cabbageboy

I know Sabu being released affected the writing here, but what is with the total non push for CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke at the PPV? I said a couple of weeks ago that they had blown it with this storyline once Punk simply attacked Burke and they just had Burke send New Breed guys after him. I don't blame Dusty and Lagana for this since I think Vince and Co. are tampering with the booking so much that it's not getting over. What's goofy is the main reason to rush through this Punk/New Breed storyline (skipping from points A, B, C, and then to Y and Z) is due to them wanting Punk vs. Burke at this PPV. And then they rush to do this match and then don't bother to promote it. As far as RVD/Snitsky goes, I wish they had just jobbed RVD tonight. Cause I really, really don't want Van Dam's last ECW/WWE match to be a PPV squash vs. Snitsky.

It depends on what this is exactly. If this is a one shot match and they job Snitsky out, fine. It'll suck, but they have to waste time if they don't want to do more HBK/Cena or HHH/Cena soon. These kinds of feuds are a problem I've had with Cena's title run, namely that he seems perennially like a lame duck transition champion that keeps the belt ad nauseum. Putting a champ against jobbers like Khali and Snitsky is what you do when you think a champ is weak and don't want to job out credible talent.

Quite honestly I've been wanting RVD to do something like this for a while now. Not the part about showing up late with no ring gear, but when they say "We want you to put over Kevin Thorn tonight" he should say "Uh...go to hell." I repeat what I said in previous threads. A wrestler that isn't long for the company is not obligated to put a bunch of guys over. If he's got a belt, job it and leave. But if I'm Sabu and my contract was up--or I knew I was close to being released--and I didn't have a belt, I wouldn't go out there and job to people in nothing matches. It won't get the guy over and all it would do is hurt my career. I did wonder why none of the other Originals were on ECW tonight besides RVD. Expect Sandman to be the next in line to be fired or released.

Well, X-Men: The Last Stand made about 102 million in its opening week and ended up with 234 million domestic. The only reservation I have about POTC 3 is that it's 167m long. It's tougher to really rake in that huge money with a nearly 3 hour run time, though I guess it never hurt Titanic or LOTR. That said, I think it's naive to think that Spider-Man 3 is going to end up making more than Shrek or POTC. It might end up with POTC #1, Shrek #2, and Spidey #3.

Can anyone explain to me their fetish on 24/7 for showing these boring as all shit 2003 PPVs? And if they insist can they at least show SummerSlam 2003, since I never got to see the show at the time due to a cable company screwup?

If TNA would just cut out 1 lame match per show they would be better off. Let's face it, the world doesn't need this goofy VKM/Hemme angle, so get rid of it and use that extra 10 minutes or so to push the important stuff.

It's funny that this is Latino month on 24/7 so they showed that Tiger Mask/Estrada match. It's obviously there to showcase Tiger, since who would care about Estrada? I watched that match last year when it was on and watched it again a week or so ago. Tiger Mask was jaw dropping. I think they also showed a Dynamite/Tiger Mask match from 1982 or so on 24/7.

The Suns are the biggest hope that the NBA has of getting out of the doldrums that the league has been in for the past 9 years. I'm sorry but there's no way most fans are ever going to buy into a league where teams are playing 85-81 games. That is not professional basketball played at a high level. As a kid the original intrigue I had in the NBA is that teams were playing 115-113 games. The league has been intent on cleaning up its off the court image, but really the problem is somewhat that and also the dreary style of play over the past decade until the Suns came along with an exciting style. Truth be told, the Eastern Conf. was headed in that crappy thug direction a long time ago, but this fact was masked by the Jordan Bulls being so awesome. Once you lose Jordan, what do you have? You get the Knicks and Heat thugging it up, the rise of the Pistons again, and the absolute nadir of some tedious 50-32 Nets teams making the Finals. Not only are the Spurs showing a thuggish side, it's not even really marketable. The Spurs are too boring and bland to be an effective antagonist (real heel teams are the Knicks and Pistons). Lushus will hopefully agree with me that one of the best aspects of the league 10-15 years ago were the rivalries that were marketable as a protagonist vs. antagonist series (Bulls/Pistons, Bulls/Knicks, Pacers/Knicks, and so on). While the late 90s/early 2000s series with the Knicks and Heat were amusing on an ironic level, it's hard to find someone to root for there since it's kind of a heel vs. heel matchup that isn't very marketable. What is the NBA's selling point right now? The NFL has the Colts vs. Patriots to captivate fans. MLB still pushes Yankees vs. Red Sox (though I mentioned in another thread that when these teams are gone in the playoffs that marketing hurts the league). What is the NBA's big rivalry right now? There's potential in the Suns vs. Spurs out west, but only if the Suns can finally beat them. There's potential in Pistons vs. Cavs in the east, but only if Cleveland rises about being a JTTS team. Cause otherwise we're stuck with Spurs vs. Pistons again and that will do the league no favors.

