The Brand Extension one year on.

[Guest OnlyMe]

How have I showed bias? I said earlier...

 

I didn't single out anyone - I named 4. FOUR. FOUR. People that had held the belt and didn't deserve it. Of those that you mentioned, only Jeff Hardy and Lance Storm, IMO, deserve to be on there.

 

And guess what - Jeff was on there. As for Lance, yeah, he could have been on there, but I didn't want to list every shit champion ever.

 

And you never responded.

[Guest MixxMaster]

...ANYWAYS....

 

GREAT article, OnlyMe...Pretty subjective.

 

My thoughts, let me dissect some things:

And this was where the draft failed. It was a series of 10 second segments throughout Raw (apart from the Rock’s 3 hour acceptance speech). There was no glitz or glamour, as we have come to expect with the WWF.

Personally, I remember thinking that it was pretty cool...it seemed like a live sports draft, in a way, production-wise. One way to even improve it more, would've been the whole show centering around it more, no drama stuff...just showing 1 big office with Vince and his goons on the phone, and another room with Vince and his buddies doing the same. Maybe the most they would say is strategy stuff, not the soap-opera aspect. It was supposed to be a DRAFT, after all, and the orverdramatic acting just ruins the immersion of a "sport" event.

It is impossible to say who would have gotten TV time without the split, but it seems that the only people who are really benefiting (i.e. got over more than before, in a significant way) are Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio. But then, it could be argued that they would have gotten over anyway, and the roster split didn’t help them.

I don't agree with that. I seriously doubt that we would've seen as much of the other stars on either show, without the split. I won't get into the HHHate, it's obvious that he'd be on almost twice as much. Just remember before the split, and I'm sure we can all think of many others who have gotten what is significantly more time for their "spot" I can think of some more names, who have been on more, and as a result, may have a more fleshed out character:

Hurricane -seems very obious to me

Edge -talk about ME pushes, do you think he would be that over with the whole roster together?

Jericho -he has still been around the top, in spite of HHH. And he gets better...

Brock Lesnar -another no brainer. He most likely would've been totally buried, if not for the split.

Eddie Guerrero -another guy who has risen to the top, and is now one of the average Smarks favorite, after almost being out of the WWE entirely.

The Dudleyz -they have both had good sized spots, first separately, and now together again. They have both gotten plenty more air time than before.

John Cena -Even though he wasn't around prior to the split, he is a diamond in the rough, bah gawd, thanks to the split, and having more time to shine.

Rodney Mack -Now, how could we have been able to back the Mack, if he would've been VERY LUCKY to even be on Heat before the split?

Most of the women - yeah yeah yeah..say what you want about the T&A(no, not that indie fed) aspect, they have mostly gotten more time, and the marks like it, and they buy more tickets than the smarks do.

 

And the ones you already mentioned:

Matt Hardy -you might as well add Shannon Moore, as he's VERY lucky to even be in the WWE, thanks to the split, and Mattitude.

Rey Mysterio -I'm kinda iffy on this, as he hasn't been in a cruiserweight role much.

And I'm sure you guys can come up with more...go ahead, think about how many wrestlers have you seen on Raw, or Smackdown! that most likely wouldn't have seen any of, thanks to the split?

And now, for something that really gets my goat with the Smarks:

...Bischoff resurrected the old WCW World Title, and renamed it to The World Title, before awarding it to HHH. This was a very controversial decision, and there has been much debate about the legitimacy of the belt.

 

Most of the negativity towards the title is because it has no lineage; no history. It was just arbitrarily awarded to HHH – he didn’t earn it, so why should it be respected?

I'm SICK of hearing it dubbed, the "fake" belt, for any reason. What's done is done, and now everyone should just let the hate go, and respect the title for what it is: The Heavyweight Championship. It has a NEW lineage. Get over the whole lineage thing. It just doesn't matter. Remember, Rassling's fake?

Now the history is off to a crappy start. Fine...deal with it. But just think about the potential (and most likely) future holders. Booker T WILL most likely hold it, RVD WILL most likely hold it, Jericho WILL most likely hold it, provided the split is here to stay...doesn't sound so damned bad NOW, does it?

I also agree with you in all the other aspects. Bischoff is great as the evil, yet funny heel, Stephanie just plain sucks, Flair wasn't effective. The split PPV's are going to be interesting, and not easy to plan out. If there were LESS PPV's it eould be much more doable, but that will NEVER happen...

Now, am I alone in hoping that they would've done another draft, like a yearly thing? Not with the whole roster that is assigned, but with bringing up the OVW guys, and the recent signings (free agents in the truest sense of the word). This way, when the WWE is really planning on switching someone over, they can plan a couple of months ahead(yes, they can), and come up with contract negotiations, enforcing the sports aspect.

