Hawk 34

That's not really a spoiler. We expect this to happen. Every week, we assume the previews gave away too much only for the previews to be meaningless in the end. Solid episode tonight, obviously felt less dramatic given last week but it's getting the final weeks in place.

They could have written Kennedy off without having Edge get another pointless win. As good as a face Kennedy can be against a heel Edge, that wouldn't happen until a long time down the road. Kennedy could have easily gone the retirement route just to be a dick and assure that he doesn't get injured leading to WM. Edge doesn't need the MitB. He's already deserved a billion shots according to him and its never stopped him from getting shots. Now, if the idea is for Edge to jump over and become Batista's new foil, it might redeem itself but I can't trust WWE to do it.

Wouldn't call it the worst. Nothing in the realm of Vick or JR's ass. Just sheer boredom.

They better be doing the retirement speech here as well.

Santino is a walking cliche with these tattoos. Japanese symbols? check. ugly back tat? check. vauge wall tattoos? check. Dragon tatoo? check. Just needs the flames and nautical star.

Stat boy can probably answer this, but isn't this the 20th straight week we saw this tag match?

I wonder if they will ever play up that these two were lesbians in a past heel world?

I should have stayed on vaction.

Gee, think Coach gets hit here?

Somehow, I don't that is the case. I'm sure along the lines in the deep and screwed up history of pro wrestling, someone was given a title reign as punishment.

Haven't they all but said it was done? Has CW(WB/UPN) ever had a real hit show? I know 7th Heaven got good ratings for a period of time and Gilmore Girls as well. Buffy/Angel and Dawson's Creek had fanbases but I don't recall them being ratings hits. I wish they would keep VM but I don't think that's going to happen.

The upside to that is Kennedy wouldn't get that title reign now and can sit on the sidelines for the time being in a variety of roles. Instead of saying he's injured or do a write-out spot, let him say he's has "retired" while making it clear he'll be back and ready to cash in the title match at WM just in time. Play off the absurd history of people who retire and return within months. He can do random appearences as guest announcer, give motivational speeches to the young heels and such.

There are exceptions such as Danielson and Briscoes, whom have turned down offers from TNA and WWE. ROH isn't just following the actions of ECW but other promotions that tried to shoot high but fell fast. Gabe is a great creative mind that isn't burdened by running a company and Cary is a fantastic businessman who was quite aware that the current model had reached its peak. Instead of just going for a television deal, which is criminally stupid right now, they still manage to expose their product to potential new viewers while keeping their current fanbase intact and best of all, they keep their product as they want to be and don't become compromised by corporate structure and policy. They will continue to make profit and that's crucial for any business but especially in a industry where that doesn't come quite easily. They were smart to lock their top talents into contracts to avoid the mistakes ECW had in losing top stars. Yes, they lost big names. They lost Paul London and Spanky. Samoa Joe came in. Daniels and Styles left. Punk, Homicide and Aries stepped up. Punk left. Danielson and a host of new talent took up. The damages of Daniels and Styles' departures are minimal for the product. Homicide does hurt to an extent. Aries is a huge question due to the dissension between Aries and TNA right now. Joe was a bad situation that got ugly with TNA forcing him out. That happens in the course of a pro wrestling company. A wrestler gets stuck in legal troubles or injury. The mark of a good company is being able to recover and continue and ROH has always done quite well in losing talents but replacing them. None of these guys are intended to be national names. Which is why you sell quality wrestling as the focus of the promotion. ROH isn't looking to become a mainstream entity but looking to expand their fanbases by attracting those whom haven't heard of the name and wouldn't be willing to order the product over the internet. It's win-win here for ROH. They lose nothing over this and can only gain from it. The business model is well-crafted, well-worked and they have a product that is solidly in place.

