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Buff Bagwell recently gave an interview where he said that Spike Dudley didn't belong near a wrestling ring. I guess that's why he lasted over 4 years in WWE Buff, while you got fired after less then 4 weeks. And how did you make use of your time in WWE Buff? You were late for every training session at Titan Towers, ruined what might have been a decent Invasion storyline by entering your typically sub-par performance, missed house shows and had your mother calling in sick for you, and, oh yeah; got bitchslapped by The Hurricane. So, while a guy who had 'no business' being near a wrestling ring was making a decent, albeit low-level, six-figure income for 4 years, you were restricted to making about $1,000 a shot on the Indy scene, when you could get booked. Life must suck for you Buff, knowing that Spike Dudley was on national television while you were scratching with the chickens. Is it just a coincidence that some of the most nonsensical stuff posted is from people who clearly either don't know what they are talking about, or are desperately trying to hold onto some misguided bias? Earl Hebner was fired this past week, apparently for selling merchandise without permission. I'm sure Hebner can find solace in the fact that, after Montreal, he got a raise to $500,000 a year, meaning he's earned around $3.5m or so since then. After the huge negative reaction to the terrorist angle on Smackdown two weeks ago, UPN told WWE that Muhammad Hassan can no longer appear on Smackdown. Subsequently, it's now been confirmed that the Hassan character will be dropped altogether, with his match against Undertaker this Sunday presumably being his swan song. I'm probably going to talk about this one in a little more depth in a future blog entry, so I'll just say for now that the people who blindly defended this angle, and most of the people defending it were doing so blindly, probably have no clue how much damage that terrorist angle really did, but I doubt they even care about that. Another RVD thread, and another round of people showing their bias and a lack of understanding of wrestling. This is another subject that I'll cover in a future blog entry, but suffice it to say that, yes, in some ways RVD is overrated, but to write him off for that is incredibly short-sighted. And the comparison to Shelton Benjamin is funny for all the wrong reasons, There's a Smackdown PPV this weekend. No, really, there is a PPV this weekend, though you might not know it. There isn't one match on the card that I'm interested in seeing. I'm sick of JBL in the main event, and even if Batista beats the shit out of him and pins him clean, which he should, I don't want to see it, because I've zero desire to see JBL in the main event. Animal and Heidenreich v MNM? MNM should win, and they should beat Animal, but knowing Animal's hatred of doing jobs, it'll be the guy sticking around who does the job. Undertaker v Hassan might be interesting, in that with WWE having to drop the Hassan character, I'm wondering if Vince will try and get one last tasteless angle out of dropping the character. I was sad to hear that Lord Alfred Hayes passed away a few days ago. For me, Hayes was the most underrated commentator of the 80's. He called the matches with an air of legitimacy, treating everything that was going on in the ring as if it was real, and he did it in a way that didn't insult your intelligence either. He made it a lot easier to listen to matches if Gorilla Monsoon was calling the action as well, because Gorilla was really terrible from around 1988 onwards, and Hayes was good at offsetting him. Also sad to see the passing of Shinya Hashimoto. Hashimoto was a favorite of mine in the 90s, due to his punishing style of heavy kicks and chops, as well as his hot comebacks. One of my favorite matches of 1996 was his match against Riki Choshu in that years G1 Climax tournament. It didn't have any insane moves or crazy spots, but it was filled with intensity and emotion, and the crowd were going nuts as Choshu had to hit Hashimoto with I think it was 9 lariats before Hashimoto could get pinned. I remember that G1 for Hashimoto, who was the IWGP Champion at the time, doing the clean job in all three of his matches, and in doing so creating three fresh challengers for the IWGP Title, but the real beauty is that the nature of the matches meant Hashimoto was still crazy over with the fans, and so everybody won.

It sucked, and I refuse to waste any more time on it than I already have.

