Thanks for the Fish

Yeah, it's Milena Roucka. Regarding Miz and Morrison, I just think Morrison is being held back by being in a tag team when everybody and theirUncle knows the wwe doesn't give a rats ass about tag teams. I guess Miz/Morrison get more of a push than possibly getting lost in the midcard as wwe doesn't push their mid card titles worth a damn either.

Given the outside interference, why did Kane have to lose in such short order last night? Why is Melina's "Code Red" flipping powerbomb called "The Last Call"? Where is the character tie in? That move is going to get her over like Bourne's SSP did for him. It's one of those moves that you want to see live.

Overall I thought it was a pretty solid show. I dug the Jericho opening, he's really on the top of his game right now, too bad it's nothing but Cena fodder. At least he can make Cena seem interesting. I do have a continuity beef though as I recall the Jericho/JBL feud soon after Jericho's return involved Jericho's son watching him on teevee. So is Knox just a cruiserweight bully? Or was there something more behind his Mysterio assault? I hope the bookers have something in ind for Knox that isn't Snitsky v2.0 Kingston/Punk vs Rhodes/Manu was a good enough television match. Cody is bulking up, and while Manu looks like a slob, he's actually pretty good in the ring. Punk playing Face-in-Peril for Kofi was a strange decision by the writers, but I guess Kofi does have better "hot tag" offense. "Priceless" is such a stupid faction name though, hopefully that goes th way of the Dodo when Orton enters to lead. I'm not feeling Orton/Rhodes/Manu, probably because I saw Dibiase as the leader and one with the breakout potential. For whatever reason Rhodes is still the greenback teaming with Hardcore Holly and not really even a midcard threat in my eyes. Manu is a tag worker at best right now. I think this faction will need a fourth member, assuming Dibiase will not be returning. I thought the DX shilling segment was amusing and otherwise harmless. Kane talking about "his fans" was just to show how demented and out of touch with reality he is. I'm so damn tired of Kane. I don't know how Melina will work as a face, but her "Code Red" finisher will go a long way in getting her over and accepted as a face. I was an instant and early critic of the Marella and Phoenix pairing, but they've surprised me together. I will say (again) that I wish Santino would be allowed to be more of a threat in the ring, but I guess the powers that be think he;d lose his comedic value if he could win matches (without cheating). JBL is a pro. He can lose feud after feud, but instantly get heat back with a mic segment. I still believe his best value to the company is as a color commentator, but he wants to be in the ring right now and I can live with that. He's dropped a lot of weight lately and has no problem putting folks over while his mic work keeps him in the upper card. His feud with HBK should be decent enough in-ring (HBK will make sure of that), both can bring it on the mic and I assume that JBL and HBK will have a lot of creative input into this storyline. Will be a short program though, as HBK has grand plans for WM25 and it doesn't include JBL. Dolph Ziggler's debut loss did more for him than a jobber squash win. He had a couple nice moves that made the crowd take notice and didn't get squashed by Batista even if it was a short match. I hate the fact that we're not supposed to remember Nicky though, however other than Doane, the Spirit Squad members were never really pushed as individual personalities/entities and were more like Spirit Squad Member #1, Spirit Squad Member #2 etc. At least it's not as bad as trying to sell Big Daddy V as a new character when he jumped to ECW. I missed all of the Morrison vs Finlay match because I was watching Boston Legal. I can't stand Finlay with Hornswoggle anymore, so it was probably a good thing. I also missed the Mysterio vs Miz match. Denny Crane. Cena vs Kane was U-G-L-Y. Kane jobs in 2-minutes, but next week he'll be the Big Red Threat again - go figure. The beatdown looked bad at first(with Cena no-selling everything) , but the elevated DDT and Liontamer fade to black was solid.

However then you'd have a Morrison vs Regal IC match, and I don't think that would really work with the fans. If anything Regal is going to be the one to brutalize Mysterio's arm. I guess the bookers felt they needed to protect Mysterio from eventually losing by giving him an injury.

I think Ted Jr should still be in the Orton-led faction. He could have been the IC threat, with Orton for the World Title and Cody and Manu after the tags.

Melina is going to get over based on her new finisher alone. It's perfect for the Divas because big male wrestlers can't hit it and smaller wrestlers using it is impractical against bigger wrestlers. And since the wwe doesn't have a cruiserweight division...

Didn't Jericho say his son watched him get beat up by JBL during their feud together... I don't think Kennedy is cleared to wrestle yet.

From pwinsider -

I'm staying home on New Years Eve just so I can start the January Thread. Then the ball drops in Times Square I'll be on the computer ready to hit enter.

Kane is so damn played out - nobody sees him as any sort of threat anymore. I know the writers love his facials and all, but I think they really missed an opportunity when they didn't put the mask back on him. It was as simple as having a "Mask vs Mask" match with Mysterio where Mysterio would lose his, but if Kane lost he would have to put his back on.

Well that was part of a heel turn test run... I think Ortiz' act will work better as a heel, though I think he sucks regardless. Just what ecw needs - one less face (even if he was a sucky one).

