No Way Out

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Vince should see if there's anything he can do to capitalize on the Floyd Mayweather situation. I don't even watch wrestling anymore but that segment had me very interested and could potentially get them more buyrates/media attention for WrestleMania if they do the right thing with it. What that right thing is though....I don't know. There's no way the WBA would actually allow Mayweather to wrestle a match against Show, so WWE may have built up another hot angle they can't properly blow-off.

 

They can always do a tag match. Have it be Batista/Mayweather (what else is Big Dave going to do? And Rey is injured) vs Show and someone. They could further the angle by having Show kill Rey on SD to put him on the shelf officially, and Batista takes up the cause for his ally, and Mayweather's already involved.

[Perfection 0]

It's all politics with HHH right now - he knows he's screwing over Hardy and the "boys" know he's screwing over Hardy and thus he's trying to put him over in any quasi-meaningful way he can. Hardy's time is now, and he'll probably never be as over as he is now with fans clamoring for a title win as they are now however HHH wants his title. So first you have Hardy go over HBK clean on Raw, and then you have Hardy kick out of the pedigree - that's supposed to calm the critics.

 

I think HHH catches too much crap sometimes. He should be credited for allowed hardy to kick out of the most deadly move in wrestling history. I mean he put him over in a big way last night, even though he won. And this is on top of losing clean to him on ppv. If i recall correctly, it was HHH who initially wanted to push hardy hard when jericho came in to counteract him so his push right now is in part due to hhh to begin with. Aside from that one night on ppv, he hasn't held the world title in a long time and has consistently put people over. Some of the excuses people come up with to hate on him, like ignoring hardy's win over him the night before, just seem lame.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

People seem to forget he put over Hardy clean on PPV in December... It's not like HHH squashed Hardy.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

So, is it still cool to blame HHH for everything?

 

I don't know is it? You seem to worry about that stuff.

 

[Just call me Dan 0]

I thought the Cena/Orton psychology was fantastic. It's insane how the crowd can be decent, if not mild, all night and give anything Cena is in EVERYTHING they have. Cena/Orton worked a slow paced psychology based match and the crowd ate it up. The double run-in at 9 was freaking awesome especially with the faces both put on afterwards. Randy kind of realized he could have ended it there but also played it as if he knew what he was doing and could beat Cena. Cena looked right back at him as if he was surprised that Randy had such confidence. After the STF, Randy was shaken and got desperate. The finish sucked and the ref looked like a douche, though. That should have been strike 2. After the slap, Orton could have done something a little more DQ-worthy to get the cheap win. Really good psychology throughout, though, reminded me of Summerlam 01 with Austin/Angle.

[Maztinho 0]

But wrestling standard is if you intentionally hit the referee it's a DQ. The only time this is ignored is if it's a special guest referee that isn't going to allow the heel to DQ himself to retain.

 

Most of the time pushing the ref is sort of a blurred area, but actually striking with a fist or a slap is DQ'able.

[tekcop 0]

Yeah, after that slap and the look on Cena's face I expected the match to continue anyway. Didn't HHH and Earl Hebner do that once?

[Perfection 0]

I read the rumor that big show actually agreed for mayweather to break his nose/hit him legit. his keller/meltzer comfirming this?

[ashamed wrestling fan 0]

Dear Jeff Hardy,

 

Good luck trying to capture that amount of momentum again

 

Signed,

 

RVD

[Cowboy Battlenuts 0]

It looked like Big Show was prepared for the first two shots but was thrown off by how hard the last shot was.

 

There's nothing better than when wrestling actually has you wondernig "was that real or not".

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

No it was not real. The punches might have been, but the angle was all worked. Jesus.

[Just call me Dan 0]

The third punch seemed to be when Floyd was already getting ready to run. It just clipped him in the nose. I think we all know the whole thing is worked, but a bloody mouth and the same effect would have been created for the crowd without the nose break. Floyd couldn't have known that the short-arm punch he threw right at the end would break this 400 plus pound guy's nose. If he wanted to break the nose, he'd have been going for it the whole time, IMO. Just an unfortunate, but really cool effect of the heat of the moment.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

What people seem to forget is Show has been training to be a boxer for some time since his retirement from ECW. I'm pretty sure that entails being trained to take legit shots to the face.

[Cowboy Battlenuts 0]

"No it was not real. The punches might have been, but the angle was all worked. Jesus."

 

No that's what I meant, the confrontation was set up, clearly, but there's no reason not to think Mayweather wouldn't take the oppurtunity to make himself look great by breaking a 7'0" guys nose. I wouldn't be suprised if he ended up going overboard.

[Perfection 0]

No it was not real. The punches might have been, but the angle was all worked. Jesus.

 

of course it was a planned fucking angle, jesus christ. I'm talking about how hard he hit him..is that so hard to understand?

[J.B. Buzzkill 0]

He should be credited for allowed hardy to kick out of the most deadly move in wrestling history.

 

lol Burning Hammer

[CubbyBr 0]

Don't know if anyone caught this but there was a hilarious moment in the Smackdown chamber where Taker dragged Batista back-first on the concrete floor of the chamber and Batista started screaming and shaking like he was having a seizure. I probably watched that part five times.

