RAW XV

[Enigma]

The only thing memorable about Gunn vs. Butterbean was Gorilla Monsoon at ringside as a judge and how frail and fragile he looked.

[Bix]

Well, that and the terrifyingly brutal knockout.

[Dobbs 3K]

At least Gunn was able to parlay his knockout of Dr. Death into a successful run in All Japan.

 

Anyway, that gets me thinking...is there any reason WWE hasn't tried to capitalize on the more recent success of UFC by introducing more shoot fighter style characters, or signing an established fighter? I know they tried with Bob Sapp, but it seems like there would be money to be made with tying into that market.

[Scroby]

They never tried with Bob Sapp. They couldn't get Bob Sapp to try to do anything with him. Which made Bobby Lashley one of the most luckiest guys to get a push. It was rumored Bob Sapp was suppose to do everything Lashley did in ECW.

[Hawk 34]

There's no money to be made because no MMA fans would take it seriously. WWE has tried their hand at MMA gimmicks and failed. You're going to be hard pressed to find any marketable MMA guys willing to jump ship.

[Diamonddust]

I think I remember Meltzer saying once that WWF really thought Gunn could beat Butterbean. So they weren't just setting him up to fail.

 

If they thought that, they were insane, and that's not my Alabama bias talking (Butterbean being from Jasper, Alabama).

[Hunter's Torn Quad]

I think I remember Meltzer saying once that WWF really thought Gunn could beat Butterbean. So they weren't just setting him up to fail.

The story was they considered Butterbean nothing more than a gimmick, and thought Gunn was tough enough to knock him out.

 

As for Bob Sapp, WWE wanted to bring him in for the spot Bobby Lashley wound up getting, but K-1 stepped in to block it, because they were in the midst of a contract dispute with Sapp at the time.

[Dobbs 3K]

That was my point, that they tried to get Sapp and apparently had big plans for him.

 

Anyway, I am probably one of the few that is not all that excited for this upcoming RAW. Sure, I'll be watching, because I do every week, pretty much out of habit. It's just that it seems like WWE has done a ton of TV "specials" over the last couple years, especially on RAW. I can't really get excited about Austin, Foley, Hogan, etc. because they show up fairly regularly and don't do anything truly meaningful anymore. Yeah, it'll be nice to see a few like Sunny, Gunn, etc. I just think people are getting a little over-hyped about this show.

[J.B. Buzzkill]

Not to be a buzzkill (but not J.B. Buzzkill), but I have a feeling I'm going to be FF'ing through a lot of this show.

 

[edgehead69]

Bart Gunn is confirmed?

 

I just want to see "Razor Ramon" one last time.

 

Maybe for old times sake, let him win the battle royal, just like 15 years ago.

 

Naa.. He wont show and blame food poisoning

 

 

Lita is winning that hottest diva thing and they appear to be hyping her return at WWE.COM. I can only imagine what they planned for her.

 

Lita will get mad at Edge for cheatin gon her with vickie, therfore making her face

 

 

I hope they have a montage thing for the past 15 years, like Desire. I'm a sucker for those.

 

YES! Watching the Wrestlemania Montages ALWAYS give me goosebumps and I hope these are no different

[Wally Balls]

I'm just expecting a night of nostalgia and nothing else. Jeff vs Carlito will be a nice little match with some good spots, regardless if it has any relevance at all.

 

I'm going to revel in the greatness of Hogan getting a mediocre pop though.

 

I would actually be fine if they didn't reference any actual feuds going on right now and just had random fun matches. I'm worried that the night will be full of dead heat from a lot of the fans not remembering who people are. I mean...people are going to be saying "Who the fuck is Bart Gunn?" "Sunny?" and so on and so on

[edgehead69]

I'm just expecting a night of nostalgia and nothing else. Jeff vs Carlito will be a nice little match with some good spots, regardless if it has any relevance at all.

 

I'm going to revel in the greatness of Hogan getting a mediocre pop though.

 

I would actually be fine if they didn't reference any actual feuds going on right now and just had random fun matches. I'm worried that the night will be full of dead heat from a lot of the fans not remembering who people are. I mean...people are going to be saying "Who the fuck is Bart Gunn?" "Sunny?" and so on and so on

 

But to Hogan.. A Mediocre Pop Will Inflate his ego by 1,000! And Will Still Say That Noyone Can Draw like Him....

[foleyfanforever88]

I'm just expecting a night of nostalgia and nothing else. Jeff vs Carlito will be a nice little match with some good spots, regardless if it has any relevance at all.

