WON Notes

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

WWE News:

 

-The reason for new signings of Chuck, Jindrak, HOG and Test is that Vince told Johnny Ace that due to last firings WWE had some spending money for low downsides for some midcard talent. The criteria given to Ace were: 6'2" "naturally" big guys.

 

-Rosey was supposed to team up with the returning Jamal to reprise 3 Minute Warning, but the idea was dropped, and Rosey was fired.

 

-Charlie Haas has done only one OVW match since being signed and is still taking indy bookings that are approved by WWE.

 

-London and Kendrick maybe beating MNM for the tag belts soon, as they are listed as defending champions in some house show ads for shows after 'Mania.

 

-Helms is too injured to wrestle at 'Mania.

 

-Moore will come in as a heel to work against Super Crazy on SmackDown after Mania.

 

 

 

SNME fallout

 

-Internally, WWE felt that it was not as important as the Homecoming show to USA, but nobody quite expected to get the low ratings that they got. NBC pulled a 4.7 from the week before with their own weak lineup, so the argument that WWE did better than other programming in that slot for the network is false. NCAA tourney was a non-factor as outside of the Final Four games it never made a dent on wrestling programming ratings before. NBC has not yet made a comment to WWE about how they feel about the low ratings, but the feeling among WWE people is that once NBC fulfills their contractual obligations for the other SNMEs, they won't make a new deal for it.

 

-Part of the original SNME charm was that it was a rare chance to see Hogan wrestle on free live TV, which he almost never did on usual programming, and non-squash matches. Dave equates the problem of SNME with the Clash of Champions after Nitro started, as Nitro made Clash meaningless because it gave away the matches that made Clashes feel special.

 

-The ratings progressed throughout the show, and only dipped a little for the Henry and Daivari interview segment, but went right back up once 'Taker showed up.

 

 

MMA Roundup:

 

-UFC at Staples Center in LA for the Gracie vs. Hugher fight will likely be the biggest gate in the history of MMA and will probably make more money that three out of the four 'Manias held in California. (XXI, which was also held in Staples, will probably not be beaten).

 

-PRIDE is trying to get the ring allowed in California, where currently only the cage is allowed.

 

-Elbow strikes are becoming an issue in California, as the commission was at the Strike Force show in San Jose and felt that there were discrepanies over what was allowed and what wasn't, so they want to figure out whether they'll be banned or not to create streamlined rules for MMA.

 

-Seamless gloves are being discussed for Cali as well, because the commission feels the seams on the regular gloves can cause cuts and stoppage of fights.

 

-No mixed shows will be allowed. So no combination of boxing, kickboxing or San Shou bouts on an MMA show. Only one set of rules will be allowed per each show.

 

-Alexander Emelianenko wants to quit PRIDE and work for K-1, who are offering him better money.

 

 

Japan News:

 

-NJPW drew disasterously in Sumo Hall Show on 3/19. The crowd was barely 4,500, but was announced at 7,500. Akebono vs. Lesnar was not received well. The whole buildup to the show was whether or not Lesnar could get Ake up for F5. Lesnar went for it early, but Ake hit a backsuplex to block it. The rest of the match went okay, but the crowd wasn't into it, and in the end, Lesnar blocked Ake's low-chokeslam (nodowa), and then hit a DDT for the pin, deflating the crowd.

 

-King's Road is working NJPW, but King's Road's stars are not getting a reaction from NJPW crowds, who don't feel these guys are important.

 

-Big Mouth Loud and NJPW are at odds after Uwai (President of BML) pulled Shibata from a rematch with Tanahashi. The deal was supposed to be Shibata goes over Tanahashi at Tokyo Dome, and then Tanahashi gets his win back at Sumo Hall. Shibata went over at Tokyo, but at the last second, Uwai pulled Shibata from a rematch saying it was too early to do it. Choshu is pissed and said he will never do business with Uwai again.

 

-NOAH is doing well, which Dave credits to their smart booking that protects their stars and what he calls an old school philosophy (he compares it to Mushnick's running of the St. Louis territory, and since that was waaaay before my time, I'll leave it to people that actually seen it to compare and contrast and discuss that)

 

-Dave pimps Morishima as the future of NOAH.

 

Misc Non-Fed News:

 

-The company that is selling the Chyna/Syxx sex tape are saying they sold more than 100,000 copies.