Benoit v Regal looked to be good stuff, but the flow was definitely ruined by the two commercial breaks, so it's hard to give it a fair rating. It didn't appear to be at the level of their 2000 Pillman Memorial match, but when I get to see the match without the breaks, I'll be able to say for sure. The happenings surrounding the debut of The Boogeyman at a Smackdown house show were classic divine comedy. God had to be pissing on the gimmick, which I think most of us mere mortals will be doing should it hit the screens without some serious tuning up. The initial buy rate for Vengeance is in, and it's a little higher than the first returns for ONS. Naturally, there are those who are gloating over this, which is both missing the point, and missing the fact that it didn't blow ONS out of the ballpark either, which is what I'd be most concerned about. I also note that some people are saying that the Cena v Jericho v Christian match drew more of the buys than Hunter v Batista. Quite how a major gimmick match between two of the biggest stars of Raw, complete with main event level push, would draw less buys than a match between one star and two perennial midcarders, without the main event level push, I don't know, but I guess you can't expect everyone to know what they're talking about. Speaking of which, someone expressed the opinion that WCW having the better in-ring quality than WWE is a myth. I guess they missed out on WCW having a far better undercard than the WWF for 1996-1998, and some undercard matches that blew away most of what the WWF was putting out, even some of Bret, Shawn or Austin's work at some points. Main events aside, which were usually average to horrible, WCW had a more well-rounded and far superior in-ring product to WWF for a most of the late 90's. I'm really looking forward to NOAH's Dome Show this weekend. The undercard is a little hit-and-miss, but the top three matches should be something else, if only from a spectacle standpoint. Naturally, the most anticipated match is the main event, with the first Mitsuharu Misawa v Toshiaki Kawada match in over five years, and their first ever match in NOAH. This will easily be the most heated and intense match of the night, and with Kawada being a free agent, I'm betting on him to get the win over Misawa, to set up a run against the top NOAH names, likely ending with a singles bout against Kenta Kobashi. Kobashi will be taking on Kensuke Sasaki, in what will be a hard hitting match, and I expect Kobashi to get the win there. ROH shouldn't have used Matt Hardy. Their fanbase should be smart enough to know that Hardy is just there to further a WWE angle, and that is the absolute last thing that ROH fans want to see at an ROH show. And then to have Hardy make Chris Daniels tap out? Even with the interference of CM Punk, that one was just stupid. Sapolsky must be smoking something low grade if he agreed to that, not least because Daniels isn't getting his heat back from Hardy. Cena v Edge? Cena right now, but I don't see him sustaining this level of overness for more than another year or so, so I would keep Edge strong so he can be the one to get the belt after. Of course, that doesn't take into account the fact that Hunter will want the belt not long after he returns, regardless of how over Cena is at the time, and so Edge is unlikely to be more than a transitional champion, like everyone not named HHH, even if he should be more.

Raw Carlito and Jericho argue I had this feeling Piper would show up with what Jericho and Carlito were saying. Piper looks ancient. Hey, how about pushing someone who doesn't need Rogaine? Well, at least it was a surprise. Chris Masters v Tajiri "Listen to what Chris Masters is about to get?" That would be apathy, Jerry. The biggest pops from the crowd were for the guy not getting an almost relentless six-month plus push. Even the light "ECW" chant was louder than any reaction Masters got. He isn't getting over, and it's been six-months already. Give it up. End the Masterlock Challenge so this dead weight can be sent back down to OVW so he can get back to school. Edge, Lita and Snitsky backstage Matt Hardy better be coming in tonight as rumor suggests, or at least be signed to be coming in soon, or them bringing his name up again is stupid. HHH update Well, whoever had three-weeks on how long it would be before Hunter's name was mentioned again, you win. And they're laying the foundations of a babyface turn as well. Shelton Benjamin v Carlito Did anyone else get a Sting v Ric Flair vibe off of that no-sell spot from Benjamin early in the match? And did anyone else get a Money Inc. v Natural Disasters vibe off of that lame finish? John Cena promo The babyface champion being dictated to by the heel GM? Man, that's a cutting edge and original angle right there. And Cena v Jericho at Summerslam? Didn't one of the pop-up and spyware ridden sites claim that it would be Cena v Edge? You mean they were wrong? Diva Search Pass. Kurt Angle Invitational: I guess this means that Raw, not only has two talk show segments, but now two segments where a wrestler makes an open challenge. At least the interplay between Angle and Striker was funny. Angle shouldn't be submitting the guys with one second to go. He should be submitting them with one second gone. Matt Hardy attacks Edge backstage At least it was executed in a realistic fashion, with Hardy literally coming out of nowhere. Kane v Edge Just a backdrop for the Hardy v Edge angle. They are doing it the right way, and executing it like a shoot. No music videos, no catching Hardy on camera behind Edge and Lita, or anything like that. Hardy hits the ring out of shot, and the actual security staff are the ones to try and drag him down. Yeah, it's not a shoot, but the way they are playing things will make it easier for people to suspend their disbelief. The Ring Of Honor mention and the lack of commentary while Matt was getting taken away were a pair of nice touches. While the angle is getting handled like this, the right way, this will get Matt super over. Piper's Pit with Shawn Michaels No shirt, just a cross this week for the Holy Roller Kid. Shawn Michaels is not used to this type of reception???. The kiddy chaser was calling the action when Shawn was the hottest heel in the company. What brain surgeon fed Lawler that line? And if Lawler came up with it himself, he's once again made a fool of hmself. Shawn can talk good, but he came off as too much of a babyface after what was played off like the ultimate betrayal. The superkick to Piper was to be expected, but to me it clouds the issue with Hogan, because there should be repercussions from it, and that will just take attention away from the Hogan deal. Of course, nothing will likely come of it because of that fact, so why even do it? And what was Shawn's reason for turning on Hogan? To get a match with him? Was it out of hatred for not stepping down? Apart from the Matt Hardy angle and the way Angle talked to Martel/Striker, though not how the Invitational ended, Raw didn't measure up to anything.

