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The WWE won't change their mindset away from something that's currently making them money. The "divas" make money, and the diva searches were (inexplicably) some of the highest rated segments on RAW though it seemed everyone in the arenas and on the 'net hated them. They just released the only one of those newcomers that showed any desire to become a wrestler (although Christy was a bit of a retard if she thought she was going to get a raise), and it took someone like Alexis Laree more than 2 years to get called up while Christy wrestled on a WM in what her 2nd televised match? I'm just saying that T & A has worked for them since they abandoned the women's division and I don't see them going away from that to something that was a proven failure. I personally preferred to see Molly vs Victoria for example, but the majority of fans seem to enjoy lingerie pillow fights a lot more, or even worse no women on the show period. The only way to keep selling diva magazines and DVDs is to have new blood in them, and that's why you see so much turnover these days. Would it surprise anyone if Victoria, Trish & Lita were released in the next 6 months just in time to bring in the next crop of divas?

My point is that until the men are required to be properly trained and developed, it's silly to think the women will have to meet any requirement other than having the WWE "look". Given that the top wrestling prospects OVW had (Basham, Damaja, Conway, Dinsmore just to name a few) never amounted to anything in the WWE, while they do end up pushing guys with minimal in ring skills like The Boogeyman, Carlito, Masters & Lashley I don't see them suddenly going towards more wrestling. By all indications Stephanie seems to like that direction and would likely be the one to replace Vince, so I'd just see her continuing the same way. Unless the whole McMahon family dies or steps down, what makes you think the product will do a complete 180 besides optimism?

I don't disagree with you on the premise, but when the men making it to WWE programming these days don't have to know how to wrestle, I don't think the women will ever have to again. He basically got rid of every capable women wrestler he had on the payroll, and since Vince doesn't like to admit his mistakes I can't see him ever deciding that the product would be better if only women had the chance to wrestle instead of being all about tits and ass, especially when he pays so much money to have these girls be the prototypical tits and ass type.

And Beth Phoenix was a great amateur wrestler who will be another in the long line of T & A style divas if she ever gets called up to the WWE. If Amy was 6'2 or 6'3 and had her credentials it might work, but to say she's the same size as Benoit and Eddie and expect to do what she wants against the men when it took Benoit and Eddie themselves over a decade to be booked on par against the best, it just seems out of touch with reality. If she's wants to be known as a great female wrestler who can compete with men on equal footing she'll sadly have to be content with not working for the WWE, or she can "sell out" and work for the WWE. This is one of those "you can't have it both ways" situations because as has been said many times already, the WWE doesn't want female wrestlers, or the diva search would have proper training as a requirement, and not an afterthought.

It can't get better until the people in charge are threatened. I think everyone here has said that they've just grown lazy and complacent which is reflected in downward spiraling ratings, buyrates and revenues. If THAT isn't enough to be the swift kick in the ass they need to change things up nothing self contained within the WWE will.

This is a point I use often but it really illustrates how the mighty have fallen. In May/June 2001, they had a fairly nondescript house show at MSG that I was planning to attend with my girlfriend and her sister who was graduating from JHS. I got up (relatively) early on a Saturday morning because the tickets went on sale at 10 AM sharp. . . by the time I logged onto Ticketmaster at 10:30 AM that day, they were already sold out. MSG has 19,763 seats just for further reference. The last time the WWE came through, the tickets were on sale for at least a month, I logged on and could have gotten second tier seats the day of the show. When you can't come close to selling out a venue once in 2005 that you could easily sell out 6 times in 2001, it's safe to say A LOT of people just don't care anymore, not just the "bitter, jaded smark". When that venue is your "home arena" and you can't run it anymore because you'd fail to make a profit, I don't think it's out of line to say that something needs to change drastically and quickly. In layman's turns, the "fad" was over. Before the boom, you couldn't get second tier seats the day of a show at MSG though, that's my point. They went from selling out every show for years at a time to not even being able to run it anymore. That had nothing to do with a fad because I've been to MSG in the '80s, '90s and '00s and I never went to a show that didn't have at least 3/4 capacity. Now they can't even afford the licensing fee.

