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they were already building to the match, they could have had someone else win the Rumble. Taker only shows up a few ppvs a year to wrestle, usually the big money shows or when they really need him for a weak SD card. So it was kind of a waste to have him there since he can pretty much show up after being away for months and just get a title shot whenever he wants. Usually the only winners have been a top guy trying to regain their title like Austin, Rock, Brock or a guy moving to the next level like Benoit, Rey, Batista. The matchup itself has a lot of steam just on novelty. They couldve used the Rumble win on someone else, but they may have thought he needs to be booked stronger to have people thinking he may keep the streak going. But realistically the last 9 years Taker has been in nontitle matches cause he can draw himself with those horrible giant vs giant matches Vince likes. Heels almost never win the Rumble so I dunno who else they could have had win that isnt already over (maybe too over) that can otherwise get a title shot just by asking for it. Personally I prefer the Rumbles where a new star is made. Like Money in the Bank, it is more exciting if the winner is someone who would not normally get a title shot. But there arent any new babyfaces that they want to give the rub to. Perhaps the only other option was to have Cena enter as #1 after already wrestling that night, winning the Rumble and challenging himself. But there'd be concerns if he'd sell too much as champ. They want to split Edge and Orton already, yet they keep DX going long past any viable storyline? Their priorities are very screwed.

is that necro guy a nice guy in real life? he looks like he'd punch you in the mouth as hard as he could for real if he didnt like you

wow this issue came out pretty early thanks for posting - I dont watch raw ppvs so i dunno what vince's problem is about nyr, i thought that was the A show, no matter what. He tells what we're supposed to like and then gives it to us. - I think it was around wm 2000 that they had this huge percentage of guys that were going to be in their 1st wrestlemania (and in real matches not just thrown in a battle royal.) The company was very fresh with guys in their early to mid 20s, guys my age or a little bit older. Suddenly they turn into wcw jurassic park all over again with ALL the top matches with guys into their 40s or older. I've yet to see wm 19, which did a horrible buyrate, because of the push of vince vs hogan (which i wouldve cared about in 1999 not 2003) and then they have the audacity to put only them on the cover of the dvd, despite having 3 other main events. Pure crap. - And vince's answer to "who else can i make money with hogan" is his 40 year old son? Someone who i cant stand to see on tv since the incident involving a battery attached to his balls. Vince still thinks Reagan is president. UT/Dave is fine but theyll do it 3 more times on smackdown ppvs later on, so the streak vs title thing is a one time thing, but i see them wrestling many times after that. Cena and rko: Vince definitely thinks its the 80s if he keeps pushing the "cena overcoming insurmountable odds" formula. i mean they already had him face a d-list celeb and put a movie out for him, and still nobody (outside of wrestling) knows who he is. I would think shawn would pull out and say booker's not in his league; plus it sounds like a waste for the Trump deal, but i dont think anyone cares or will remember that anyway. Maybe they could second a womens match instead. Will Rosie get her win back? If Booker was the champ they could have shawn win the rumble and challenge him and it wouldnt jeopardize the UT match. but somehow theyll have us believe he'll start a feud with booker for a strange reason, and since hes already squashed edge and orton then they deserve a title shot? Heels almost never win the rumble so they may have one or 2 win this year. Its funny about the story meltz was wrong about, (in rey not going to wm), cause i didnt think they could book rey any weaker going into wm and after, but the original plan was to actually gonna bury him worse then they did? thats great. Tna cant offer more money than wwe and they still have people wanting to leave and they think that's not a problem? Remember when it was the other way around 8 years ago when wwf offered much less than wcw because they couldnt compete back then, but you always had the opportunity to make more cause you were given a chance to be used better? You wouldnt think the product would suck so much thay theyre offering money for people to stay, even if theyre miserable or getting buried, just so tna cant have them. There were all these stories about them (TNA) not having money to pay trans for the lower card guys and they were having to take up collections just to have one guy get a plane ticket to the show. thank god nash is still one of their highest paid guys. I think heyman said (before they destroyed him) that they arent on par with wwe, even when wwe sucks, because its still the place to go to make a careeer out of it, as tna is still essentially a part-time company. - Lashley selling too much for a champ? There's no way I can imagine Vince putting the other titles on Lashley so I dont believe he puts the Ecw title on par with them. Didnt Lashley win the title at the ppv without ever even wrestling on ecw tv? That would never happen on Raw or Smackdown. Pathetic. - Punk has said he hated Russo's booking when he was there so he'd probably choose the offer that paid more if he was going to be misused in either company. I never heard of the tna offer, i figured he jus signed with wwe cause he was tired of the indy scene. but 2005 was a pretty horrible year for talent and 2006 may have been worse. i enjoyed his stuff in ovw but that was when heyman was booking. i dont know the history of agents in wrestling but i always assumed it was this position created because they dont get health benefits so old wrestlers have gotten by on what they made from the 70s. i have respect for them all, but it sounds like all they do is bash guys that will or already have bad reps, but you never hear anything about the guys that cant work and were just hired for their bodies. So it sounds like theyre jus 'yes men' who are protecting their jobs instead of honestly critiquing the product. (And under their criteria i dont think anyone that looks like them or wrestles like them are even getting hired anymore by wwe.) There was a funny Foley promo on the last Steamboat appearance in ROH, that he was going to be an agent, and help Heidenreich, Snitsky and Luther Reigns become great workers for the future. LOL - The line about no one in ecw not knowing how to work is great. They're just following the example of the 3 champions.