The Hassan-Undertaker angle has finally been defended with the classic, "It's just wrestling" line, and I really thought that some people spouting that one off had a little intelligence and/or common sense in ther brains, but I guess they don't. Such a defense shows a startling lack of intelligence and foresight, and can only be espoused by people living in a wrestling bubble. In case it's escaped your attention, and I think it has, there is something called the REAL WORLD out there. It's that place you reside in once you turn off the wrestling, assuming you ever turn it off at all. And out there in the real world, shit like the Hassan-Undertaker angle doesn't exactly do wonders for the business you apparently like so much, but clearly don't really care for. Do you people even have a concept or clue about how angles like this go over in the real world, where the decisions are made that can very easily take away the very thing you say you care for, but actually don't? Wrestling has a bad enough time gaining any kind of respect, understanding or acceptance in the real world. Even when WWF/E was getting huge numbers for Raw or Smackdown, they were still getting just a fraction of the kind of ad dollar that much lower rated programs got. Why? Because people look at wrestling like it's something only retards and the emotionally stunted watch. They look at like a joke. It's on the lowest rung of the entertainment ladder. And crap like the Hassan angle, like the Katie Vick nonsense, like the Billy and Chuck wedding bullshit doesn't help. The Billy and Chuck deal did get WWE some publicity, I'll give them that, but do you remember, or want to remember what happened when everyone found out that Billy and Chuck weren't actually going to get married? The press went away. They stopped giving WWE the kind of publicity they crave. The Billy and Chuck deal got so much press because it was presented as wrestling finally showing some sort of class, by having a pair of openly gay characters get married and it was seen as something progressive in a world that everyone had previously looked down upon. So, when it was revealed that it was 'just another silly wrestling angle', the press felt burned, and they turned their backs on WWE. The Katie Vick angle the next month was another desperate attempt at getting some kind, any kind of publicity, but it didn't get anything at all. It didn't even get the kind of scorn and ridicule that most OTT crappy angles get. Do you know why? Because nobody was biting so soon after getting burned, and having it reaffirmed in their minds that wrestling is a total joke. Now, imagine that the Billy and Chuck deal happened last month, and it ended with them getting married. The press wouldn't have felt so burned, WWE would have gotten some good press for being progressive, wrestling would have been seen in a somewhat more positive light by people, and the press might have paid WWE some real attention. And then the Hassan-Undertaker angle happens. Do those of you with a grasp of the real world and how it sees wrestling know what would have happened if the press were actually paying WWE some kind of attention when the Hassan-Undertaker angle happened? Do those of you living in the wrestling bubble want to try and be brave and think about how the REAL WORLD would see wrestling, would see wrestling fans, with that kind of angle under any kind of press microscope? With what is still going in the real world, the world outside of wrestling for those of you still in the bubble, do you know what kind of damage that would do, not only to the publics view of wrestling, but of anyone even associated with wrestling, when it's presenting that kind of angle on national television, especially with what happened in London just hours before the show went to air? (And it was possible to edit the angle out, so don't even go there) I know most of those people defending the angle probably don't give a shit about how people view wrestling, but in a subject closer to their hearts, how do you think people would view YOU for watching the kind of product that put out something so distasteful and reprehensible? And even if it was 'just wrestling', is an angle like this really the sort of thing you want out there for people to use to knock wrestling? Is it really the kind of thing you want out there for people to see if they're only tuning into wrestling for the first time? Or do you only care about your view of wrestling, and don't care about the views of people who could help bolster the business by supporting it in some fashion?