Marvin, Darko doesn't require deep thought. It wasn't a deeply complex movie. Just need to pay attention. It's an alright movie that is hit or miss at points. I haven't seen anyone claim it as the greatest movie ever. I never watched Dynamite beyond the first 20 minutes because I could tell it was going nowhere. Other over-rated stuff to be included are any of the Kevin Smith movies. They are fine enough movies to pass the time (and I even slightly enjoyed Jersey Girl) but Smith isn't a genius. He's a fat comic geek, so it makes sense he has a large fanbase but he isn't a brilliant director.

All that matters is that NBC doesn't kill Friday Night Lights. It didn't work for tuesday and wednesday but I think it has a shot at the sunday slot after NFL ends. Just keep the show at least as a mid-season replacement for whichever CSI rip-off bombs first. I do wonder if NBC would try to slide Heroes to the signature thursday night slot.

It'd be really silly to have someone already on the shelf take someone else off the shelf and wait 6-8 months before any followup. In theory, it makes sense for Booker to do that. Maybe he "hire" Henry and stick around as a manager (which I think he can pull off if he makes changes to his persona) and they could do the probably Henry-Batista deal with Booker helping provide more heat for it. I'd actually rather see Henry-Batista then Kennedy-Batista. Just turn Batista and run with the Kane program. Kane is still tremendously over and he'd do more with Batista then Henry would and it wouldn't hurt future business as it would with Kennedy. I still think moving one of the Raw heels (Orton, Umaga, Edge) over wouldn't be out of the question.

I'm really impressed by the business model set in place by ROH. Learning well from the failures of past companies and maintaining their own style. Keeping their top stars and preventing a situation of losing them to the other companies was great.

I really wish they wouldn't rush into putting the title on Kennedy. Just panic booking at its worst. While it's not an ideal situation, just have Batista snap and lay 'Taker to waste winning the title back and have the monster feud with Kane and Batista. Batista-Kennedy has already been done and it wasn't that special in the first place. The notion of Kennedy playing it smart and waiting til WM24 was a better direction to take.

The only root beer I could ever really get into was Root Beer Stand (in house only) and that is strictly local but as far as national brands are concerned, if given a choice, I'll always take Barq's. Although, IBC was a favorite as a child. I don't think I've had that in awhile. I brought a pack of Ale 8 tonight but I'll grab some IBC after I finish it off.

Wow. This is basically the 2nd straight week I pretty much ignored AI. Glad to see those two guys left. Blake has a direct track to the finals now. It's between LaKisha and Jordin next week. What's the theme?

You can just record the PPV and watch it there. The more and more I look over the development of this deal, I'm really impressed by how skilled Cary is. They'll retain their core demographic as DVDs will still be the key driving point of the product but this expands their name and possibly draws new fans to purchase older material. 5/12 will the first show on PPV and that's an incredible crowd and venue with a stacked roster set up. I'm really glad they have gotten contracts signed to the key players. No worries about TNA and WWE yanking their talent away.

Mind blowing. It's not as if ROH will suddenly be a #2 promotion from this but from a business aspect, this is tremendous. Unlike Gabe's mentor, he won't lose it after getting a big deal.

Best thing he ever did.

Like I said with BW3 being the McDonald's, Hooters is the Waffle House. No one goes for the food. They go for the silence or company of a wise middle aged mother and a country jukebox and mean coffee. Which isn't much different from ditzy blonde in bikini shorts.

I'm all for a tournament, especially instead of a lame battle royal, but a one night 16 man tourney? You realize that's 15 matches, right? No thanks. I'd like to see a little more KOTR 93 and a little less SS 98. Eight is the perfect number for a one-night wrestling tournament. Traditionally, 16 man one nighters have a bye involved and a couple quick but hot brawls. You can have 7-8 regular timed matches with a couple brief matches in that scenario and you can save on time by leading into the next match instantly. It just takes a bit of precise timing. You can still have intrigue of a larger tournament and provide quality. It doesn't really matter because I don't think we'll see a tournament at all.