 

-Maven will be "booked" on Surreal Life as an a-hole that wants to show off his body, but was really nice to everyone on the show and the production crew liked working with him.

 

-Mark "Smelly" Bell, an ex-UPW guy, became one of the strongest men in wrestling, by winning a weightlifting competition, where he deadlifted 617 lbs. Only Scott Norton, Ted Arcadi, and Kazmier have done more.

 

 

Trials and Tribulations of TNA:

 

-Dave feels TNA is screwed, because they cannot expand outside of their core audience with their current booking strategy, and don't have a budget to compete with WWE in terms of production, stars, or marketting; yet TNA right now is trying to present themselves as WWE-like, which it obviously can't pull off.

 

They are having a hard time establishing themselves as an alternative, and seem to be trying to emulate WWE.

 

Dave questions the philosophy of cramming as many matches as possible into a single hour of programming and not giving X-Division guys enough time to develop a match. He contrasts this with ECW, who never had a strong lead in and were never in a position to benefit themselves as much as TNA is, but did better because they sometimes only had two matches on their shows, but built hot angles around it and made the matches seem special.

 

-Plymouth, MI show did very well, and although ICP promoted it, most of the fans came in because of TNA and not ICP. Dave doesn't understand the wisdom of having Scotty D'Amore do a Canadian Destroyer on the show, as a "super hot move" should not be made to seem like a manager can pull it off.

 

-Lots and lots of media pub for TNA angles with White Sox.

 

-Spike Dudley is probably going to come in to TNA.

 

-More on the BG James and Kip situation. BG was getting $1,000 per appearance with TNA. Kip got 2,500 for PPV and 1,500 for TV. BG wanted more, and management told him that due to losing 24 mil, they cannot give it to him. When BG complained, they told him that if he wanted, they would the money away from Kip and give some to him and he could explain to Kip why that happened (personal sidenote, that's fucked up). When this was said to BG, he told them he was quitting. At this point, management told Kip that if BG quits, he would be fired, because without BG, they'd have nothing for Kip to do. So, BG and Kip worked out with TNA a deal. Both are now getting 1,250 for TV and 1.750 for PPV.

 

-Konnan is getting experimental hip therapy by a doctor that performed this type of procedure on two members of the US Olympic skiing team. If successful, other wrestlers will follow suit.

[Vampiro69 0]

Gee Lesnar and Akebono not going over well, whoda thunk it?

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

SNME 2nd show has been moved from june to July 15th now

[haVoc 0]

You would think they would try to get a SNME closer to Summerslam.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

WON also state that there were 5 different endings to the Shane/Shawn match bantered about, but Vince's old yes men went with the Montreal version because they knew Vince is obsessed with it yet, and would help put them in a favorable light.

 

Vince is becoming more insulated creatively with his only real contacts being HHH, Steffi and the old guard.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Antonio Inoki suggested that New japan make the Akebono vs Brock match a no ropes match to play off of both men’s legit shoot backgrounds

 

Razor Ramon HG has gotten some heat with Japan’s GLAAD groups

 

Bret hart and Vince McMahon have both been interviewed by Sports Illustrated separately as it relates to Bret’s HOF induction and their past

 

Dave tells the story of Maria Bernardi, a woman who started wrestling in 1938 at the age of 12 (anyone ever start younger than that?) She died recently and was big in the Cauliflower Alley Banquets.

 

She spoke up negatively about Vince McMahon in 1991 and thus the WWF associates were forbidden from going to the event. Stu Hart heard that Thesz and buddy Rogers would both be there and wanted to go, so the WWF gave him intentionally wrong directions and he ended up hopelessly lost on the freeway.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

The Chyna sex tape BTW outsold Hogan's last DVD

[haVoc 0]

Razor Ramon HG has gotten some heat with Japan’s GLAAD groups

 

There's not one part of this that I don't need explaining. Lets start with who and why.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Barry Windham is being pushed by Dusty for an agent's job

 

OVW has Pat Buck doing an Adrien Street gimmick calling him self the Erotic Erraticator

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Dave suggests that Chad Wick was ribbed for being a homosexual in real life

 

Joe Walsh, of music fame was signed to appear @ SSlam 95 and Vince later nixed it and paid him to not be there. You can now buy his contract among other celebrities on ebay Dave says (I wonder if he meant the WWE auction site?)

