing great results. You want people to know you exist? Run the same area with some frequency. Maybe I'm saying all this because I'm baffling and a little pissed at TNA over them cancelling the Louisville house show to go to Cincy. They also went to the Memphis area for the last PPV instead of going to Louisville. If you want to say the collapse of the USWA killed Memphis as a regional town, maybe you'd be right. But Louisville was never killed off on that regional level, so why not run here? There's certainly more wrestling history here than in Cincy. To me it's a case of a promotion looking simply at city size, market size, etc. without taking into account variables like past history and future potential. Are they afraid of OVW or something?