[Mike wanna be 0]

Ah yes, the lost art of the "Holy fuck my back is being raked across metal grating" sell.

 

I personally think the best part is when Taker flew through the door because dumbass referees forgot to lock it, and then all three combined to fuck with it to make it look like it had failed and they were fixing it. It's a bolt-action style lock, there's no way it was going to break; and if it did you wouldn't have been able to re-use it.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but Jeff's title challenge/run(?) is going to mean a lot more if it happens after WrestleMania than at WrestleMania. There's still going to be a question mark over him being a Mania headliner, no matter how hot he is right now. If they did Hardy vs. Orton as THE main-event, it'd just risk being overshadowed by Taker/Edge and a probable HHH/Flair, Show/Mayweather etc. and you'd risk a WM X8 scenario where he looks worse-off for it ala Jericho. And if it's not THE main-event, it's going to be lost in the midcard anyway, like Rey's 'big' win.

 

Where-as if he wins Money In The Bank, you've got a fresh challenger during the traditional WM hangover period, when they're going to need one.

 

 

People seem to forget he put over Hardy clean on PPV in December... It's not like HHH squashed Hardy.

 

Yeah but he only did it for his own good so it doesn't count! Plus he smiled a little, which like totally buried Hardy!

 

 

Also, was it me or were they having mic problems all night? We heard Tazz and Styles over the ECW vid package and then there was so much dead air during the later matches, in particular Edge/Rey (unless they just got sick of Coach and Cole already and muted them).

[Hawk 34 0]

It would be nice if they would play up the build to Edge/UT a little differently (a match that I may actually order WM for). Have Edge just come out and say that UT has been in the business for nearly 20 years, and it's time for someone new to be on top. Play up that Edge has his cronies to help him win. Hell, have them lay out 'Taker with a bunch of chair shots a week before the PPV. You know, actually make it seem like Edge is going to win. Then, at WM, when UT does win, it will be that much better.

 

How is that different? It seems like standard booking.

 

Standard booking is the heel being scared of Taker's magic tricks.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Actually one of the compliments I was going to give the PPV was there seemed to be more points where the viewers were able to just watch was unfolding without commentary hammering it down, but it did dawn on me it may have been a technical issue as well.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

People seem to forget he put over Hardy clean on PPV in December

Was that the one where on Raw the next night neither HHH or Hardy said one word about the match and it was barely talked about by anyone else?

 

And before the usual suspects jump in, that's not a comment on HHH's actions, whatever their motivation, just a comment on some people still not knowing when someone is really put over.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I would like to add that honestly, how is it putting over people when you only do the job to show up Chris Jericho?

[Brett Favre 0]

People seem to forget he put over Hardy clean on PPV in December

And before the usual suspects jump in, that's not a comment on HHH's actions, whatever their motivation, just a comment on some people still not knowing when someone is really put over.

 

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

People seem to forget he put over Hardy clean on PPV in December

And before the usual suspects jump in, that's not a comment on HHH's actions, whatever their motivation, just a comment on some people still not knowing when someone is really put over.

 

Putting someone over is more than just doing a clean job; if it was, then Rey would have gained something when Nash lost to him clean on Nitro. Putting someone over isn't just about losing to them clean, or even losing to them at all. It's about making them look strong in the body of the match, not making them weak, and treating them seriously. But just as important, if not more important, is the follow up to the match, clean job finish or not. The night after the Jeff beat Hunter clean, neither Hunter or Jeff said anything about the match, and if the announcers talked about it at all it was in passing. How was that match and that finish put over at all the next night? It didn't matter to Hunter that he lost clean, because he didn't even talk about it. It didn't seem to matter to Jeff that he beat a star like Hunter clean, because he didn't talk about it, either. How did any of that put over the fact that Jeff beat Hunter clean? It didn't. Because the match and, more importantly, the finish, was treated almost like an afterthought, it made the clean job virtually meaningless. The clean win by Hardy over Hunter was given no importance or significance. That isn't putting somebody over.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Depending on how HHH plays it tonight, it's possible he put Hardy over more last night than he did at Armageddon.

[Brett Favre 0]

The reaction Jeff is getting from people should tell you that he was put over. If you make it seem like "OMG HARDY JUST BEAT HHH", it'll look like a fluke. The way they dealt with it gives you the idea that Hardy and HHH are at the same level, and Hardy just moved on to face Orton (which he did). Hardy needs to be focused on getting the title, not beating HHH. Beating Triple H means nothing to him other than getting a title shot. Jeff Hardy looks like a legit threat, so right now all of this doesn't even matter.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Depending on how HHH plays it tonight, it's possible he put Hardy over more last night than he did at Armageddon.

As far as the match itself went, yes, Hunter put Jeff over big, and I'll be the first to admit it. The pedigree that Jeff kicked out of was a GREAT nearfall. However, it's all in the follow up. If it's used on Raw as a way to build up Jeff, then Jeff was put over more than at Armageddon. But if the story of Jeff kicking out of the pedigree and everything is barely mentioned, then Jeff was put over no more last night than he was at Armageddon.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

That's why I said it depended on how HHH dealt with it tonight. So essentially I agreed with you.

[Downhome 0]