 

Terry Funk will ref a Cena vs HHH match in Armarillio in Mid may

 

Michelle mcCool had bigger breast implants put in this week

[Vampiro69 0]

Michelle mcCool had bigger breast implants put in this week

 

She did not need bigger impants in my opinion. I thought she was quite attractive the way she was. In fact I would place her just below Maria and Trish on the hotness level.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Dave tells the story of Maria Bernardi, a woman who started wrestling in 1938 at the age of 12 (anyone ever start younger than that?) She died recently and was big in the Cauliflower Alley Banquets.

 

She spoke up negatively about Vince McMahon in 1991 and thus the WWF associates were forbidden from going to the event. Stu Hart heard that Thesz and buddy Rogers would both be there and wanted to go, so the WWF gave him intentionally wrong directions and he ended up hopelessly lost on the freeway.

 

WWE = All Class

[AndrewTS 0]

Michelle mcCool had bigger breast implants put in this week

 

She did not need bigger impants in my opinion. I thought she was quite attractive the way she was. In fact I would place her just below Maria and Trish on the hotness level.

 

 

Agreed. Plus, she actually has athletic ability--which isn't to say she has wrestling ability--but if they train her for the ring she should do quite well.

 

However, she's a terrible speaker and shouldn't be put anywhere near a mic without plenty of practice/coaching.

[mfn 0]

You would think they would try to get a SNME closer to Summerslam.

no no, that's thinking logical, and we all know McMahon can't do that.

[Hawk 34 0]

You would think they would try to get a SNME closer to Summerslam.

no no, that's thinking logical, and we all know McMahon can't do that.

 

Vince, can't tell NBC when to slot the next SNME. If NBC had a say in the matter, they wouldn't even give another slot to the joke that is SNME. They probably just want to get those obligated shows out of the way, as they couldn't care when it suits WWE the best.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Bret hart and Vince McMahon have both been interviewed by Sports Illustrated separately as it relates to Bret’s HOF induction and their past

Can someone tell me why Sports Illustrated is paying attention to a non-sport like pro wrestling?

[2GOLD 0]

Bret hart and Vince McMahon have both been interviewed by Sports Illustrated separately as it relates to Bret’s HOF induction and their past

Can someone tell me why Sports Illustrated is paying attention to a non-sport like pro wrestling?

 

Cause other than the NCAA tournament, there really isn't much for them to talk about right now.

[Hawk 34 0]

Bret hart and Vince McMahon have both been interviewed by Sports Illustrated separately as it relates to Bret’s HOF induction and their past

Can someone tell me why Sports Illustrated is paying attention to a non-sport like pro wrestling?

 

Cause other than the NCAA tournament, there really isn't much for them to talk about right now.

 

Except for the start of the baseball season, NBA approaching playoff time, the start of Indy season, NHL still going, the retirement of Tagliabue, the crazy NFL free agency... yeah there's nothing else in sports going on.

 

The Montreal situation is probably the only non death related, non anti-wrestling topic mentiond in conventional sports media. That being said, it's not like wrestling hasn't been covered by SI before.

[Guest Euronymous]

Razor Ramon HG has gotten some heat with Japan’s GLAAD groups

 

There's not one part of this that I don't need explaining. Lets start with who and why.

Razor Ramon HG is a Japanese comedy wrestler who's immensely popular over there. HG stands for Hard Gay. He humps everyone and everything and is somewhat of a cult item in Japan. Rico's gimmick doesn't reach the heels of HG. I've seen clips of him humping babies.

 

GLAAD: Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

[Hawk 34 0]

How did they get to use the name Razor Ramon, without WWE going lawsuit on them?

 

Is there a working agreement or does WWE not care?

[Guest Euronymous]

Haven't got a clue. Although he formed a comedy duo in 1997 which was called Razor Ramon. He's been using that name ever since, I guess. Most of the time he goes around as HG or Hard Gay, though, without the Razor Ramon.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Here is the WWE stuff from WON, but with a little more detail:

 

“It took 15 years for WWE to return to NBC. But it only took one night for the people involved in negotiating the deal to be embarrassed”

 

SNME drew a 3.11 final rating and 5.15 million viewers (combined live and same-day video/TiVO watching)

 

Out of 82 prime time shows on the big four networks during the week, SNMW was 80, only beating The Loop on Fox on Thursday a repeat airing of Conviction on NBC that followed after.

