Bret Hart/Mania. possible Benoit WM plans

[jester 0]

I don't care if Evolution, the entire heel roster, and the US Marine Corps jumps Benoit and beats him down before the WMXX match, thereby "justifying" his not going over.

 

At Wrestlemania, faces overcome insane odds to win. That is all.

 

If Benoit can't do it, this is what? The fifth time he's been close to the gold and couldn't do it?

 

And this is what, the fifth or sixth competitor who can't get the job done against HHH?

 

He loses at Mania, his momentum is dead.

 

Yes, there are some "good" reasons to keep the belt on HHH, or give it to HBK. There is ALWAYS a good reason not to give it to the new guy. Sooner or later they have to take a chance.

 

How about this for a change? Benoit wins at WM. And despite HHH pulling out all the stops and dirty tricks to get the belt off him at Backlash, Benoit retains with a clean win, thereby cementing him as a new superstar?

[Kaertos 0]

Doesn't WWE screw faces in their hometowns all the time?  I mean, I know Angle won the gold in Sept. 2001, but that was more due to the "patriotism" surrounding the terroist attcacks at the time, verified when Austin was given back the belt two weeks later.  My negativity says that unless the ice melts in Canada and floods half the country, Benoit has no real reason to win in Edmonton either.

To be fair, Angle was already champ when 9-11 happened. Fortuitous planning, as it turned out.

[humongous2002 0]

If Benoit DOESN'T win at 'Mania, every member of the IWC will be fully justified in bitching about it.

 

That is all.

Amen to that, i knew that as soon as HBFey and Triple cHHHin got back together shit like Benoit getting buried would happen, just look at RVD,Jericho,Book, anyone on RAW that isn't called Orton,Batista or the Vanilla Jobbers.

[NYU 0]

Doesn't WWE screw faces in their hometowns all the time?  I mean, I know Angle won the gold in Sept. 2001, but that was more due to the "patriotism" surrounding the terroist attcacks at the time, verified when Austin was given back the belt two weeks later.  My negativity says that unless the ice melts in Canada and floods half the country, Benoit has no real reason to win in Edmonton either.

To be fair, Angle was already champ when 9-11 happened. Fortuitous planning, as it turned out.

 

Nope. Angle won the title at Unforgiven, which was September 23rd, 2001. They weren't going to originally put the title on him there but did it just to console, in some way, the American WWE fans. The original plan for Unforgiven was revealed a few weeks later when Regal turned on Angle, allowing Austin to win the title on that Raw in October.

[Kaertos 0]

Did some checking on that. I was wrong, but I swear to you I remember lookg over at my friend and saying "I bet the WWE is loving having Angle as their champ right now." Oh well...

[Guest Y2DAYDAY]

Apparently, the person who came up with that information from Meltzer and paraphrased it incorrectly didn't read the Observer correctly. Dave said Benoit is basically going to win at Mania or Backlash with the people in the know saying it will be the former, which is MANIA!!!

 

 

So the word right now is Benoit is going over at Mania!!

 

But there is nothing like reporting fake news and wasting 35 posts on it.

 

Not blaming the original poster but the person who made the original report.

[Brett Favre 0]

If Vince wants Bret badly, why can't Bret just say that he isn't coming unless Benoit pins both HHH and HBK?

[k thx 0]

I'm in the small minority that would rather see Benoit win the title in the headline match of a PPV in his hometown rather than halfway down the card in the 3rd most built up match at WMXX.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Meh... makes sense with the build they're doing now.

 

 

They seem to make it look like

 

Number 1 feud: HHH/HBK

Number 2 feud: HBK/Benoit

Number 3 feud: HHH/Benoit

 

 

So I'm guessing they think that they can wrap up the HHH/HBK feud for the time being with Michaels going over both guys and wrapping up the HBK/Benoit feud in Backlash. Then most likely Benoit'd drop the title to HHH at Badd Blood to complete the entire build.

Just to dumb this down for my own amusement.

 

In theory this means HHH will be putting over HBK AGAIN instead of Benoit.

 

Then HBK will put over Benoit instead...

 

and it'll all end with HHH beating Benoit...having never lost to Benoit.

 

So Benoit's dreams of beating the best on the biggest stage of all are realized HOW?