Well Benoit is so far away from his previous spot, a new fan would not think he could ever beat HHH or headline a WM. But it's not his job to keep guys up top after he's lost to them. He also had that feud with Benjamin that saw him elevated and they totally dropped him without any explanation, who was actually getting huge pops back then if you can believe it. For whatever reason Hunter put Benoit over (even though 4 months later Vince didnt care about him.) He actually buried him subconsciously by having Orton replace Benoit as babyface champ, and it was done so horribly that he had to END Orton's reign "for the good of the company." Even before that, they were overshadowing Benoit with the Eugene storyline, who was atcually getting huge pops back then if you can believe it. So by the end of 2004 he, in a roundabout way, got his win back from Benoit by beating the man who beat him, Orton, so the top babyface was Eugene by default, who he beat TWICE for some stupid reason I forget, and suddenly all the top babyfaces are lower than Hunter, all guys who he supposedly helped put over. The Batista one has some debate either way. Some dismiss it and say he put him over clean and made him a star which is true. But as explained above, there was no one left. He did it 3 times in a row, and never got a win back (although he took some time off after, so nobody remembered his losses.) Others argue "he already destroyed Orton who had more upside as a talker, worker and youth." So he buried that guy and put over someone else who is a poorer worker, poorer talker, injury-prone, and is nearly 40, so may retire before Hunter does. In terms of WM, he went on a winning streak after the loss to Warrior at wm XII, lost to Taker who was already a top guy with seniority at wm 18, destroyed Booker clean, who was the babyface at wm 19, and then lost to Benoit who was eventually drafted to SD so he could headline Velocity with Christian. So for his 3 match losing streak at WM, the 1st 2 guys are on a different show and are still considered lower than him, no fault of his I'm sure. As for Cena, well it was 50/50 who was gonna win till the last minute, and if it wasn't for his injury, he WOULD'VE GOT HIS WIN BACK THIS YEAR! So "passing the torch" implies "getting it back, at an undetermined point in the future?" lol

wow this was like watching a wrestling show made by mtv

it's ok they had the first match 20 minutes into the show (cause the action was so nonstop they didnt have time for more) and then the main event, which only went a few minutes. Dont remember what it was. and the night change was when they reveal the big Abyss secret. Actually that may help viewership and buyrates. The script thing was awesome. I kinda thought that, but it could also be the format sheets and they were just looking at the monitors. Why do they even need to be there anyway, they could call the match in postproduction. If you have high expectations for tna I wouldnt watch it. The only think I liked was it was an offnight for the wrestlers, meaning the top guys didnt have to work 3 matches in one night like they sometimes do for a taping.

Correct me if I'm wrong: The Rock/Hurricane deal was done because it was announced that the previous week Rock and Booker T would have a match. But during this stint that Rock was there (briefly before the Alliance was killed) he was convinced any attempt to put anyone over, HHH would immediately squash them when Rock left. They did the halfassed Hurricane match and afterwards it seemed like he got pedigreed every week for a month. I remember him running out for no reason other than to get pedigreed outside the ring. Rock never faced Booker again and Hunter still managed to beat him at WM XIX. Dont mean to sound like a conspiracy freak, but if you look at anything Rock did in his last few years, Hunter was always there to help the guy pay dues. All of his altercations with Jericho helped put him at a higher level, and somehow he'd always lose to Hunter. But HHH hates Jericho and thinks he cant work so that was just an isolated incident right? Rock's other torch pass was to Brock, and Heyman (thankfully) got him moved permanently to Smackdown the VERY next day. And he STILL got punked out by Taker and Hunter on the way out. Rock's only other matches after that was the tag with Foley, where Mick got pinned by Orton, and the singles matches with Hogan and Austin, who were done actively wrestling anyway. The only other match left was Goldberg, of course, and we all know how well that turned out.