It's been a very busy week in WWE. Not only have almost two-dozen wrestlers and 'divas' been released, but Brock Lesnar appears to be returning as well, if he hasn't already. First off, let's talk about Brock Lesnar coming back. It's not surprising that some people are still bitter and angry over Brock leaving last year, and while people can, and probably should be, upset over how Brock left, it's absurd to be upset over that he left at all. Brock didn't want to be in wrestling any more, so why should he stick around if he doesn't want to be there? It goes without saying that Brock could have handled his leaving better, in that he should have put a younger guy over on the way out to give that person a boost, but if he wasn't happy to be there and wanted to leave, who is anyone to say that he should have stayed and been miserable? Sure, his NFL aspirations didn't pan out as he'd hoped, but you know what? He took a chance that not many people would have taken, and he should be applauded for at least trying, because he at least made the attempt. And as for people saying Brock shouldn't be brought back at all, well, they'd make shitty wrestling promoters. The main talk about Brock being back in WWE has revolved around how his return should be handled. For some reason, people are saying that Brock should lose some matches at first. While on the surface it can appear to make some sort of sense, in that it can tell the story of Brock having to work his way back up or work off the ring rust, anyone with an ounce of common sense should realise that Brock should not lose for a really long time when he comes back. When Brock comes back, he needs to be pushed hard, kept strong, and whether it upsets people or not, he needs to have people fed to him, to set up a potential showdown with Batista at, if they can hold it off that long, at Wrestlemania. Brock v Batista is a money match, even though a lot of people won't want to admit that, and for that match to draw the absolute most money that it can, both parties need to be protected leading up to it. I know some people are saying that Smackdown doesn't need Brock, but those people need to pay attention to the business side of wrestling. While Smackdown does have a decent amount of talent when it comes to ability and/or personality, when it comes to draws and matches that could draw, Smackdown is severely lacking. Right now, Batista v JBL could draw decently on a 'B' PPV, and relatively strongly on an 'A' PPV with some significant build-up. You've also got Batista v Undertaker and, maybe, Batista v Orton which could draw something, but apart from that, Smackdown is rolling snake eyes when it comes to matches that could really make money in the main event. By bringing in Brock, you've instantly added a ton of potential matches that you can put on tv and PPV that could, not only deliver in the ring, but deliver at the box office as well. With Brock coming back, you've got the natural storyline of the other wrestlers being upset with Brock walking out on the company last year. Not only is the storyline natural, but it's one that the fans can easily believe, not only because it's true, but also because a lot of them still feel that Brock 'turned his back on them', and combining those two factors gives you a real potential goldmine when it comes to making money, because people are going to pay to see the 'turncoat' get his ass handed to him, and if they can build it up properly and hold it off long enough, when it comes to time for Brock to finally get his ass kicked by Batista at Wrestlemania, then people aren't going to just want to see Brock get his ass kicked, they're going to really want to see him get his ass kicked. Moving on to the roster cuts, there have been some surprising and not-so surprising cuts made, and I'll give my thoughts on each cut that has been made so far, with more cuts set to come: Joy Giovanni: One of the numerous nameless and faceless women in WWE, Joy is no big loss. Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroko: Kenzo is, was, and likely always will be terrible. He only got hired because he has size, but that was all he had, and even with a hot looking wife, he wasn't safe. Again, this one is no big loss. Matt Morgan: Morgan wasn't very good in the ring, but he could talk his ass off. So, naturally, he got given a gimmick that made him wrestle and made no use of his mic skills. Morgan getting cut is a bit of a surprise in that he was big, tall, had the look WWE likes, and he did have a lot of potential. Sadly, Matt is a victim of WWE not having the patience to wait until Matt is ready for the main roster to call him up, and he's been labelled as not being ready. He wasn't ready, but he could have been, and would have been had WWE not blown their load over his size and look. Charlie Haas and Jackie Gayda: What a wedding gift this is. Gayda was just another face in the crowd of nameless, faceless women in WWE, so her getting axed was no surprise, but Haas getting canned is. Haas had the ability, but he was never given the the right push and gimmick to get him over based on his strengths, and he really suffered when Shelton Benjamin was moved over to Raw. Marty Jannetty: With Shawn not wanting to be a Rocker again, there was no reason to bring him back in the first place, and that he even lasted this long is the real surprise. Dawn Marie: Congratulations on soon being a mother Dawn. Now get the hell out of here, because you're fired. Understandable given there was nothing they could do with her, but it's still cold doing it when he's pregnant. Mark Jindrak: That Mark got cut even though he was tall and had a good body is a bit of a surprise, but Mark had nothing going for him. He has no personality or charisma, is really mechanical in the ring, and when that was exactly how he was when he got brought in the first time four years ago, it's not hard to see why he was let go. Maven: I know Maven wasn't that hot in the ring, but he could really talk, and when someone is that good at something. you really should find something to do with him, and I don't mean a stupid midcard gimmick that doesn't make use of his strong suit. That seems to be a habit of WWE. Shannon Moore: A small guy with nothing making him really stand out, this one is no surprise. Akio: Like Shannon Moore, but with more ability. Again, not a surprise. Gangrel: Was it even worth signing him back in the first place? Kidman: A surprise, if only because he's married to Torrie Wilson, but even with that factor, it's not hard to see why he's been let go. Despite being really talented in the ring, WWE has totally sucked the charisma and personality out of Kidman, making him just another small guy, who was considered expendable. Spike Dudley: This one was a surprise to me, purely because Spike can bump like a total madman, isn't afraid of taking the most insane of bumps, which all helps in getting the monsters that WWE love so much over. Still, Spike didn't seem to mind, given his statment on his site over his release. Kevin Fertig: Not a surprise given his rep and standing with the locker room, both in WWE and OVW. I won't miss him. The Dudley's: A surprise given their tenure, but not so much when you realise how stale they are; they've done everything that a team can do, and have nowhere else to go.