Eh. I don't really see Christopher Daniels as a serious main event guy. He just doesn't have that "it" quality. Besides, he's going to end up jobbing to Sting anyway. The lack of a reaction for the main event is easy to understand, since the finish was very confusing. No one bought that Angle was really the champ so there was no pop for it. The quick cutaway at the end made me think "WTF was that?" I was never sold on Angle making a difference in TNA. First, I knew he was likely going to come in and they'd put him over their main guys (which they did with Joe and Joe has never totally recovered). Second, while Angle was a top guy in WWE he doesn't really have any diehard fanbase that will follow him to the ends of the earth. Has losing Angle really hurt WWE in any way? I don't see how it has. I think RVD would be a bigger signing for TNA, since he at least has a devoted fanbase and also can work in the heavyweight division, the X division, or if they want to sign Sabu (if Sabu is released) then he can tag as well. Third, Angle reeks of someone who is washed up. Last, TNA's booking has done him no favors. I'm still not sure what Angle even IS right now since he isn't exactly a face, isn't a heel, and he's not morally ambiguous enough or cool enough to pull off being a tweener.

I used to never have a problem with the Spurs, since I had the utmost respect for David Robinson. But now they just seem to be a bunch of thugs and the worst aspect is that it seems to be working. Their reputation is ironically enough mirroring the Patriots in the NFL, though I haven't necessarily seen the Pats do as much cheap crap as the Spurs have done in this series (besides, that's football and is meant to be violent). If Stoudamire and Diaw get suspended then the Suns will have gotten totally screwed in this series, since they'll obviously lose game 5 without them, and then likely be toast in 6. What's maddening is that the Suns haven't done anything dirty in the series, yet their guys might get suspended for barely reacting at all while the Spurs will end up with maybe a 1 game suspension for Horry, which is a slap on the wrist. Lushus, the key difference between those Knicks teams and the Spurs now is that the Knicks were never really rewarded for their gooning in the end. What made them a guilty pleasure of sorts is that in the end you knew they were going to get beat anyway, so they made for a fun antagonist.

Yeah but will they air that Edge bit on Smackdown to justify his jobbing? And why pray tell would he agree to a 2nd match and look like a dope after he did this same thing to Kennedy last week?

In regards to Braddock/Polaski/Roadkill....why on earth did they change a really fun and marketable gimmick like Amish Roadkill to a disgusting, shirtless, fat fuck gimmick like what he's doing now? Having watched OVW I can vouch for seeing those hideous man boobs, and can't help but think how this was never a problem when he worse the Amish outfit as Roadkill. Just wondering, but how would Lance Cade be on his 3rd world title if it was 1987? At best he'd be a poor man's Barry Windham, and Windham himself never got 1 world title in the 80s (not sure if his NWA title in 1993 counts or not).

Anyone want to predict what Shrek the Third will do next week? I'm thinking it might have a really good opening but then POTC 3 will come out and destroy it on the 25th. From the sound of it Shred the Third is getting lukewarm reviews and (more troubling) lukewarm audience reactions to screenings and trailers.

