Well since the last topic ran away and hid, I'm going to continue my b****ing on this thread. The WWE is in bad, bad shape. You'd think that Vince would've learned what happened with the Clique back in '97 or so with the Montreal screwjob and the "epic" HBK and Deisel title reigns. However, when Vince brought in the NEO and turned the writing reigns over to Stephanie instead of making Shane a more active part of the organization, he started the downward spiral into the current state of mediocrity. On RAW you've got Steph's boytoy, HHH, making sure no full-time wrestler looks good at his expense. Let's face it, the only major losses he's suffered in singles matches this year have been HBK (his best friend and near cripple, no threat there) and Hogan (Vince's desperate attempt to relive the glory years of Hulkamania). In fact, HHH has recovered EVERY job he's ever done for everyone on the RAW roster in the past year. Meanwhile superover wrestlers such as Booker T, Jericho, and RVD can't get past the tag team ranks or the midcard. And, with only one singles title on the show (the HHH ego-stroke title) everyone except HHH's little circle of friends is left out in the cold. Meanwhile on Smackdown you've got loads of talent in Rey Jr., Benoit, Angle, the Guerreros, Cena and Edge (I'll even throw Lesnar in there since he actually shows quite a bit of promise for a big guy) jobbing out to talentless stiffs like Albert, Rikishi, and the Big Show (and don't forget the imminent return of the Undertaker) because Vince has a long-standing favoritism for big guys. So, no one outside of Lesnar can rise to the top since the biggest guy is either 6'3" (Edge) or about 245 lbs. (Cena). So, for Armageddon (given the state of the company, the jokes write themselves) look for HHH to get the job back from HBK, Show to beat Angle (althought I hope and pray Heyman gets to put the belt on Angle and build Lesnar/Angle for Mania), Jericho and Christain to job to (hopefully as the lesser of 3 evils) Golddust/Booker T, Albert to beat Edge (gotta build the furry one), Batista to go over Kane (younger hoss over older hoss), Benoit over Guerrero in the No-One-Gets-Elevated match, and RVD to sit at the World wondering why he's not wrestling even thought he's more over than 95% of the roster. As for Royal Rumble, I hope (my booking idea) Lesnar wins to get the 'Mania shot when champ Angle stiffs him and RVD beats HHH (for costing him the belt on RAW). Then we build Lesnar v. Angle on the Smackdown side and RVD v. Jericho on RAW for 'Mania. However, look for Steiner/HHH very quickly before Scotty's foot falls off.
This is far and away the biggest problem right now. HHH basically gets to write the script because Steph has Vince's ear. The last company where a small group of wrestlers dictated what happened in the ring was WCW...and we know how that ended up. Ted Turner apparently wants back into wrestling and Rupert Murdock (Fox) has made grumblings about having his own promotion. So the question is...if Vince doesn't wake up and change things radically...which one of these tycoons will buy him out in a year or 2?
Hey Ref, I was there too! It sucked that Goldberg or DDP wasn't there at the time. The event wasn't really all that. The headliners that night sucked. Wasn't worth the money I paid for, but the great thing was I was on TV A WHOLE LOT!!
What would be nice to see is a Lesnar/Goldberg fued. I can picture it now.....Rock and Lesnar fighting on Smackdown at Wrestlemania, and all of a sudden...GOLDBERG SPEARING BOTH THE ROCK AND LESNAR AND THE CHANTS OF GOLDBERG RINGING IN SEATTLEEEEEEEEE!!! Now that is a sight....
Just to bring this back up to the front. Well, Armageddon wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be. Benoit/Geurrero saved the show, and I thank Heyman for putting the belt on Angle, so now Angle can stiff Lesnar and build that matchup for Wrestlemania (I hope they save it for that long anyway). Of course, tonight we get the HHH show so we'll see who the sacrificial lamb is until Steiner gets pushed over more worthwhile competitors to the cripple fight main event. We'll see how much of a train wreck it'll be.
I've been to many wcw events. They weren't piping in the Goldberg chants. Now, when they taped shows for Saturday, they did, imo. Did you watch the first show when Vince had just purchased WCW? He asked the wwf crowd what they thought of certain wrestlers (i think Booker and Bagwell got loud pops), but the crowd started to chant for Goldberg. He would be great as a heel or a face. He vs the Rock or SCSA would be something I would pay to see on ppv.
I was amazed to see Brock F5 the Big Show again last night. He didn't flip him as good as he did at the Suvivor Series, but it was an impressive feat nonetheless.
We are the Nation... Nation... of Domination. We are the Nation... of Domination... Nation... of Domination. *lol* We used to sing that all the time at work and do that fist salute to each other from across the factory floor. Those were the days. Of course, the fist salute soon gave way to the crotch chop, which in turn gave way to the "4 Life" sign. Still, I long for the good old days of the Nation when Farooq reigned supreme.
Interesting news on maybe SCSA returning.... http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/living/1202/12wrestling.html Don't assume, necessarily, that McMahon has suddenly become a spokesman for the public's right to know. The access experiment could also be prompted by slipping WWE ratings. "Smackdown" is down a fraction this season, to 3.8 million viewers; the other TV franchise, "Raw," on TNN, is down a bit more seriously, averaging 3.1 million. A major problem is that WWE's two biggest names, the Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, have both been absent for a long time: Rock making movies, Austin feuding with McMahon. "We've always been able to make stars, but it takes awhile," McMahon said. "You can't just snap your fingers and replace an Austin or a Rock." Both will return to WWE next year, he said.
Nathan Jones..Only thing I know about him is that he's big, bald, Australian, and actually did do time for armed robbery (8 years, I think I heard). Very little wrestling talent or charisma, but that hasn't stopped Vince from hiring a big guy yet. Again, this news is suspect since I myself have never seen him in action. Well looking back at my pre-Armageddon post I was kind of 50-50. Angle looks like he is going to push for Lesnar at Mania (that's why Lesnar's my pick for the Rumble this Sunday) but we've still got HHH lugging around the worthless belt. They're pushing Steiner in quicker than I thought, but I guess they wanted to do it before Scotty tries to kill someone backstage or start dropping f-bombs on live TV. So, I'll be interested to see Angle/Benoit part 5000 and to see if Lesnar actually wins the Rumble, or if their going to push the Michaels/Jericho storyline by having it come down to #1 and #2 in the draw. Unfortunately since Warner moved all their PPV channels over to digital I don't have any access to the PPV itself so I'll be online Sunday night looking for the results (BTW: screw you Time Warner!)
Yes...HHH has a small tear in his right quad. It was the left quad that had him on the shelf for 8 months. HHH will likely be forced into retirement due to injuries. My guess is that he will be done within 2 years.
How about the Rock getting trashed by the fans again at the Raw 10th Anniversary. I can't wait for him to turn heel. He's soooo much better that way.
It was NY. The fans in NY are well regarded as trashing everybody at some point. Also it wasn't Rock's best promo ever...he was all over the map. Even further...the WWE officials had the fans in line for HOURS in the cold that evening. People were generally angry to begin with. He will turn heel...but I disagree with you. Rock is at his best (promo-wise) as a babyface.