Raw Is Statutory Rape Hulk Hogan on Carlito’s Cabana So, now we’re making matches from statutory rape angles? Edge and Snitsky v Kane and Show I avoided most of this. Edge should be getting primed for a program with Cena, not bogged down with a feud that nobody gives a shit about. Main event announcement: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA The Heartthrobs v Viscera A can’t miss gimmick that isn’t over a lick versus a can’t hit gimmick that that the people actually cheer for thanks to creative getting behind the gimmick that won’t draw a dime. Naturally, the woman feels sorry for the man who humiliated her on PPV in front of the world. End this shitty angle, now. Chavo Guerrero becomes Gunther from Friends Kerwyn/Kerwin White? WTF? And the bastard made Maria cry. Hurri-shits segment Bleh John Cena peps-up Maria Maria is happy again, and all is right with the world. John Cena on the Highlight Reel Why does Raw have two talk-show segments? They can both talk, I’ll give them that much. Would be nice, though, if the WWE Champion got put over in the main event slot for a change, instead of in a midcard segment with a midcard wrestler, Diva Boot Camp You expected me to watch this shit? Fu Macho Man Chu Renee Dupree v Val Venis Crisp while it lasted, but why are they protecting Val Venis? Is he so big a star that he couldn’t do a clean job? Carlito and Angle v Shawn and Hogan I skipped the match, and turned back literally as Shawn’s foot hit Hogan’s chin. I loved the turn, and what I liked most was Shawn not saying a word, and just staring down at Hogan. The way Shawn walked off and just had no emotion on his face was a great touch too. The only down side to this is that it means Hogan v Shawn, most likely at Summerslam, which will totally overshadow whatever match John Cena is going to have, and Batista too for that matter, and they’re meant to be the guys that are WWE’s future.

Maybe it’s because of the summer season coming up, but the idiocy of certain portions of TSM is really starting to shine through. The most recent example of this would be over the number of buys that One Night Stand got. The first estimates of the number of buys are out, and ONS is pegged at around 265,000 to 275,000 buys, and there are people who are proclaiming, almost gleefully, that this means it was a flop. I’m wondering if these people even have a clue what they are talking about, or if they’re so determined to see ONS as a flop, for whatever reason, that they fail to apply even simple logic to the evaluation that the buy rate was a flop. The entire PPV was sold on WWE TV over WWE ‘crusaders’ invading a PPV that was being held under the banner of a promotion that not a lot of people at home knew anything about. Sure, WWE fans might have heard the ECW initials chanted from time to time on TV, and there might have been some holdover fans from ECW that have stuck around, but how many WWE fans today do you think have any real clue about who or what ECW was? And how many of them that are aware of it even have the emotional attachment to ECW to want to tune into a PPV to see them fight off the ‘crusaders’ from WWE? RRR pointed out, and it was something that either went over the heads of the naysayers or something they desperately tried to play down to make their shaky point look good, not one match was announced or promoted on television. It was never pushed that you would see Lance Storm take on Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio take on Psicosis, Chris Benoit take on Eddie Guerrero, and so on. Now, unless you’ve got a Wrestlemania or Royal Rumble PPV that has huge name value, what PPV is ever going to draw big numbers without one match announced? As for promoting and pushing the ECW name and concept on television, WWE did a generally piss poor job. They didn’t show any interviews from people involved in ECW to talk about it. They didn’t show matches from ECW, either in full or in clip packages, to give people a true idea of what ECW about. They did nothing like that. All they did was promote a series of ‘ECW rules’ matches on Raw, which were really just glorified ‘Hardcore’ matches, that neither showcased the true spirit of ECW, nor featured ECW wrestlers. It was WWE wrestlers who either happened to be part of ECW or were going to be part of the ‘crusaders’ group that was going to invade ONS. Now, with angles that came across as WWE wrestlers attacking a single WWE wrestler, how does that make the PPV look any different, and more attractive, to any other standard WWE PPV? People are already picking and choosing what WWE PPV’s they want to buy, so why should they treat any differently a PPV that, on the surface, which is as far as most casual fans look, looks just like every other PPV WWE offers up? Sure, the last Raw and Smackdown shows before ONS ended with a group of ECW guys fighting off the ‘crusaders’ that would be at the PPV, and as stand alone angles go they were enjoyable, but those two angle were not enough to counter what had been, up to that point in time, a terrible job of building a PPV that was depending on strong promotion to get the numbers of buys that it had the potential to achieve. With the bulk of the promotion of ONS ignoring the fact that the majority of people at home didn’t have a real clue about who or what ECW was, something that really needed to be hammered into the brains of people in order to make them emotionally invested into wanting to see this PPV, is it any wonder that a PPV which, going into it, felt like every other WWE PPV got the same number of buys as every other WWE PPV?

