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It was just a stipulation - fans went in expecting Eddie to reveal the secret, but Rey could've easily won the match (which he did) to continue the storyline and frustrate Eddie more. Again, it's not a "bait and switch" when they don't promise anything.

Translation: He signed the contract a month ago and is getting ready to go down to OVW to work off the ring rust. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I don't think they send BROCK FUCKING LESNAR down to OVW. Not one bit. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, he won't be working the shows. If anything, he'll be working with Snow, Dreamer and others to get his timing down. On the other hand, Brock hated his time there (didn't like Cornette's way of booking, although he's now gone), so I'd expect him to come straight to Titan, working 'matches' before the event (pyro and videos still being tested, ring just put up).

Okay, your first post was taken out of context. After re-reading your first post. Okay, you're entitled to that opinion. Responding to your second post. Everything is scripted down to the tee with the promos. A character in an e-fed has more freedom than a WWE personality. The only thing that Mark came up with himself was the pacing of his promos, which was much different than the standard "talk-wait for audience applause or heat-talk again-wait for applause or heat-repeat". As for the ring work, it's been mentioned several times that the guy clearly wasn't ready to be called up. An excerpt from OVW's website said: Some wrestlers had to wait almost their entire career before signing a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. Mark Magnus barely had to wait at all. Magnus was signed to an Ohio Valley Wrestling contract in 2003, the same year as his debut. The argument was that while people will rush to the aid of boring characters like Haas and Akio, they won't give a damn one way or the other about Hassan.

How is hard is it to see that they're building to a blowoff with Taker and Orton? Even if the writers "forgot" about the first finish, the announcers won't be dumbed down enough to forget that. The initial Orton run-in happened only six weeks ago. If they don't allow Cole and Tazz to put two and two together to say "Taker is going to fuck up Orton", THEN you have reason to complain. Goddamn. Ha, you think Orton will get his job back? Never watched an ECW show before, have you?

He was arrested for the incident with Ross. Allegedly. They agreed to it. These are all ridiculous angles.

I'd only pass on this trade because of the offers that are coming up for Harrington in the meantime. Eddy Curry is still out there, and so is Chandler, Boozer and Gooden. The trade isn't lopsided, but the Hawks should reject that trade and see offers they can get up until late August. Especially with that lottery pick. Great point. I don't know how anyone can justify passing on Marvin Williams with the hype everyone was giving him. It's easier to sign a point who's already played a few years of NBA ball (the men you mentioned).

It's been hinted at, but it looks like a subtle attempt by the faces to show that they don't have the leverage to get up to the second rope. Benjamin tried to get up there, but he stopped short after he ran out of gas (someone else tried this a few weeks ago...Val?) That may just be me, though. EDIT: Now that I think about it, I swear that someone tried that spot and that Masters simply rolled with the move.

Every "good" Van Dam promo is cancelled out by the one he cut at No Mercy '02 against Flair. Good GOD. EDIT: And please, iggy, if you need to re-watch JBL/Eddie (both times), JBL/Angle or JBL/Cena, do such. All of those are better than anything I've seen out of Van Dam, save RVD/Eddie (which is only better than JBL/Cena, and still the best carry-job I've seen out of Eddie in years).

15. The national media won't give a shit about the WWE.

Not if you... 1. Have Taker do a few heelish things to Batista, not that Batista is a Hogan-esque face, but Taker needs something for the D.C. crowd to boo him. 2. Build up the D.C. crowd as Batista's hometown to the national audience. 3. Don't book Batista as an underdog going into this match. 4. Have Taker shake his hand after Batista wins, which re-affirms Taker as a face. Other little things, such as have Taker have a small entrance, then follow with Batista's entrance, won't exhaust the crowd like the hoopla the normal Taker entrance gets.

Seconded. For me, it's either Marvin Gaye or N.W.A.

It's a track by Saliva - no track title or CD release, though.

Free agent class for 2006, 2007 and 2008 This is courtesy of hoopsworld.com; feel free to make any corrections.

...copied from the DVDVR board... I can't wait. That eliminates about 50% of my paycheck, but I'm so picking them all up on their release dates.

Fuck that. I don't have to explain any of this to you, because you know it as well as I do, but you're reaching to bash a young wrestler who just broke into this business. Mark Magnus had no choice but to accept this gimmick. Should he risk being cut because he refuses to do a gimmick? By doing that, he's showing up all of the boys in OVW by being better than them: Damaja and Doug Basham didn't choose their gimmick. Neither did Matt Morgan. Kevin Fertig. Travis Tomko. Aaron Aguilera. Dave Batista. John Cena, Carly Colon.... the list goes on, but it's the same result: NONE OF THEM have turned down a chance to get into the WWE, no matter what the gimmick is. When the time comes, you obviously seize the moment or risk being passed over time after time like Nick Dinsmore, who came up with his own gimmick to even make the jump. EDIT:I'll add some more: Melina being called up without MNM. Lamont Brown. Nova. Heidenreich. Randy Orton. Garrison Cade. Mark Jindrak. Rico. Rob Conway. Victoria. Orlando Jordan.