 

Various market rating ranged from 1.8 in San Francisco to 3.8 in Los Angeles.

 

Blaming the NCAA game holds no water. Early rounds have never affected WWE ratings. Only the Final college basketball national championship, a strong NBA final, Monday Night Football, the World Series (or Red Sox-Yankees playoff games) have ever been shown to have any serious effect on WWE ratings in the past.

 

Only possible silver lining as that the 18-49 age group was the best Saturday Night number for NBC since the Olympics.

 

WWE did not see SNME as much of a priority as they did with the 10/3 Homecoming show.

 

Some thought they should have followed the 10/3 format on hyping and delivering a debut show.

 

The rating showed that pro wrestling has a strong and loyal cable-sized or UPN sized audience, but picked up few new viewers.

 

It could be that fans weren’t that interested in what was advertised, or it could be that three prime time shows in one week is too much.

 

Compared it to how Nitro killed the Clash concept by giving away weekly what used to be a special event.

 

The commercial side of things was bad as well. It’s worth it for UPN because even with lower ad rates it only costs them $750,000 per week for the show, less then most 30 minutes shows, so it still winds up making money for them. With NBV being unable to get numbers even comparable to rerun Saturday night programming it changes the economics. Said the commercials that did air made it look like NBC had become cable programming for the night.

 

Dave called the show entertaining. Said dragged about 90 minutes in with the Undertaker-Mark Henry segment, but the rating generally rose, going from 2.8 to 3.6, showing that few people were turning off.

 

Blaming only having three matches is missing the point, because the real problem was not enough was there to interest people enough into giving it a look in the first place.

 

QH breakdowns were: 2.8 (opening interviews and beginning of Raw vs. SD match), 2.7 (match finish; Booker T/Sharmell angle), 2.8 (Foley/Edge/Lita segment, 3.0 (JBL promo), 3.5 (beer drinking contest, women’s match), 3.2 (Henry and Daivari promo), 3.3 (Undertaker/Henry angle, start of Michaels vs. Shane), and 3.6 (main event)

 

With two hours on Monday and two more on Friday, either the casual audience had their fill or this is the extent of the audience right now.

 

Total viewership was slightly higher than the average Raw this season but lower than in recent weeks, including likely less than the Raw two nights later. It was also below the typical Thursday night SD, but well above Friday numbers.

 

Equaling the Raw number is disastrous because Raw is available in 82% of homes while NBC is in virtually every home.

 

Saturday night didn’t help but you can only use that as an excuse when the number is equal to or bigger than the 4.7 that NBC pulled the previous Saturday.

 

The best thing on the show may have been the beer drinking contest, which had nothing to do with Wrestlemania, or the Booker T/Sharmell angle, which has nothing important to do with WM.

 

Shawn vs. Shane was probably Shawn’s best match in a while, but the finish was a groaner of major proportions with live reports saying the kids didn’t care, because they were there for Cena, and the adults who were fans for a long time were long since sick of it.

 

The finish was designed to tease Bret Hart appearing, as doing that for Summerslam helped that get a big buy rate (And before anyone jumps in, on a recent WOL Dave said that HBK/Hogan was a part of what drew the buy rate as well, but that the Bret deal also helped a lot)

 

As of Saturday, no plans involving Bret were being written or talked about for WM, but they’ll still make a push for him to do something.

 

The finish to the streetfight changed about five times in the 24hrs leading up to the match, with one description of how it ended up that way being that the yes men on creative pushed for it feeling that it would put them over with Vince with them knowing how he obsess over Montreal. Also mentions that Vince has become even more insulated from everyone except Stephanie, HHH and the “old guard yes men”.

 

Said the streetfight couldn’t have been better and had excellent heat down the home stretch until the finish.

 

Said it was almost surreal watching Ross announce is if everything that went down last year had never happened. Said Ross was the same Ross, which is better than Michael Cole or the castrated version of Joey Styles.

 

SNME aired on about a 50 minute tape delay (I don’t think I’ve seen anyone on here bring that point up, even though spoilers were coming up on the Observer site before SNME started airing)

 

The message during the Raw vs. SD match, loud and clear, was that the Raw wrestlers are on a higher plane than Smackdown wrestlers. The match was even laid out specifically for the audience to come to that conclusion. HHH was almost exclusively referred to as “The Game”, and was made into the big star, and kind of top babyface, when he laid out both Rey Mysterio and John Cena with pedigrees. The later was perhaps the biggest pop of the show, due to Cena being so heavily booed.