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Doesn't WWE screw faces in their hometowns all the time?  I mean, I know Angle won the gold in Sept. 2001, but that was more due to the "patriotism" surrounding the terroist attcacks at the time, verified when Austin was given back the belt two weeks later.  My negativity says that unless the ice melts in Canada and floods half the country, Benoit has no real reason to win in Edmonton either.

To be fair, Angle was already champ when 9-11 happened. Fortuitous planning, as it turned out.

No he wasn't.

 

He won the title a week and a half or so after 9-11 despite the feud pointing towards Austin winning before that.

 

Then he had a two week run where he jobbed every match and then lost it back.

[Guest Anglesault]

Doesn't WWE screw faces in their hometowns all the time?  I mean, I know Angle won the gold in Sept. 2001, but that was more due to the "patriotism" surrounding the terroist attcacks at the time, verified when Austin was given back the belt two weeks later.  My negativity says that unless the ice melts in Canada and floods half the country, Benoit has no real reason to win in Edmonton either.

To be fair, Angle was already champ when 9-11 happened. Fortuitous planning, as it turned out.

No he wasn't.

 

He won the title a week and a half or so after 9-11 despite the feud pointing towards Austin winning before that.

 

Then he had a two week run where he jobbed every match and then lost it back.

Yeah. The original plan was to kill any chance of Angle being a viable contender ever again.

 

He blew it at Summerslam

 

Regal was gonna cause him to lose at Unforgiven

 

Austin was gonna win a submission match at No Mercy.

[Guest MikeSC]

I'm probably in the minority here (screw that, I'm definitely in the minority here) but I don't think that Benoit losing at Mania will "kill his cred". While I agree that it'll look better for Benoit to win at WMXX, it's not like he'll be a laughingstock if he wins it one month later. Smarks will love him regardless, and marks don't analyze things like where and when he won the belt as much as smarks do. And I truly think that the pop he'd receive for winning the belt in Edmonton would outweigh the one that he'd receive for winning in NYC.

 

I can see a scenario where Benoit is about to win, but Michaels sneaks in and gets a cheap pin. He wins, but Benoit was robbed. He won't lose credibility if he was the one that deserved to win. That sets up the rematch the next month, and Benoit wins then. Would I want it that way? No. But do I see that happening? Yes.

Let's be honest:

 

Even if Benoit DOES win at WM, there will be bitching because he didn't pin both of them.

-=Mike

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Your right Mike.

 

So obviously the prooper thing to do is have Benoit pin no one and then job to HHH down the line.

 

good call.

[Guest Anglesault]

Your right Mike.

 

So obviously the prooper thing to do is have Benoit pin no one and then job to HHH down the line.

 

good call.

Well, why delude ourselves?

[Guest Loss]

Oh, come ON.

 

Oh well, keep hating the product. It's certainly your prerogative. I'll just enjoy the obvious company turnaround that's happening right before our eyes.

[Guest Anglesault]

I'll just enjoy the obvious company turnaround that's happening right before our eyes.

And I'll keep looking for it.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

By company I'll assume you mean Smackdown.

 

Because RAW's show is business as usual.

 

Riddle me this Loss, when Benoit wins the title at Backlash...is HHH suddenly not going to be the top guy on the show anymore?

[Guest MikeSC]

Your right Mike.

 

So obviously the prooper thing to do is have Benoit pin no one and then job to HHH down the line.

 

good call.

Quite frankly, I'm almost HOPING he jobs just to see how asininely irrational this board will become.

-=Mike

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

How is speaking out against the wrong thing irrational?

[Guest Loss]

By company I'll assume you mean Smackdown.

 

Because RAW's show is business as usual.

 

Riddle me this Loss, when Benoit wins the title at Backlash...is HHH suddenly not going to be the top guy on the show anymore?

I do not think he will be. There's no reason for me to think that. But there's also no reason for me to think they're going to screw up Benoit's push, since it has not happened at this point, and he's not looking remotely like Jericho did at this stage of his "push", nor Angle in late 2000-early 2001.

[cawthon777 0]

IMO, this match WILL be the final bout of the night. It's been more or less signed since the day after the Rumble and has received the most heat over the past few weeks.

 

They certainly won't give it to Taker / Kane. Eddie / Angle was just formally made a few days ago. Goldberg / Brock ... give the main event spot on the biggest show of the year to a guy who's leaving? I don't think so.