thank god they had a match for Helms. Almost forgot he existed unless they remember to squash him every now and then. Cant believe they didnt use Holly. What a waste of an opportunity to beat him within an inch of his life, a nice tradition for all hometown boys. I remember there was a Rumble Undertaker was in and Giant Gonzalez came in and beat him up and Taker just left without being eliminated, so he's still technically in that Rumble. But it might've been a year before they started the whole Wrestlemania stipulation. I'm fairly certain it was the year of WM IX where they started the rule when Yokozuna won, but can't be sure. Koslov looks like he sucks so I'm sure he'll get a nice push.

With the running powerslam the most devastating finisher in history. I cant wait to see the Rumble now. Whats with all the hatred on Test? Wasnt he trained by Bret Hart?

Great shot of that YES TEST IS UGLY IN PERSON sign

Man all these cuts, I hope it's worth it to run another divasearch and to cover Vince's yearly bonus. and his separate pay as a performer. Can't live without that. You know life on the road is tough. All that maintenance for the private jet and all. The one that annoys me is Doug Basham. His whole ordeal about quitting wrestling to work fulltime at Ford because it would be more money plus benefits that wrestlers dont have (you know like health insurance, cause wrestlers get hurt) so he would turn down developmental deals. He finally takes a deal for some strange reason and they take all of 30 seconds to come up with something for him ( I think someone saw him in the hall and said he looked like Damaja so they made them a brother tagteam, hooray) and gave them nothing to do year after year. He was a great worker too and not that small. Same with Damaja/Danny Basham. Maybe they jus put a big dart board and picked names like that. Most of the people are developmental guys and others, besides Al Snow, are guys they picked up after 2001 when they were the only company left. So maybe there's a loyalty thing there with guys who they would not normally hire, and guys like Skyfire who are too small theyd just sit around backstage at Smackdown like all the other cruiserweights, if there are any left. But there are guys who have been there for years and never amount to anything and they always stick around. You always hear about guys getting dropped as a cutting-costs measure, so maybe there are guys that are always taking the paycuts and keeping their mouths shut like Holly so they have no problems in the company. I dont know what the reason could be, as 2006 was a pretty bad year, but ratings pretty much stayed up, like they do year after crappy year, and they even raised the price of ppvs recently, so you can pay 40 bucks each for 30 ppvs a year for average, underdeveloped matches. And this whole split thing makes it look like they barely have enough guys, except for Raw which seems overloaded with guys they dont use; it's possible they just decided there were no more spots left for any of the shows. Or maybe Vince liked that segment with Rob Conway toooo much.

I dont get what's the point of waiting for Raw to be replaced one week with a dogshow. I think alot of fans who are sick of the same Raw will tune into to anything new for just a taste; if they went head to head for even just a halfhour, or maybe try from 8-9pm they'd be surprised by how many people would tune in, because it's a traditional wrestling night for over 10 years and there's less competition on tv than on Thursdays. If the show was like the last 2 hour special I dont think any progress would be made. But just being on Monday and having people aware of it is a huge chance to steal viewers, while their regular timeslot is made up of regular viewers and people who jus happen to remember that it's on. Waiting for the dogshow seems kinda cheap. If they try it on a weak show night, after the Rumble and before Wrestlemania, I think it would make them look more big-league

the Albright story is one of the strangest shit things I've ever heard. He was given this shooter gimmick in ovw when Paul Heyman was booking. Then they brought him to Smackdown to do a Benoit protege gimmick. THen he got badmouthed by Malenko and Arn that he was wrestling too much like Benoit.THAT doesnt make any sense at all so they sent him back. and nothing ever mentioned what Benoit had to say. So they release him because of not connecting with the audience. Like anyone does who just shows up on the show and wrestles without Nathan Jones-like video packages is supposed to get a standing ovation for a 3 minute match where you're only allowed to wrestle like everyone else. Storyline miscommunication aside, he got fired because he still wrestled TOO MUCH LIKE Benoit. His offense was too smooth and goodlooking!! Fire him, quick. Im thinking that Arn didnt like CW using the Anderson gimmick including copying his male pattern baldness. So that would explain why he got canned. I hadnt heard anything about Tatanka or Knox being cut, that'd be less stuff to fastforward. On ECW: what are they going to do, start pinning themselves for a whole hour? The worst indy promotions must have a bigger budget than they do now.