There will always be youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmXeUhmB2E (same can be said for Sandman's entrance at ONS)

...that has been wiped from wwe existence as if it never happened. Mickie does get the diva face pop, which is rare in the wwe. They can't seem to book female faces all that well. Candace has been a brutal face, as has Michelle McCool's "lovin' life" angle, and I have a feeling Melina will struggle as a face character. Beth is playing the funny heel and could transition into a face, however she's the biggest diva which probably wont work in the long run as a face. Mickie can at least make a convincing "save" unlike the groanworthy attempts of Ashley Massaro and Candace Michelle when they come running from the back. SD!'s diva division's main problem has been lack of centerpiece Diva. However it seems now that they're debuting Gail Kim over there which is a good idea. I might have even put Kim on Raw and moved Mickie to the taped Smackdown. Katie Lea should be pushed to a top spot.

ECW's working agreement with SD! served the brand much better. SD! has always been much better in building midcard wrestlers. Raw was always the draft destination for the wrestlers SD! built up, but never really built any wrestlers of their own. ECW was a nice showcase for the SD! midcard. ECW doesn't have a big enough roster to be an entity by itself, and Raw doesn't seem to be sharing and workers with them, though they certainly use their talent - poaching Knox permanently for nothing, and seemingly Bourne as well, along with using Miz and Morrison a lot lately. Heck SD! uses Matt Hardy, Miz/Morrison and Chavo Guerrero with nothing going back the other way anymore either. The Brian Kendrick would make a much more entertaining ECW champion right now. D'Lo Brown, Goldust, Jamie Noble, Paul Burchill, Jimmy Wang Yang, Braddock, Goldman would all better be suited fleshing out the ECW roster than riding the pine on their current brand right now. Burchill vs Gabriel so Burchill can use his OVW line of "We're both Brits, but you're Elton John whereas I'm Jack the Ripper"

Mickie is overrated as hell. She's not nearly the worker as she's made up to be. She wrestles out of control and looks like a spaz half the damn time.

(credit idiotsrunningawebsite.com)

Is he wearing the mask? I wonder if they looked at his ugly back tattoo and said "we need to put a shirt over that"...

It looks deep green on my computer (unless it is the lighting in the photo). But it is bad work, the spacing is off, the lettering looks like middle school notebook doodling and it's off center.

Maybe he can team with Tomko... (Assuming he had this done at Shannon Moores Tattoo Shop - Don't go there)

I was just looking at that list. It's a shame the wwe doesn't seem to see the value in factions or managers anymore. But with the talent pool deep and the spots scarce I guess they can demand the total package from each wrestler. Hart Foundation isn't #1 either, though damn do I miss Brian Pillman, Owen and Davey Boy. I wonder if this is up here because "The Foundation" of DH Smith, TJ Wilson and Nattie Neidhart are set to debut in December. I'd put nWo at #1, The Four Horsemen at #2 and then it starts breaking down fro there. Freebirds at #24 is silly though - theiy're Top 10 easily, it must be a rib. Nation of Domination should be much higher than 18 as well, because "Die Rockey Die" launched The Rock. Where is Los Boriquas and Disciples of Apocalypse?

What is there more of in the wwe clock "ties" or "Both hit the floor at the same time" battle royal finishes? Koslov being transitioned to ECW is probably a smart idea. He can even beat Hardy for the title there, feud/work houseshows with Finlay, maul Hornswoggle for more heat and eventually lose the title to an up and comer before he is drafted to Raw.

Just a difference of what a breakout star is. I took it to be a mid card guy who became a legitimate main eventer. The Hardy Boyz were a top tag team, but Jeff was likely going to headline WrestleMania if he didn't screw thigs up. If it's more somebody who came out of nowhere to become a star, I guess Matt Bourne is as good a candidate as any. R-Truth, The Brian Kendrick would be other contenders, maybe with Jack Swagger (who probably needs to get off ECW).

Wasn't Nigel in OVW for a stint? Was that on his own dime? He appeared on TNA right after his OVW stint - did he blow off WWE developmental at that time and burned that bridge? William Regal is trying to get Nigel hired, giving his stuff to anybody and everybody involved in scouting/hiring and can't understand why he hasn't been hired yet. Then again Burchill is circling the drain and will likely be endeavored sooner than later, and the wwe has 4-5 UK wrestlers currently in FCW - DJ Gabriel(now on ECW), Sheamus O'Shaunessey (Irish), Drew McIntyre (Scot), Stu Bennet (Brit) with the latter three all being over 6'6" and 250lbs.

The office has been against him because he was a "Heyman request", along with CM Punk when Heyman booked ECW.

Pretty crummy show overall, lacked any real star power tonight. Striker should thank his lucky stars that A] Foley walked from Smackdown! and B]Vince McMahon doesn't give a shit about ECW. I, too, am really liking DJ Gabriel and Alicia Foxx. Finlay cheats to win in order to keep him in the midcard, where he can work with the up and comers in the player/coach role. If he was winning clean he'd both move up the card and hurt his opponents who were jobbing to him. I've said it before, but FCW's current champion is Sheamus O'Shaunessey, (official website - http://www.sosofficial.com/ )of course playing an over the top Irish gimmick. Hornswoggle would be perfect for his gimmick, and it would allow Finlay to become the badass again.