Just my 2 cents...

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

The problem with the fake belt is that they haven't done anything to make us care about it. They have bungled it from the beginning.

The worst WWE Champion in that time (Big Show) had a better reign than ANYBODY who has held the World Title since it was brought back in September. Why should we care about a champion when the fucking Big Show is better than them?

 

Nobody calls the Smackdown Tag Titles the fake Tag Belts anymore, because they were made to seem important.

[Maztinho 0]

Also they aren't billed as World Tag Team titles, but WWE Tag Team titles. Also they had the whole tourney thing with great wrestling.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Also they aren't billed as World Tag Team titles, but WWE Tag Team titles. Also they had the whole tourney thing with great wrestling.

I know. I called them the Smackdown Tag Titles in my post.

 

The World Tag Titles are the ones RVD & Kane have and date back to the 60s.

[Guest TheGame2705]

How have I showed bias? I said earlier...

 

I didn't single out anyone - I named 4. FOUR. FOUR. People that had held the belt and didn't deserve it. Of those that you mentioned, only Jeff Hardy and Lance Storm, IMO, deserve to be on there.

 

And guess what - Jeff was on there. As for Lance, yeah, he could have been on there, but I didn't want to list every shit champion ever.

 

And you never responded.

You mentioned four and then in the next sentence you only mentioned Albert as the problem for the IC belt becoming crap.

 

There was really nothing to say in response to what you said besides that. I named every shit champion I thought there was, you didn't think some deserved to be on the list. I did. If you want to continue discussions on each go ahead.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

My biggest problem with the titles right now are their names. "World" and "WWE" - can't they get a lil more creative?

[Guest AndrewTS]

Remember that ***** match that Albert had with...

 

Actually...

 

remember that **** match that Albert had with...

 

Hang on, that didn't happen either...

 

Remember that *** match that Albert had with...

 

Benoit

 

You can try and justify Albert all you like, and if you like him then that's cool.  But I, like many others, find him shitty.

I don't remember what star rating it would be, but remember that Kane/Albert match where the planets were in proper alignment, the tides were at the correct level, or some other strange phenomena caused them to have a good match together?

 

Shame we've seen nothing like that lately.

 

 

My biggest problem with the titles right now are their names. "World" and "WWE" - can't they get a lil more creative?

 

I had always called the WWF Title the WWF World Title until the Invasion, the merging of the belts and HHH's fake title.

 

Because that's what it should be called. "WWE Title." Isn't that ANY singles title? Call it "World" to seperate from, say, the IC.

 

They should call Brock's the World Title and HHH's the World International Title.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

That wasn't a very good match - the frankanestener (oh you know I rule) was a total turn-off. Nice try, but don't do stuff you can't do. I'd say that Kanes best big man match was vs. the Big show a lil over a year-and-change ago on Smackdown (IIRC). That was probably the most well done big man match the WWE has put out in a while. Stiff Clotheslines and they didn't go beyond their limitations.. plus it was short, which is always good

 

Albert's matches w. Benoit are his best IMO.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

They should call Brock's title the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (or whatever they called it before the introduction of the WCW title) and call the title HHH has something entirely different. The same goes for the tag titles. Raw and Smackdown need to be more distinctive.

[Guest AndrewTS]

Yeah, I prefer "World Heavyweight Title" myself and it was originally what I meant, but I think that's too complex a name for WWE to go with so they have to dumb it down.

[Guest OnlyMe]

You mentioned four and then in the next sentence you only mentioned Albert as the problem for the IC belt becoming crap.

 

There was really nothing to say in response to what you said besides that. I named every shit champion I thought there was, you didn't think some deserved to be on the list. I did. If you want to continue discussions on each go ahead.

I said "shit wrestlers like Albert". There's no way - in my opinion - that Albert should be anywhere near the #2 title in the WWF. Simple as that.

 

How is it bias if I think he is shit? I fail to see your logic there.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

I'd say that the bias would lie in "all hosses suck" and lumping Albert in there without really looking at it more carefully. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Albert is *good*, but like I said - he's the best of the bad.

[Guest Army Eye]

Sure, it was also held by Benoit, Jericho and RVD, but the reigns by, well, shit wrestlers like Albert served to hold the title back.

 

Bringing in bias is what killed this report for me. Why single out Albert? I fullheartedly agree he shouldn't have been given the title but he's not a shit wrestler and not the only person who shouldn't have held the title when they did.

How was he singled out?

 

Shit wrestlers LIKE Albert. As in, he was ONE OF the shit wrestlers to hold the IC title. He is citing an example.