 

So it basically boils down to how does the WWE want to close WrestleMania. Do they let Triple H go over on a screwjob and have Benoit get post-match redemption from the crowd (ala Rock at WrestleMania 2000)? Do they have Shawn go over, offically saying we would rather put the belt on a guy who hit his prime 10 years ago? ... Or ... and this is just a hypothetical, do they go the normal WrestleMania route and pass the torch to the new guy?

 

Last year it was Brock ... this year it's Benoit.

 

While the WWE has let the wildcard walk out of the big match with the belt (Foley at Summer Slam 99), WrestleMania is not the time nor the place for that kind of booking. I hope someone with authority realizes this.

[Guest Anglesault]

By company I'll assume you mean Smackdown.

 

Because RAW's show is business as usual.

 

Riddle me this Loss, when Benoit wins the title at Backlash...is HHH suddenly not going to be the top guy on the show anymore?

I do not think he will be. There's no reason for me to think that.

Except, of course, the last two years.

[Guest Loss]

Except, of course, the last two years.

Rephrase -- I do still expect HHH to be the top guy, but I do not expect Benoit to be treated like garbage as a result. That's what I meant.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I don't expect him to be treated like garbage either.

 

I expect him to beat Shawn at Backlash, and then hold the title until HHH beats him for it at say...*looks at WWE calender* SummerSlam.

 

That'll give him a nice 4 month run where he can defend against...oh wait...there are no heels on RAW

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Meh... makes sense with the build they're doing now.

 

 

They seem to make it look like

 

Number 1 feud: HHH/HBK

Number 2 feud: HBK/Benoit

Number 3 feud: HHH/Benoit

 

 

So I'm guessing they think that they can wrap up the HHH/HBK feud for the time being with Michaels going over both guys and wrapping up the HBK/Benoit feud in Backlash. Then most likely Benoit'd drop the title to HHH at Badd Blood to complete the entire build.

Just to dumb this down for my own amusement.

 

In theory this means HHH will be putting over HBK AGAIN instead of Benoit.

 

Then HBK will put over Benoit instead...

 

and it'll all end with HHH beating Benoit...having never lost to Benoit.

 

So Benoit's dreams of beating the best on the biggest stage of all are realized HOW?

It doesn't. It screws Benoit completely. Which is what HHH wanted all along.

[Guest PowerPB13]

Hell, why should I wait till Mania? To see how badly they screw over Benoit?

 

Why bother with Smackdown to see how quickly they sabotage Eddy's push?

 

No time like the present to quit watching wrestling.

 

-Patrick

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I have no problem with what their doing on Smackdown with the title.

 

I fully expect Eddy to win at Mania...giving him wins over Brock and Angle in back to back shows.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

And to follow up my last post, you must also remember it was HHH who lobbied to get Michaels in the match, AFTER lobbying to get Benoit over to Raw. This clearly indicates:

 

HHH wants his match at Mania to look good and what better way than surround himself with two great workers?

 

HHH knows he has to drop the title to go off to film his cowboy movie or whatever it is.

 

He doesn't want to look bad, so he figures that he could have Michaels going over and having Benoit win it from him the next month while HHH gets to look strong for his next feud (In which he will probably go over in).

 

 

 

And you actually expected Benoit to fulfill his dreams? This is HHH we're talking about.

[Guest Loss]

And to follow up my last post, you must also remember it was HHH who lobbied to get Michaels in the match, AFTER lobbying to get Benoit over to Raw. This clearly indicates:

 

HHH wants his match at Mania to look good and what better way than surround himself with two great workers?

Not that I'm normally one to defend HHH, but is that exactly a crime? To want to have good matches? What should he do, lobby for another Nash feud?

 

HHH knows he has to drop the title to go off to film his cowboy movie or whatever it is.

 

He doesn't want to look bad, so he figures that he could have Michaels going over and having Benoit win it from him the next month while HHH gets to look strong for his next feud (In which he will probably go over in).

 

I think there's probably some truth in that, but I don't think Benoit is going to come out of this being perceived by fans as the worst wrestler in the company who chokes every time he gets an opportunity, which seems to be the mindset.

 

And you actually expected Benoit to fulfill his dreams? This is HHH we're talking about.

 

This is also Wrestlemania. If they weren't serious about Benoit's push, why would they have him break the all-time stamina record to win the Rumble? He's already a step ahead of Booker last year in that regard.

[Guest Brian]

And besides, HHH needed fresh meat to keep having good matches.