WRestling’s 3R’s 03.17.06: Destination X, Golden Showers on Raw, Two Pissed off Texans, SNME, and More!
Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.17.2006
A huge edition of the R’s this week as we look at Destination X, Raw, Impact and Smackdown!
The 3R's of wRestling!
Welcome one and all to this week's installment of wRestling's 3R's! I hope that you are all having a good week kiddies, as always I have been busy slaving away here, whipping the minions and putting together some great stuff for you to read. Make sure you check out my 3R's of WrestleMania series that will run for 21 days, as well as Steve Cook's all feedback spectacular. Enough jibber jabber, no more hooting, let's just get to work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 3 R's. I will take the 3 main shows (4 if there is a PPV, 5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, and WWE Smackdown. I then group my feelings on the shows in 3 categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, I cannot speak for Geoff, but my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad.
SmackDown!:
Here is my partner in crime, the man that always shares a piece of his mind and is known as the Whole F'n Show, he is Geoff Eubanks!
Smackdown 03.010.06:
The Right:
Two pissed off Texans with golden tongues, beer and mic time – For my money, Steve Austin and JBL's beer bash is going to be just about the only reason (aside from the return of Jim Ross) to watch Saturday Night's Main Event, especially if Jillian Hall accompanies JBL to the ring, because she's also amazing on the mic and the possibilities just open up even further with her in the mix. Austin stands to really steal the show here and with such a foil as JBL, I'm betting there'll be beer and WHATs all over the place. I'll be drinking vodka, but to each his/her own. I might even dust off the old "What" foam thingie and wear it on my hand for the segment. As long as…ya know…I still have a free hand for the booze.
$ITB – I'm sorry, there's no one on RAW I love more than Rob…Van…Dam (yes, I did the thumbs) aside from Mama Benjamin, and who doesn't love Ric Flair? But RAW didn't have anywhere NEAR what we had tonight with respect to finding SD!'s first $ITB contestant! What a brawl! It's just as I said…keep Lashley with guys like Finlay. I'm sorry, but was he trying to pull a Big Show by tipping over a CAR onto Finlay? That's NUTS! Although the possibility of Lashley being involved in the $ITB match is interesting (although NOT a good idea), if Flair does stick it out and make it in, Finlay would be a great opponent for him, because they could just old school it the majority of the match and allow RVD and Benjy to hit the crazy shit. There's just something nagging me in the back of my mind that Carlito is somehow going to make it into this mix, though, like he manages to talk Vince McMahon into allowing an early Draft Lottery trade so he can come back to SD! and compete to get into "his" match. I dunno…
The wRong:
It was supposed to have whet my appetite, but just left me with a poo-flavored tongue – What a lame, pedestrian main event. This is the best we could do with WrestleMania under a month away? Granted, yes, we had all three members of SD!'s WM main event involved, and including Mark Henry in the mix allowed for The Undertaker to make his presence felt at the end, thus, theoretically, it was a nice, tidy package to accelerate the ball rolling, but, from the predictable and contrived set-up at the show's outset to the lazy, lameass finish, we've seen all these blueprints before and it's just not very interesting. So with Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle so palsie-walsie these days, are we supposed to consider that they'll be working as a team against Randy Orton at WM? Or are we gonna have Cole Slaw blather on about the competitive spirit and championship pride urging them on to put their "friendship" aside to do battle on the grandest stage of them all? Pardon me…YAWN. Vince, keep your motherfucking fingerprints OFF this match and just let these three GO. TRUST me, I've been watching you ruin WM for YEARS. Just work your egomaniacal little program with HBK, collect the paycheck for yourself that one of your YOUNGER, more talented employees SHOULD have gotten, and leave this ALONE.
And a CASKET MATCH? I'll be DAMNED, haven't seen one of those in, like, MINUTES. Are you fucking KIDDING?! Seriously, Randy Orton's new music lasted longer than the time between this and the last casket match.