 

Match ratings:

 

Raw vs. SD match: **1/4 (Dave mentions that even against three SD main event guys on his own, Cena still won clean)

 

Women’s match: no rating

 

Shane vs. Shawn: ***1/4

 

Talked about the drug testing and reiterated that it’s usually the dumb users who get caught, and also said that, for now, the wrestlers are taking the testing seriously as many of them have changed physically in the last month or so.

 

Hunter vs. Cena was the plan since pretty much WM a year ago with Hunter winning always the planned result, although it could it always change up to the last minute.

 

Mysterio was put in the SD three-way because of the response he was getting going into No Way Out and the belief that he is a genuine drawing card, and is similar to Cena in that he brings in the kids, but unlike Cena there is no backlash.

 

Hogan vs. Austin was talked about until November when Austin pulled out of Taboo Tuesday. Dave says he’d be shocked if they gave the match away with no build up, but thinks it would be a great idea to start a tease for next year’s WM at the Hall of Fame.

 

The reason behind Chuck Palumbo and others being re-signed is because Vince told John Laurinaitis that the downsides on the payroll are low enough after the ten recent firings that they have room for some additions. He only wanted guys who were 6-2 or taller, to work the midcard, and wanted naturally big guys.

 

It’s been months since Jamal and Charlie Haas were signed and Jamal isn’t even at developmental and Haas was only at OVW briefly and is still working Indies.

 

No Way Out is listed at 180,000b buys.

 

London and Kendrick may be winning the tag title soon as post-WM house show advertising as them defending the belts against Noble.

 

Says Lashley getting pinned on Smackdown on 3/17 was weak thinks he could be just a year away from superstar potential, although he does need to work on his promos. Says if they had just had Finlay work with him for 10:00 every night at house shows and kept him on OVW and then debuted him in one year they could have made him a huge draw from day one. As it is, they are now playing catch up, and that is not easy. Compares it to Kurt Angle and how Angle could have been a big draw but they kept him in the nerd role for so long it from the get go that it killed his drawing potential.

 

Chris Cage (Chris Pavone) was fired when they taped a series of vignettes if Cage and Miz partying at South Padre Island in Texas and Cage kept partying even after returning to Louisville and wound up being hospitalized.

 

There are rumblings of a Cena/HHH double turn at WM, but TV seems to indicate they are still working their asses off at getting Cena cheered. People have been pushing Hunter to turn face but he’s been negative to it, though his playing the cool heel may have meaning to it.

 

Carlito is getting bad reactions from the press who interview him due to his staying in character the whole time. During one telephone interview, Carlito was asked about the handling of the death of Eddie Guerrero when a voice suddenly cut in and said that Carlito was not on Smackdown and so was not able to answer the question. The reporter was never told that somebody would be listening in on the interview.

 

Close friends of Hawk were very offended by the promo Animal did when he turned heel, over his saying he had to carry the Road Warriors because Hawk was always drugged up. Dave mentions that the sad part is that it’s pretty much true that Animal was always looking after Hawk and making sure he didn’t do anything really stupid, so a lot of the anger could be because what Animal said was true.

 

Anti-Cena signs were confiscated before the Raw in Memphis.

 

Dusty Rhodes was pushing for Barry Windham to be made an agent, but Windham has a bad reputation and is seen as unreliable. Rhodes is also high on Roadkill, and there is an idea to bring in Roadkill and Kasey James in as a tag team at some point.

 

Ken Doane has incredible heat with everyone in OVW, to the point that people not only let the air out of his tires and the like, but that they do it right in front of him. A number of wrestlers even confronted him and told him to shape up because he’s got a lot of talent, and Doane got even more heat when he responded with, “Yeah, whatever”.

[mfn 0]

You would think they would try to get a SNME closer to Summerslam.

no no, that's thinking logical, and we all know McMahon can't do that.

 

Vince, can't tell NBC when to slot the next SNME. If NBC had a say in the matter, they wouldn't even give another slot to the joke that is SNME. They probably just want to get those obligated shows out of the way, as they couldn't care when it suits WWE the best.