I dont anyone's that lucky. I think in 1997 he realized he was an old man that didnt know what the fans want, and he'd listen to anyone/anything. I also think he underestimated good wrestling/wrestlers in the main event. He honestly believes if someone else shaved their head they wouldve been as popular as Austin, even if he was a poor worker. That's obvious his treatment of Austin his last active years, wanting him to put over Coachman of all people. The only time he was honest as a promoter was when he was doing an interview and said, " I honestly dont understand the character or popularity of Stone Cold." That was back in '96 so it wasnt as angle and he wasnt considered the go-to guy yet. So he was much more openminded when it came to talent back then. Now he pushes who he wants and doesnt seem to listen to anybody, or at least nobody ever questions him. So all the success he had made him think he ISNT an old man who has a loony view of wrestling. The problem is before the boom they were losing money, and turned everything around in a year. Now, they never lose any money, even though the product sucks, so no one ever tells mcmahon is crazy. A huge bulk of fan support would have to cease before they look at creative and stop the crap.

what happened to Scorpio?

Dont they always fire a "big man" when there's a mass firing so it doesnt look like theyre holding onto all the 'big men'? I wonder if Boogeyman is in any danger again. I remember I thought it was stupid when they fired Matt Morgan. When they fired Terkay the first time I thought it was a shame. If it's someone young they could find work elsewhere if they really want it, and if they were old they use that as an excuse to get rid of them, particularly if they dont take to the work as well as others. I dont think they care about workrate anymore, and if you're still new to the business and really want to learn, the last place you should go is wwe. Unless they push you to the moon, which wont happen unless you're 6'10, go someplace or you'll never get more than 5 minutes of ringtime, a few times a week. And you hear more about rehires now then before because theyve already wasted alot of the good talent in the country. The really good workers that dont hate wwe and are under 40, are guys in tna, or guys that have already been there. The next big thing wont be coming for a long time. At least guys that wont suck. They probably rehire guys for cheaper deals after theyve been fired and realize nowhere else in the business will they get paid as much. That's really pennypinching compared to the money they use up on talent that never amount to anything. Mark Henry headlined maybe 2 shows in his entire career and they were in 2006, only 10 years after they originally signed him. Money well-spent. I remember hearing about the ecw deals were so disgustingly cheap they had alot of money leftover to sign more talent. Then I saw that they were being used for 3 minute squashes or not used at all, and they probably realized that alot of guys had contracts that could be considered overpaid, since they were jobbers. The problem is since most were ecw guys, they made no money anyway, so it's like if i had a PC memory problem and i got rid of files that took up so small space I wouldnt even notice, while other unnecessary files leech off the system. I dont think it was a budgetary thing and there hasnt been anything about the Wellness Program, if that's even still around. The guys that have already been released previously, they really need to stop taking their calls. I just dont want to hear about them signing more no-talents, or that they're making more movies. Maybe Terkay didnt have the abs that make Vince drool. They could have given him the same gimmick Khali got and I wouldnt be as repulsed or uninterested as I am now. they should change the name of the company from wwe to Male Diva Search. Any attempt to screw with ONS if they still have it, will be misinterptered like everything else that is seen by people who are out of touch with the world. Anything Mcmahon-influenced in ecw that people think sucks makes that Vince think that ecw can't draw and that the only thing people care about now are wwe creations. Like there is actually a real choice. Instead of ONS they're better off having another Cyber/Taboo show where the fans can finally vote on what color tights Batista wears or how many clothelines Cena can throw.

Lashley didnt even use his crappy finisher he used a running powerslam. You know the one where the guy doesnt actually run he jus takes 2steps. and he was so winded he took so long in setting it up it made Rob look weak by not kicking out of that with all that time he had. I wouldve had Test win the chamber it'd make it more watchable having Rob and Lashley chase him instead of pretending Lashley is a big deal when he's not. He lost a feud to Tatanka last I remember.

I cant wait for the HBK/Kevin Thorn confrontation. HBK waves a cross at him and he runs away or HBK with the Holy Water.. I still maintain somebody needs to throw sunflower seeds on the mat to distract Thorn. "What'd you have to go and do that, for? You're in big trouble." My picks for last 3 guys in the Rumble were MVP, Sandman, and Striker. I guess I have to add Thorn in there too now.