You know, I too noticed that aspect of the Texas Deathmatch. As in both of them kicking out. It's different but it seemed quite foolish to me. Why kick out and let your opponent keep pounding away? Take the 3 count and then you have a 9 count to rest a bit.

Well, truth be told right now I'm not sure what all SD could contribute to a multi brand PPV. Aside from World and US title matches they don't have a particularly hot angle. I suppose they could add D & D vs. L & K to the PPV. Once guys like Rey, Booker, and UT get back SD would have more star power to add to PPVs. I read that Kennedy will likely end up on Raw when he gets back from injury and will settle in as that #3 type face behind Cena and HBK. Man, he went from a surefire title shot at WM to an almost certain World title run on SD with UT hurt to now being in that dead zone on Raw where he can't ever get beyond a certain point. Well, Kennedy...you wanted on Raw all this time, now you get your wish.

That was just pure idiocy tonight. It doesn't surprise me, since when I heard Edge was showing up on Raw one last time I knew they would find some way to bury him in his last Raw appearance. They have a disturbing way of doing that with anyone leaving Raw for SD, jobbing them hard on that last Raw. What's even worse, he jobbed flat out 100% clean to Michaels, who was working a concussion angle during the match! How much more of a jobber can Edge be made to look like? Take a look at this PPV lineup for Sunday. You have Cena/Khali, Orton/HBK, Flair/Carlito, and the whole Vince and Co. vs. Lashley thing that are Raw (I know the last is technically ECW but it's on Raw more). Meanwhile SD, the best actual show right now, has like 2 matches on the PPV (Edge/Batista and Benoit/MVP)....and this is really supposed to be SD's PPV. Let's call this use of all 3 brands on PPVs for what it really is, namely an excuse to push Raw. I thought initially they might keep the PPV setup roughly the same, but add maybe 1 match from the other shows to call it an all brand PPV. For instance Judgment Day would remain mostly SD, but maybe toss on Punk/Burke from ECW and HBK/Orton from Raw to make it all brand. Instead they're seemingly set on making every PPV roughly 60% Raw, 30% SD, and 10% ECW. This is going to just burn out the drawing power of the already overexposed guys on Raw.

I can only imagine the doctor telling Capone he has syphillis in this and Cage can say "Oh no, not the clap!" Or he can scream at the Untouchables: "I don't believe in your law! You bitches!" Yes, that Wicker Man thread is still bearing on my mind.

I think having a dominant guy is a good thing for a smaller promotion that is trying to attract new viewers, or even a larger company trying to expand (WWF in the mid 80s). Why did people watch the WWF initially in the 80s? Because Hulk Hogan was THE MAN and was this highly credible world champion. Sure, people got into other wrestlers too but Hogan was that guy who brought fans in because he was dominant. On a smaller level I think ECW had perhaps its largest audience when they had very dominant champions like Taz and RVD with belts. When you are trying to attract fans it's easier to get them into a show that has dominant guys on top and easy characters and concepts to grasp. Does ANY of this apply to TNA? They have about 10 main event level guys but nobody is especially dominant and their characters and concepts often take an hour to explain to the uninitiated.

HTQ, I've said it for months. TNA desperately needs to put the belt on someone and say "The hell with it, this is our MAN." Ever since its inception TNA has had a series of weak champions, either Jarrett doing his Memphis heel schtick with countless run ins, ref bumps, and guitar shots....or the various transition guys that don't get a chance to do much. Christian is essentially in the JJ role now. TNA needs a strongly booked face champion in the worst way. The only guy that makes any sense is Joe. Put the belt on him, and then job guys out cleanly and decisively to him.