I agree with you. I just think that if Vince could have booked a better SNME he could have gotten one closer to SummerSlam.

[haVoc 0]

Saturday night didn’t help but you can only use that as an excuse when the number is equal to or bigger than the 4.7 that NBC pulled the previous Saturday.

 

People go out Saturdays and/or forgot about this show.

 

QH breakdowns were: 2.8 (opening interviews and beginning of Raw vs. SD match), 2.7 (match finish; Booker T/Sharmell angle), 2.8 (Foley/Edge/Lita segment, 3.0 (JBL promo), 3.5 (beer drinking contest, women’s match), 3.2 (Henry and Daivari promo), 3.3 (Undertaker/Henry angle, start of Michaels vs. Shane), and 3.6 (main event)

 

They didn't have a strong start, but people began to turn in as the show went on. The people that were home that night must have remembered or stumbled across it. The ratings and parts of the show were disappointing, but to say Saturday night didn't make a difference is bullshit.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

London and Kendrick may be winning the tag title soon as post-WM house show advertising as them defending the belts against Noble.

I'm assuming that is supposed to read "Noble & Kid Kash". That's sure to produce some great matches, but where does that leave MNM?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

London and Kendrick may be winning the tag title soon as post-WM house show advertising as them defending the belts against Noble.

I'm assuming that is supposed to read "Noble & Kid Kash". That's sure to produce some great matches, but where does that leave MNM?

If Noble and Kash have been teaming, then I guess it is.

 

MNM will probably be used to try and build up another team, probably the former penises.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Yeah, Noble & Kash have teamed up 3 (or so) times on Velocity.

 

MNM will probably be used to try and build up another team, probably the former penises.

What a waste. This company has no clue what to do with MNM. They could easily be a top face or heel team, and maybe even a decent draw due to Melina, but it's often a crapshoot if they'll be on SD on any given week. It's ridiculous that they're not even booked for WM.

[JimmyHendricks 0]

-Part of the original SNME charm was that it was a rare chance to see Hogan wrestle on free live TV, which he almost never did on usual programming, and non-squash matches. Dave equates the problem of SNME with the Clash of Champions after Nitro started, as Nitro made Clash meaningless because it gave away the matches that made Clashes feel special.

 

---I think this is a big reason SNME did so poorly--or at least didn't pick up very many new viewers. It wasn't anything more than an episode of RAW with Smackdown wrestlers on it. I truly feel that pro wrestling is doing poorly because everyone is so overexposed on TV. Why tune into SNME when you can see HHH and Cena on RAW every week?

 

 

Equaling the Raw number is disastrous because Raw is available in 82% of homes while NBC is in virtually every home.

 

It just goes to show that only the hardcores are watching now. And the ratings won't go up unless they do something original and shocking.

 

HHH: Twelve time World Champion isn't the answer, of course.

 

 

 

There are rumblings of a Cena/HHH double turn at WM, but TV seems to indicate they are still working their asses off at getting Cena cheered. People have been pushing Hunter to turn face but he’s been negative to it, though his playing the cool heel may have meaning to it.

 

---This is the biggest reason I hate HHH so much. He is a heel, yet he is the exact opposite of what a heel should be. A heel should be a chickenshit who only wins because they cheat, dupe, or screw over the competition. Jericho was a great heel champion (until Steph came into the picture). So was Austin. Corporate Rock kicked ass.

 

HHH goes out there, tells everyone (and his opponent) what he's going to do, and does EXACTLY that. He told Cena that he isn't a good wrestler, and that he will win at WM. King of Kings, blah blah blah. And you know what? That is exactly what will happen. He won't win with tons of interference from the outside. He won't win on a fluke. He will pedigree Cena and pin him cleanly in the middle of the ring just like he did with Booker T at WM XIX. That is not what a heel does--and that's why HHH enjoys being a "Cool Heel"--because he can get away with shit like this, and when the crowd doesn't overwhelmingly hate him, he can say it's because he's a great character.

 

No, Paul. It's because you constantly kick everyone's ass. It's hard to hate a winner, especially someone who does it convincingly all of the time.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

Actually, I loated Cena for jobbing Kenzo and Dupree into the ground

[SuperJerk 0]

WWE did not see SNME as much of a priority as they did with the 10/3 Homecoming show.

 

**scratches head**