This will be the highest ratings for ecw ever just cause I dont hear Armstrong talking anymore. Itused to bother me Punk never worked the arm to set up for his finisher but his matches were all 5 minutes long so there would be a point. The wwe style is becoming synonymous with the old wcw powerplant. That match was really long considering they had a commercial break. But the crowd wouldve been into it if Stiker had ever actually won a match. And he needed help to win. Thank god all that arm work made him susceptible to that backslide. I was actually more into it than the crowd cause there was the possiblility to have Striker go over cause he's a wwe veteran compared to Punk. Brown isnt that tall or great a worker and not that muscular so his mic work is the only thing theyd be interested in. And hes the first guy that was signed that was more known from TNA so it does feel odd with that stupid name change, i think the last time that was Steven Regal to William Regal. And the new name is like a more eloquent way of sayin it cause theyre so eloquent compared to tna, and with a drunken slur it kinda sounds like Monty Brown, like Monday Nitro with a drunken slur kinda sounds like Monday Night Raw.

Hey Stephanie there's a saying, I forgot how it goes, something like "the show must go on." Somebody shouldve slapped her in the face. Preferably big dick johnson. Punk was really the only new babyface introduced and I cant really think of any new stars on the other shows either in the past year. His career isnt over but it's a good example of the role of politics and how it's onesided without competition. Punk also represents the cutting-off point for talent, as we're all used to them pushing guys that suck, but from what I understand theyre not even going to factor wrestling talent in their hiring practices anymore. Vince is going to try and run the entire company like the divasearch which he thinks is a huge success. So regardless if you're a fan of his or think he's a star or someone with potential, you should really look elsewhere for good wrestling or good wrestlers, cause soon you wont even have the luxury of complaining about someone getting misused: All the talent available will be cookiecutter bodybuilders.

they should keep Russo away from the ppvs. I dont think people are happy to pay 30 bucks to see someone pull the tights or hold the ropes. You can see that on Raw all the time. And if you have 8 matches, having 7 of them be a gimmick match isnt adding any more buys per match. So why use them all up? It seems like the division between Russo lovers and haters is one side wants to see all the action they can and the other side is concerned about the long term impact on the company.

Punk needs to pay his dues like Khali and he needs to learn to talk and work better like Khali. So many great role models in the company right now, the agents should really emphasize who they are by wearing Khali tshirts

They need to have some kind of super show at the end of every month. Give them an extra hour or half hour. They're not really gonna build a feud until June so you could argue it's just like Heat or Velocity where every show isnt building to anything it's just trying to fill an hour. They look really inferior not having as many ppvs. The problem, again, is Vince doesnt care about anyone except Lashley. The roster is made of guys he's never heard of or midcarders who would otherwise not be on the other tv shows. And then there are newer guys who are in the doghouse for stupid reasons. The agent stuff is confusing and stupid. They dont have any real creative power but they do have a say in the work of others. You always hear about saying this guys sucks and they always end up being good workers but you never hear agents saying anything bad about the horrible guys like Khali. Punk was the only new guy that was booked as a babyface, so now everyone's at about the same level now. I don have a problem with Holly being the guy he lost to because it's just bad booking. There's no upside for anyone, no one was really interested in the feud to being with so a clean win in the 3rd match is stupid, and Holly was punked out of being in the Chamber by Lashley and that was never mentioned. It just comes off as a loser getting a win off an up an comer and it's not really helping anyone. At least it wasnt a worse worker, or someone like Striker. That's an upside of burying everyone, that even the guys I dont like get booked badly.

Didnt Vince tear BOTH his quads in the goofup when he entered the ring at Royal Rumble 2005 and he was walking around in less than 2 weeks, or was that a different injury?

Why not add Lashley and make it a 3 way to unify the belts? They can have a posedown, pushups, arm wrestling. It could last an hour. But seriously since they havent done anything in terms of upward mobility with the undercard, since last WM, it'd be too much of a waste to have Edge and Orton in one tagmatch. I'm sure they can find one underachiver from Raw who Flair can lose to. If it's a serious injury they could do an injury angle having Edge take Hunter out setting up him and HBK. That leaves Orton and Cena. Orton and HBK would work just as well but I dont think theres anyone alive who wants to see another Edge/Cena match and there's no one who'd believe Edge can win. Umaga is the same feeling as a strictly 80s heel feud. Smackdown's on their own as usual. Since they can set up the Raw main easily through tv, I'd let Smackdown have the Rumble winner. Other than than they either need to have really long matches or 3 different battle royals to fill up WM.