I wouldn't call the whole Herd/Flair deal a burial of Flair considering he was never really made to look all that bad on TV and in fact never even jobbed the title on his way out. The whole idea of burials in wrestling is more complex than it sounds. Yes, the notion that the booker has to hate a certain wrestler and then jobs him out is the textbook case of burying someone. But how about someone who is basically just languishing on the show and could be doing more? Someone like Johnny Nitro for instance, who as far as we know isn't in bad with the bookers but went from IC champ and involved in a major program (Federline/Cena) to barely making TV and being a jobber. I'd call what is happening to him a burial of sorts, but it goes more along the lines of "We don't have anything for you" rather than "Fuck you, I'm jobbing you out." It's the Innocent Burial. Some guys like RVD...it's so bizarre that it goes beyond a typical burial. We know Johnny Ace hates him now, yet until recently they wanted to sign RVD. So he'd get a fair amount of TV wins, even a WM win, and actually won the blowoff with the New Breed. Yet they won't truly push him or put the ECW title back on him, and whenever facing someone of importance he's inevitably jobbing. Van Dam playing cat and mouse with WWE management has actually kept him from getting totally buried, but they have a few weeks left to do it.

The deranged aspect of this is that WWE views SD as the weak sister brand, so they send guys over there to make it better. They bring guys up from development and sign new people and debut them on SD. While doing this they have forgotten that Raw is supposed to be the "A" show and they have a lousy roster full of the top tier guys, some buried and jobbed out midcard talent, the women, and a bunch of stale and untalented guys who are jobbers. Any quality wrestling show needs to have 3-4 main things going on: A world title feud, a secondary belt feud, and a tag title feud. Add to it the personal vendetta type feud when applicable.

Basically the Coach is that chump figurehead that they sacrifice to people when Vince doesn't want to show his ass. The odd thing is that they had Coach and Lashley side by side recently and it was wild to notice that Coach is just as tall if not slightly taller. Coach is a pretty big dude for such a role. Anyway, I'm glad Edge is making one more Raw appearance. What he does on it might be another matter.

What makes you think that Jarrett won't be main eventing Slammiversary? The show is in Nashville, which I'm sure JJ views as his town, so I'd assume he'll at least be IN the KOTM match. I'd be shocked if we don't get a KOTM qualifier rematch with JJ/Roode with Young costing Roode the match. Jarrett would be completely going against his new character though if he desperately tried to win that KOTM though. He'd almost have to be like Sting last year and put Christian or whomever in the Figure 4 while someone else heaves the belt. Incidentally what is with that particular angle, the guy who is selfless and doesn't want to win the title? If you're not in it to win, go home.

Terry Crews is awesome in White Chicks. He made that movie. "How dare you be....black???"

The main point is to illustrate that Smackdown and even ECW to some degree either have better rosters or are utilizing people better than Raw. For all the talk of Raw being the "A" show, there are a disturbing amount of guys there that have zero direction, have been depushed big time, or really aren't in any sort of compelling storyline. Al, what you mention is in fact what I considered. Most of those Raw guys have no real point being on TV, no storyline, and some of the ones that do (Carlito/Flair) is seemingly designed to make someone look bad. Carlito was a guy who was at least IC champ and at times borderline main event, and now he jobs in nearly every match (with the backstage reasons to go with it, namely his pre WM interview). Raw is a show that's in quite a bit of trouble at the moment. Take a look at that current roster and how unover the vast majority of it is, whether due to guys being actively buried or guys who really aren't any good to begin with, or maybe just stale as hell. I'll admit to being a bit liberal with the usage of buried. To be buried a wrestler has to at least be successful to begin with. Here's the Wikipedia definition of buried in wrestling terms: " In professional wrestling, to bury refers to the worked lowering (relegation) of a popular wrestler's status in the eyes of the fans. The wrestler is set up by the booker to lose popularity, usually by having the wrestler lose one match after another, until he/she is seen by the fans as someone who belonged to the undercard. A wrestler must have attained a significant level of success before having a sudden losing streak to be considered 'buried.'" Personally I'd say that guys like Carlito, Shelton, Nitro...those guys have to some degree been buried. As in they had a certain amount of success but got jobbed repeatedly until they are lucky to make TV. Of course, it's hard to differentiate between being buried and depushed, but that's arguing semantics. I think depushed is more like a guy who sucked but was pushed hard, but at some point the booker realizes he sucks and stops pushing him (Chris Masters).