So I put in a tape of the 2000 Royal Rumble because I wanted to see Tazz’s debut, and I get to Kurt Angle calling out his ‘mystery opponent’ for the night, and one thing stands out like a sore thumb; Kurt sounds like he’s barely made it through puberty. Go back and listen to this again, and Kurt’s voice sounds almost like a pre-teen when compared to how it sounds now. And it’s not just Kurt’s voice that has changed in the last five years. His facial structure has changed considerably, his physique has morphed from rounded and smooth to hard to angled, and his back has more craters than the surface of the moon. If you’ve got this Rumble on tape, check it out for yourself, and the difference is remarkable.

Raw Kurt Angle – Ric Flair promo: Well, that was interesting to say the least. And I hope Angle v Flair doesn’t happen, because it would be beyond idiotic to give it away for free on Raw with less than 2hrs notice. Edge and Gene Snitsky v Kane and ? Why is Kane v Edge continuing when they had a blowoff finish last night? And the Smackdown draftee is…Big Show. Rhetorical question: Why are they stripping Smackdown of every viable piece of talent they have? Big Show v Gene Snitsky Skimmed this, and it still felt like it went on forever. It should have been a 30-second squash. John Cena promo This was a somewhat amusing way to bring in HBK. Edge-Lita-Kane vignette Kane wants to make Lita’s life a living hell? This whole angle has made everyone’s lives a living hell. End this crap now. Chris Masters-Tajiri angle No entrance for Masters, which could be telling. Tajiri calling Masters a jackass was predictable and boring. If the writers must mock the Japanese, can’t they do it in an original manner? Carlito’s Cabana with ROB VAN DAM Rhetorical question: Why are they stripping Smackdown of every viable piece of talent they have? And it’s interesting that RVD is the only Smackdown draftee to get beaten up upon arrival. Angle v Flair Well, they didn’t give it away for free with less than 2hrs notice. They gave it away for free with less than 1hrs notice. Way to go, brain surgeons(!). The match wasn’t bad, but it was too much of a Flair match, and Flair got in way too much offense; Angle should have beaten him with ease. At least Angle won clean, though. Diva Search The fast forward button was made for shit like this. Batista promo Blah. Christian, Jericho and Tomko v Cena, Shawn and Hogan Hogan makes perfect sense as the partner, because when I need someone to watch my back in a fight I know I call for a barely mobile 52-year old . I skipped to the finish. I was surprised Hogan was able to hit the legdrop. I was not surprised that, not only did they not hype Hogan’s return for weeks and weeks, but that Cena was reduced to window dressing. Way to push Cena(!).

Vengeance Shelton v Carlito: Decent match, but decent doesn’t cut it on PPV. Also, putting the IC belt in the opener just further entrenches the idea that the IC belt means very little. True as that is, it’s a perception that needs changing, and putting it in the first match doesn’t help. The loud crowd made the match, with chants for and against both wrestlers, with no rhyme or reason. Christy v Victoria: I skipped this. Edge v Kane: Far better than their match last year, and shockingly good considering, but why is a heel with real potential, and who is gaining a lot of momentum, jobbing clean to a guy who, in all fairness, ceased meaning anything many years ago? Would it not make more sense to build up the guy who, it seems, will be challenging for the World Title soon? Shawn v Kurt: Good stuff, but nowhere near great, and Shawn’s usual no-selling took things down, as it did in the first match at WM. The usual main event WWE style stuff, but with a finish so damn hokey, it just killed the match dead. Viscera and Garcia segment: Skipped this, but I did see Viscera blow off Garcia, so I guess the writing team get to have their revenge on all the women who blew them off in high school. Cena v Jericho v Christian: Decent enough, with Jericho and Christian making Cena look good, though that fact seems to have gone over the head of most people. As expected by anyone with a brain, which means a lot of people on here didn’t think it would happen, Cena won clean, pinning Christian. I would have expected Jericho to lose, given that Christian is the one with momentum and potential, but killing off momentum and potential seems to be a theme of the undercard. Batista v Hunter: I skimmed this one. Batista seemed to sell a lot less than I expected, but given that the damage from his selling too much in their two previous matches had already been done, it does make sense. From what I saw, it seemed like a good brawl, and it had all the usual shortcuts you get from a match that really needs them. Batista got put over strong here, and his winning clean was no surprise to those with a brain in their heads. Overall: It was a decent PPV, and it was enjoyable enough, but people shouldn’t pay $34.95 and get decent and enjoyable. I’m glad I’m not one of those people.