People who don't like the WWE anymore "cuz its not the in thing" anymore were the casual fans who left in droves years ago. The only people they have now are their core audience of fans who watch every week, buy every PPV and essentially sell the same amount of tickets at the same arenas most of the time. Even the worst show will get a 3+ rating, the worst PPV gets at least 200,000 buys and the casuals come back for the Royal Rumble - WM stretch and then leave shortly after every year. Part of the problem is the internet fan is a bit more sophisticated than Vince gives wrestling fans credit for being, so when he does stuff that even the writers of South Park would say is immature he doesn't get why the fans don't eat it up. When you continue to write shows with that mindset all you do is push away the people who are still there. They don't have anyone talented enough to spark a boom, and even if they did, the guy would get neutered into being Rocky Jr. or 'Luke Warm' Steve Austin. They don't care anymore, and it comes across in their product. If and when someone threatens them they'll try, but until TNA lands someone the likes of The Rock in their prime, that's not happening any time soon. This is a point I use often but it really illustrates how the mighty have fallen. In May/June 2001, they had a fairly nondescript house show at MSG that I was planning to attend with my girlfriend and her sister who was graduating from JHS. I got up (relatively) early on a Saturday morning because the tickets went on sale at 10 AM sharp. . . by the time I logged onto Ticketmaster at 10:30 AM that day, they were already sold out. MSG has 19,763 seats just for further reference. The last time the WWE came through, the tickets were on sale for at least a month, I logged on and could have gotten second tier seats the day of the show. When you can't come close to selling out a venue once in 2005 that you could easily sell out 6 times in 2001, it's safe to say A LOT of people just don't care anymore, not just the "bitter, jaded smark". When that venue is your "home arena" and you can't run it anymore because you'd fail to make a profit, I don't think it's out of line to say that something needs to change drastically and quickly.

They've shown him plenty of times looking like a kid at the adult's table during the holidays. King and Coach absolutely DWARF him size wise.

Poor Shelton.

Considering he loses to Snitsky the following week, I'm guessing he jobs in a big way.

Vince mentioned that the whole family had gone through extensive counseling recently. I want to say it was at Homecoming, but I can't remember exactly. It was basically a throwaway line, but they did at least address the situation.

The only things I could think of that fit that description on the poster would be Jarrett retiring after the ME, a new TV deal being announced (extension of the show length or contract), or that they'll be touring the country. Unless Jericho suddenly changed his mind about wrestling or they made some deal to have Lesnar appear on a show that doesn't take place in the US. I'm intrigued, I just hope it's not a fake "blockbuster".

If anything, Shelton should have accepted HBK's hand, paused for a second, and then hit Michaels with a super kick. There's your attitude, heel turn and a feud that Michaels will win anyway, but at least Shelton doesn't look like a pussy from start to finish,

Not as small as HHH looked this week. Who is that in your avatar shes hot.... I didn't see enough of HHH this week to notice. The girl in the avatar is Valentina. You can see a link to her website (which might have some questionable content) from there. http://glorywrestling.com/gg/Valentina/V.asp

I haven't read the thread yet so forgive me if this has been mentioned, but does HBK look slightly to significantly less muscular today than he did say a week or two ago?

What's the reason behind taping this on Sunday? That PPV looks awful by the way, and if they end up going with Booker sweeping Benoit then I think we can probably say SD's pretty much on its deathbed since Benoit's on the way out too.

I don't know why I always thought Abyss was a mute, it was weird seeing him scream at Sabu throughout that segment. Kenny King/Layne from TE2 bumped like a pro there so I don't mind him actually hitting a couple of moves before having his dreams crushed by Abyss. Hopefully he goes over Sabu next Sunday and moves into contention for the title as I'd rather see him with the belt than anyone but Christian at this point. Lastly, these Rhino vignettes are the best thing I've ever seen him in.

I thought they would put the WWE Title on either Angle or Edge by now, allowing Cena to be his old self again and then win the Rumble. That would have made sense, but given the way storylines are going right now a heel almost has to win, and it won't be Edge so I'm at a point of not caring. In a fantasy world a returning RVD, Benoit or Angle would all be fine in my book.

My guess is not dead. The fact that Kurt honestly believes he's perfectly healthy is reason enough to bench him for a while.

I'm sure we'll find out in a roundabout way that it's Jericho if no one gets buried on Monday or Tuesday. If it isn't Jericho, it should be obvious when someone in a relatively high position ends up inexplicably jobbing to someone like Snitsky or Heidenreich on one of the televised shows.

Just wondering wouldn't Vince own the Mortis gimmick by way of buying WCW?

The last time Siaki was remotely interesting to me was when Goldylocks eventually gained his contract when she was doing that gimmick with Abyss and the god awful 'Baby Bear' Alex Shelley, so it's been quite a while. Aside from loyalty, I don't see why he's still there.

This isn't CSI, the dude's just gonna jerk off in them, or wear them, he's not trying to involve Grissom in authenticity proceedings

Supposedly he spat on the lowrider.

I think it had more to do with being the night after a "huge" PPV than anything else. If next week's episode is rated that highly or higher then it's a trend, if it dips back to 3.6, or 3.7, it was just another artificial bump.