 

I'm going to revel in the greatness of Hogan getting a mediocre pop though.

 

I would actually be fine if they didn't reference any actual feuds going on right now and just had random fun matches. I'm worried that the night will be full of dead heat from a lot of the fans not remembering who people are. I mean...people are going to be saying "Who the fuck is Bart Gunn?" "Sunny?" and so on and so on

 

I'm worried about the crowd reactions too..I'm gonna be there and I don't want any great moments/returns to be ruined by fans who don't really care. CT has never really had the most excited crowds to begin with.

[LooseCannon25]

Seriously though, not trying to be disrespectful but who gives a shit about Bart Gunn? what the hell did he ever do in WWE? Yeah, he won the Brawl For All, big deal it wasn't even wrestling. Any fans that can actually remember him will remember his head slingshotingoff the middle rope after he got knocked the fuck out by Butterbean.

[Jaxxson Mayhem]

Seriously though, not trying to be disrespectful but who gives a shit about Bart Gunn? what the hell did he ever do in WWE? Yeah, he won the Brawl For All, big deal it wasn't even wrestling. Any fans that can actually remember him will remember his head slingshotingoff the middle rope after he got knocked the fuck out by Butterbean.

 

 

Wasn't Bart Gunn in a tagteam?

 

Ah, thanks wiki. He was in the Smokin' Gunns.

[Vern Gagne]

It's not going to happen, but I would love to see a Macho Man appearance. He'd be one of the few people whose appearance would actually shock me.

[The Buzz]

I mean he had a decent run in AJPW, which isn't anything to discount. Puro doesn't mean much to the casual fan, but in the big picture he should be remembered as a decent tag wrestler who won a few different tag championships.

 

3 x WWF Tag Champ

AJPW Unified World Tag Team Champ

 

Here is a little interview with him from 2001. It's funny I probably would have preferred Bart Gunn to return with the Mike Barton name and get a run rather than Billy Gunn.

 

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FC...2_3/ai_76726502

[Guest DCH]

Even though it won't happen, in the slight chance Rock returns, I'm going to mark out like a lunatic. Maybe McMahon will name him the biggest superstar and he'll come out.

[TheFranchise]

Vince will name Randy Orton as the biggest superstar in Raw history.

[Vern Gagne]

The easy answer is he names himself. That leads to Austin coming out, and giving Vince a stunner.

[The Ghost of bps21]

Yeah...there's no way he's not picking himself.

 

It's the first thing I thought when I read about it.

[AntiLeaf33]

I wonder how many of the older guys will accidentally say WWF instead of WWE if they get a chance to talk?

[Wrestlefreak]

I'm actually looking forward to this week's Raw. It looks like it will be great. I wonder why they're not doing it next month, closer to the actual anniversary of the show? I know that the 11th of January next year is a Friday, but they could've done it the following Monday. That would have made more sense.

 

Anyway, it will be good to see all those familiar faces.

[AntiLeaf33]

I assume they are doing it now rather then interfer with the build up towards the Royal Rumble. Sure, there is a PPV on Sunday, but its only Armageddon, so they don't really care if they miss out on a show to promote it.

[Craig Th]

Maybe they are doing it now to capitalize on the writers strike?

[bob_barron]

Given that most shows are still in new episodes, and this was planned before the strike, that's not it.

 

This is going to be a McMahon heavy show. Yay.

[J.B. Buzzkill]

Anyone think it will be as bad as the Raw X disaster?

[haws bah gawd]

Wasn't the RAW X show just a glorified Slammy Awards? My favorite part of that disaster was Rock's prerecorded promo that was drowned-out by the "YOU SOLD OUT" AND "YOU SUCK DICK" chants. Good times.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS!]

Anyone think it will be as bad as the Raw X disaster?

 

No. It's a completely different format. As Haws alluded to, RAW X was a lackluster award show that a bunch of the big names no-showed.

 

I'm pretty excited about his show, as long as they don't spend too much time retreading the 'everybody hates Vince' angle that they did earlier in the year before he was blown up.

[DrVenkman PhD]

Maybe I'll watch Raw X before this show just to guarantee it seems even better by default (for some reason I received the DVD of the event only - no extras - for buying some WWE DVD at HMV years ago).

 

On that note, I've actually liked the 3 hour Raws for their "big time" feeling while others had problems with how bloated and unnecessary they seemed, so I can't see how the nostalgia loving 24/7 subscribing mark inside of me won't love this show.