 

How does that kill the report? The point of the article is not the IC title. Everyone here knows the title has been severely devalued. You can name one example, or name all of the bad IC champs; it has all been well-documented before. For you to assert that a passing comment about Albert discredits the whole report is absurd.. an insult to all the work this guy put in.

 

Bringing in bias? There is nothing personally biased in saying Albert was a bad IC champ. No good matches EVER. No crowd response EVER. No good promos EVER. No identifiable charisma at all. A horrifically out-of-shape physique. If it is your JOB to present yourself as a formidable physical specimen, shouldn't you at least be in some shape? Actually look like a threat? He has probably the most revolting body aside from Rikishi and Big Show. If he had some other positive attributes, that could maybe be looked past, but the guy makes no effort to improve his game, get in shape, establish an actual personality/character, you name it.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

...He has some pretty funky moves.

[Guest OnlyMe]

I'd say that the bias would lie in "all hosses suck" and lumping Albert in there without really looking at it more carefully. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Albert is *good*, but like I said - he's the best of the bad.

 

I've neved said "all hosses suck", and if I implied it, it is entirely unintentional. Honest!

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

It's just that people think that smarks are generally biased against hosses. Which is not true - sure, we love to make fun of them and stuff - but I wouldn't say 'biased'.

 

I didn't say that you were biased, I just said where the bias came into play (at least, that's the only place I could see it come into play).

[Guest JDMattitudeV1]

My main problem with the World Title is with the way it was created. Bischoff just walks to the ring and hands HHH the title, and they expect people to buy it as being on an equal level to the WWE Title. I mean would it have been difficult to have somebody (most likely HHH) win a tournament or a battle royal of something. That’s why Smackdown's tag titles aren't considered "fake titles", as there was a fantastic tournament with some of the worlds greatest wrestlers competing for them.

[Guest AndrewTS]

My main problem with the World Title is with the way it was created. Bischoff just walks to the ring and hands HHH the title, and they expect people to buy it as being on an equal level to the WWE Title. I mean would it have been difficult to have somebody (most likely HHH) win a tournament or a battle royal of something. That’s why Smackdown's tag titles aren't considered "fake titles", as there was a fantastic tournament with some of the worlds greatest wrestlers competing for them.

HHH was handed the title and then he beat Ric Flair. I think that was supposed to be considered making him a legit champion.

 

If so, where's Rico, Jericho, and RVD's title shots?

[Guest OnlyMe]

HHH was handed the title and then he beat Ric Flair. I think that was supposed to be considered making him a legit champion.

 

It would have made a lot more difference (not to me, but to the smark community in general) if the HHH / Flair match was for the title in the first place.

 

They could even have done the ego-stroking with HHH by having Bischoff put him in the match, then having Flair come out and do his nostalgia pop thing.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Anyone notice how HHH has the belt molded to his waist?

[Guest AndrewTS]

HHH was handed the title and then he beat Ric Flair. I think that was supposed to be considered making him a legit champion.

 

It would have made a lot more difference (not to me, but to the smark community in general) if the HHH / Flair match was for the title in the first place.

 

They could even have done the ego-stroking with HHH by having Bischoff put him in the match, then having Flair come out and do his nostalgia pop thing.

That may have been the plan all along but HHH didn't think that stroked his ego enough.

 

However, since Ric hasn't held a World Title in years and the last time he did he still looked like crap, I don't see how that would have made HHH look like a more legit champion. Well, maybe slightly, but not much more.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

WWE Fan #1: Whooooo hooooo! HHH is tha champ~!

 

WWE Fan #2: YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!! He's da GAAAAAAAME!

 

WWE Fan #3: BOO YEAH! Way to beat an Old man!

 

WWE Fan #4: DAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN BOUT! DAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN BOUT! BOO YEAH~! BOO YEAH! Way to beat... an... old... man...?

 

(Collective sigh)

[Guest JDMattitudeV1]

WWE Fan #1: Whooooo hooooo! HHH is tha champ~!

 

WWE Fan #2: YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!! He's da GAAAAAAAME!

 

WWE Fan #3: BOO YEAH! Way to beat an Old man!

 

WWE Fan #4: DAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN BOUT! DAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN BOUT! BOO YEAH~! BOO YEAH! Way to beat... an... old... man...?

 

(Collective sigh)

LOL I think you've just described every Raw brand main event for the next year. Unless of course a young, up and comming talent starts getting over, then of course he will have to eat a pedigree.

[Guest MixxMaster]

They should call Brock's the World Title and HHH's the World International Title.

World International??? talk about an oxymoron... the World IS international, it's overkill...why not just RAW Heavyweight Title and Smackdown! Heavyweight Title?