What is WWE thinking with this draft? Raw - John Cena - Idiotic move, unless he gets drafted back to SD. Smackdown is now the Land of Heels. Moving Smackdown's most over face and most urban character is only going to work if they move him back. Smackdown - Chris Benoit - Well benoit was basically becoming fodder for Edge on RAW lately so he was out of options. Should be a good move. RAW - Kurt Angle - I get the feeling there isn't enough room on RAW for Angle and Triple H. A show with 2 super heels just isn't going to work, unless they join forces somehow. Bad pick anyways. They could have continued his rivalry with benoit on SD. Smackdown - Randy Orton - Well, i don't think Orton and Cena should be on the same show. I think that is the WWE's money match 3 or 4 years from now. They should keep them seperate for as long as possible. If Cena is on RAW, then good move. Randy may be just another heel thrown on the pile, but this should at least freshen him up. Maybe he could get over as a face on SD? RAW - Carlito - Carlito screams smackdown to me. I think he should have stayed. Maybe they could have had a carlito vs Cena rematch somewhere down the road, play off the old feud. To top it off, they have carlito go over benjamin and end his long ass title reign. We should start to call this "E-ing" a title reign. Since they just did this with JBL. They make Benjamin look like a chump, losing to the smaller carlito via roll-up. Carlito is less than great in the ring and really doesn't have a finisher that i've seen. They need to decide what they want him to do in the ring before giving him a title to run with. Smackdown - Muhammad Hassan and Davari - It's good they sent Davari with him. These two shouldn't be broken up yet. But why in the FUCK did he get squashed by Cena. That was some horrible booking. They should have had them go to a no contest, then if they ever meet again, neither of them look like shit. Hassan was squashed right before starting a fresh push on SD. This just proves how stupid the E can be. Possibles for the next picks, my pick in bold. RAW - Rey Mysterio, JBL, Eddie, Big Show, Booker T Smackdown - Jericho, Christian, Triple H, Batista, Cena, Edge, Kane I would like Mysterio on RAW, but i don't think he will get a chance to get away from the cruisers. JBL would be too many heels. Eddie wouldn't make much sense Big Show is a face that is expendable Booker T is the same as TBS. Jericho NEEDS smackdown, Christian could use it, so could Edge Trips won't go Batista can't carry smackdown Kane has no reason Smackdown needs Cena, if they don't get him back...they are as good as dead.

According to Wade Keller, Jeff Jarrett had been throwing a fit all last week about not winning his title back during the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary. So instead of jobbing he took himself out of the match. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Why would Jarrett want his title back so soon? Why would Jarrett take himself out of the match, instead of just not winning it? This makes no sense because it's false. Did it ever occur to anyone that people report fake news about 75% of the time. But any news that makes the IWC happy is always just taken as gospel. Any news bashing Triple H or Jeff Jarrett is welcomed with open arms and without questioning. I agree these guys are probably politicians and are in business for themselves sometimes. But these sites reporting the news make them seem like they are out to destroy wrestling as we know it. In reality, this news is reported to work the IWC. These sites get a small piece of information and blow it up into major news. Why? It makes them money. They make money off rumors and gossip in the wrestling world, they are the tabloids of wrestling and people act like they are CNN. I doubt Jeff Jarrett even made mention of winning his belt back. He JUST lost it. This request would make him the biggest backstage cancer of all time, worse than Hogan and Nash combined. Why would Jeff "take himself out of the match" instead of just losing? He lost to AJ styles the month before. Abyss murdered him on Impact in the weeks before. Why would he have a problem with losing in a match that involves 4 other people. He wouldn't have had to be the one getting pinned or getting squashed, there are 4 other guys to take that. Then people say that the TNA booking committee put the belt on Raven to spite Jeff Jarrett. People also said they made Jarrett drop the title to Styles out of spite. If they did those things just to get back at one worker, wouldn't that make all of them just as bad as him? Putting the belt on people purely to get back at another individual is stupid and childish. This would make them just as guilty as Jarrett of backstage politics. But nobody realizes this, they just point the finger at Jeff some more. Answer me one question. When is the last time since Hogan, that a babyface has been a "backstage cancer"? Smarks get worked just as much as Marks do, just through different avenues. Not saying I've never been worked, I'm sure I've bought fake news many times. It's just that there are very few people who question news that seems to be made up purely for the IWC enjoyment.