Well, the planned casket match was before this all broke out, so... Scenario A: Taker wins decisively at GAB Batista v. Taker (World Title) JBL v. Benoit (U.S. Title) Nothing for Orton Scenario B: Taker draws with Hassan at GAB, "kills him", then moves on to Orton? Batista v. JBL (re-match?) Taker v. Orton (casket) Benoit v. Regal/Christian (U.S. Title) I prefer the latter.

He's showing WWE has a history of doing stupid shit like this Hassan angle. He's already the old Iraqi sympathizer angle. If he's going to use a valid point like the Mark Henry angle, then he needs to stop grouping actual appalling angles with stuff like the angles I mentioned earlier (Al Wilson dying, Fake Razor/Diesel). Those examples make him look like a disheartened wrestling fan from wrestlezone.com instead of a professional sports company like ESPN. The article is showing that WWE never seems to learn from the previous stupid shit they do that turns off the fans by continuing to do it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That was the point of mentioning the Hogan/Slaughter angle - he didn't need a "top five" to make a legitimate article. In fact, it's de-legitimized BECAUSE of the top five.

I believe it was Meltzer (or maybe just the WWE themselves) who stated that Hassan's original promo on 7/12 was going to address the angle the week before, explaining why he resorted to said attacks (more in a "going against things he believed in" sense), but the UPN ruling came down the next day and that was nixed.

That could turn out not to be the case. The PPV company is saying ECW drew more than 300K buys. And they'd know. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My theory is that WWE will not accept publicly that the ECW ppv did any better number than their own. I think it's pretty clear the show did better than Vengeance when now reports are coming in from the ppv companies of estimates more in the mid to high 300,000s. And typically that means less than the final number. Its more an ego thing than anything as I'm sure internally some of the upper echelon of management (most of the McMahons, Laurintatus, etc) were not happy with the way Heyman and Co. mocked the company as a whole on the show and will still do a yearly deal for the sake of profit, but anything more is against their pride or something to acknowledge that ppv drew better, if that makes any sense. Back to topic, sorry <{POST_SNAPBACK}> At this point, unless it is a hard number coming DIRECTLY from the PPV company, you can't trust the number. Most of the IWC are probably pulling for the buyrate to be better than the recent WWE pay-per-view(s) - I've heard numbers ranging from 225,000 (okay) to 375,000 buys (great). The only accurate number I've heard (meaning in Meltzer's daily update) was in the 275,000 range, so hearsay seems to be out of the question. EDIT: Corrected the number.

EDIT: Double post.

This is a terrible article, indictitive of everything Page 2 offers (except for Bill Simmons' articles). He puts too much of a focus onto the past angles, which isn't really needed since the casual American's perception of Vince is that he really is a olden-day carny - there's no need to re-affirm that. I assumed this article was about the writer being finally turned off by a WWE angle, which shows how far the Hassan angle did push the envelope, but instead turns into a McMahon-bashing article which is useless - referencing angles like Al Wilson and Fake Razor/Diesel doesn't help his argument, since there wasn't an public outcry over those angles when it happened anyway.

The Eagles can fine Owens $9,500 a day for missing training camp, and also recoup over a million in signing bonuses for last year and this year. Ha, good move Rosenhaus.

I read this article last night (linked to by SK's blog), so I'm trying to remember the points I brought up to my friend last night: Fake Diesel/Razor was appalling? The necrophilia angle, as well? The transvestite angle was the one that 'ESPN: Outside the Lines' covered, which is the one that has a lot of merit, and gets no disputing from me, but he's really reaching for other examples to fill out an empty article. This looks like an overhyped article from 411. Vince isn't in the wrestling business anymore? GETTHEFUCKOUTTAHERE! If the guy wasn't turned off by these angles, why would the Hassan angle turn him off? What is this half-assed criticism on Vince for the 9/11 show? If he's going to go all the way, he could spend five minutes on the internet and find the segment with Stephanie where she compared 9/11 to the steroid trials (although it was more about how the US and Vince would "fight through it", I wouldn't expect this guy to explain the context). When this did happen?

This isn't about job security, guys. He has that. He's needlessly bitching about money, which is essentially puinishing his team. He's already under contract, where he is now going to miss all of training camp and most of the season to hold out. If he's only holding out for a few million per year, why not renogtiate during the season? The team needs him BAD right now - yet, though he's an All-Pro receiver, he's bitching about not being paid like Harrison and Moss. Hmm, maybe you shouldn't have signed the contract in the first place, dumbass. Not only that, but bitch about not being a Eagle, then forcing a trade to them after bitching about being a Niner. Please, tell me what Owens is doing RIGHT in this situation.

Every single one of them has been in a position to draw, save Mysterio. Until I see a pay-per-view or well-hyped Smackdown headed by Hassan, this "Hassan will/won't draw" argument is silly. Since the brand extension, only Kane in summer of 2003 has done GREAT quarter-hours on a consistent basis. For everyone else, you have to figure out the demographics (Eddie, Rey and Carlito) or give them a ME spot.