I’m not going to name names, but someone actually said that, in his head, John Cena logically has to lose the WWE Title this Sunday at Vengeance. Yes, the same John Cena who WWE has firmly and most definitely put their infamous promotional machine behind. Now, obviously John Cena is going to lose the WWE eventually, and it will in all likelihood be Triple H he loses it to, because that’s just how things are in WWE. But can someone tell me the logic, because that’s the buzzword of the moment, in John Cena losing the WWE Title to either Christian or Chris Jericho, two guys who have zero credibility? Do remember that such a move would make Cena look like a chump, and while Cena is going to get made to look like a chump eventually, at the hands of you-know-who, it isn’t going to happen at the hands of two perennial midcarders like Christian or Jericho. In case you’re unfamiliar with the definition of logic, as one person clearly is, here is some help from our friends at the Oxford English Dictionary: Logic 1. Reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity. • the quality of being justifiable by reason. • (the logic of) the course of action following as a necessary consequence of. Can someone tell me the validity in the idea that WWE would sacrifice the merchandising potential of one of their hottest acts to someone who isn’t Triple H?

I don’t ask for much out of my wrestling shows. All I want is good wrestling, good storylines and good angles. No one specific aspect need be focused on more than any other, but they should all be good, or at least enjoyable to watch in some positive manner. In the event that one or two of those things I want out of a wrestling show are sub-par, then the third aspect should be good enough that it carries things. It should be so great that it makes up for everything else not being up to par. A couple of examples would be a Raw that had some terrible skits and angles but was capped off with a MOTY level bout between Edge and Kurt Angle, or a Raw with shoddy matches and skits, but with a returning Matt Hardy cutting a blistering worked shoot promo on Edge and Lita. That’s all I want out of a wrestling show. Is that too much to ask? Is it really too much to ask that the people doing their jobs do them to an acceptable standard?

"Daddy can't watch Raw with you tonight. He'd rather get nailed"

Because some people need a little education:

I'm thinking at least one person will still have to ask what this one is about, but for those of you who have worked it out, you know what to do.

Sometimes, so-called ‘smart fans’ get so caught up in being smart, that they become so very dumb, and lose sight of the point in being a wrestling fan in the first place. The point of being a fan is to have fun with what you’re watching, enjoy what you’re watching, and have enough fun and enjoyment that you come back the next time to have more fun and enjoyment. It’s such a simple concept that it flies right over the heads of some ‘smart’ fans, who are so busy trying to be smart that they forget about actually being fans. They get so caught up in being ‘smart’ and showing everyone else how smart they are, that the only thing they show people is how dumb they are, and how they’ve missed the point in being a fan. Try being a fan again. You might like it more than being ‘smart. And you might actually become smart once again.

I enjoyed this PPV a great deal, and more so than any wrestling PPV for a very long time. The last PPV of any kind that I've been this excited about both while watching and afterwards was UFC's Unfinished Business from last year. As far as wrestling goes, the last PPV to have this kind of buzz about it was WM X7. Since then, wrestling has been totally lacking the kind of emotional connection that allows for this kind of reaction, and the fact that a promotion that has been dead for five years elicited such a response while WWE is getting so apathetic that the people who hate it can't even be bothered to rip into it is sad in so many ways. The matches were mostly secondary, which would have been obvious going in had people thought about it. The only real standout matches were Tanaka v Awesome and Dreamer and Sandman v The Dudley's. The rest were just kind of there, with Storm v Jericho was the most enjoyable of the undercard matches. Benoit v Guerrero was a letdown in some ways, and really came off as filler, but in no way was it bad. I know some people have torn into that match something fierce, but those people should take a look at themselves and think about things a little more clearly, rather than trying to be some sort of 'super smart smart fan' or whatever their gimmick is. The highlights were easily RVD and Paul Heyman's promo's, with RVD shattering the myth that he can't speak. If anyone thinks RVD can't talk after his promo at ONS, then must be really wanting to believe a myth that everyone else has had the good sense to see through. Heyman's speech was great stuff, and, again, showed how great someone can talk if you let them talk about a subject they are genuinely into and really want to talk about. Joey Styles was great on commentary, while Foley wasn't all that hot, which you could tell he was aware would be the case going in, and he stayed in the background for most of the PPV. The highlight for Styles was his shooting on Mike Awesome during his match, and when Eric Bischoff was at the commentary table for the show ending angle, and Styles just tore into him with, "You are without a doubt the worst goddamn color commentator I ever heard in my life.” For me, that was the line of the night, as it came out of nowhere, and there was no real set up to it, unlike with RVD's and Heyman's stuff, though that was still great. There were a few minor points I didn’t like about the PPV, most notably Steve Austin leading the ECW charge against the WWE ‘Crusaders’ and him getting the last attack on Bischoff, but they were minor enough, and the strong points strong enough, such as Sabu showing up, that this PPV is the easiest thumbs up I’ve given to a wrestling PPV for so many years that I don’t even remember the last one.