Once upon a time, Taker brought Vince to the graveyard when Vince decided he'd like to dig up a corpse and, just for shits and giggles, re-animate it, since, you know, he's GOD and everything. Taker agreed, but no sooner did they stick the shovel in the earth than they heard it strike something solid. "What, Take, you buryin em shallow these days?" asked Vince. "Nah, Vince," Taker replied, "that's not a body, that's where I've buried your ideas for my character; you've just hit bottom."
Hit the road, warrior – So we (rightfully) beatify Eddie, but just make a mockery of Hawk, huh? Personally, I could give a shit, because DEMOLITION were my favorite painted-up, be-spiked tag team, but that just seemed kinda fucked up. What's worse, here's Animal mouthing off about 15 years outside of any conceivable amount of time CLOSE to his prime. He'd be well served to wear a shirt on SNME, cuz Austin and JBL may damn well try to tap that keg of a beer gut. Prediction? The newly re-signed Shannon Moore will come out of nowhere to help Matt Hardy against Animal and whatever tag partner he ends up choosing. Damn, I HOPE it's Tatanka and that they go over! *GRRRRR*
Four minutes…?! – Remember when the splitting of a tag team used to mean something? When it'd be teased for weeks before the final blow-up and the ensuing pull-apart brawl, leading to weeks if not months of bitter fighting between the two former comrades? Well, folks, dream on. This is 2006 and we could damn well have seen the climax of the dramatic dissolution of William Regal and Paul Burchill in four minutes tonight. Granted, that was more ring time than they saw on SD! together as a team, but these guys could really make something out this split, and could easily go at least :15 in the ring at a time and MEAN something. Furthermore, Regal could be used to get Burchill totally over, at least as a performer. Give them THAT much, okay?
The Ridiculous:
I won't whine too long here – It just seems a shame that a former World Champion such as Booker T (even if his championship tenure was only with WCW, but, still…) has absolutely nothing better on his plate than getting over a dead-end gimmick like Our Smiley. SUCH a waste of his talent, of Sharmell and the build we've seen him enjoy over the past year. I don't get how McMahonagement can do this to its own work. Imagine turning on The Food Network one Saturday and seeing Emeril slave over a huge gourmet meal, then climb up onto the table once it's done, hike down his chef's pants and yell, "BAM!" as he takes a dump all over it. That's pretty much my view of the manner in which Vince treats his marionettes, um, I mean employees.
A lesson in pointlessness – So why the HELL was Gregory Helms even made to perform tonight, much LESS, against an intense, straight-shooting worker-and-a-half like Chris Benoit? I'm going to tangent right now, but I'm drawing a parallel…bear with me.
You know, those who know me are well aware of the absolute disdain (and that's putting it kindly) I have for Bret Hart, the reason being a story for another time; however, I truly empathize with Hart over the manner in which his career was terminated. Now, no, I do not blame Goldberg (another worthless piece of shit, and another discussion for another time) for putting Hart on the shelf, as much as I'd love to. No, rather, Hart's condition was not a single, devastating blow cutting down the Canadian "hero" (if that were the case, we'd likely be blaming Sunny…); rather, it was an accumulation of minor impact compounding upon one another to create the post-concussive syndrome that ended Hart's career.
As such, I place the blame for Hart's abrupt retirement on the heads of WCW management and medics. Who was Ted employing such that actual medical doctors can't tell whether or not an employee of the company has a concussion and should, thus, be kept out of action until the bruising and swelling recedes? This is absolute medical negligence in my book and it nearly eventually cost Hart his livelihood altogether. At one point, if I recall correctly, Hart actually complained to Eric Bischoff that he wasn't feeling well, and our pal Uncle Eric pooh-pooh'ed it all and told him to get in the ring and take a Terry Funk chair shot to the head.
Now while a broken nose (even one as badly broken as is Helms') isn't career-threatening, isn't it at least plausible to call McMahonagement's decision to force Helms to work tonight PERIOD sketchy at best, much less against Benoit, especially considering the fact that his finisher, The Crossface, requires the recipient to have Benoit's hands clasped directly over the nose, completely negligent in similar fashion to Hart's experience? I mean, maybe I'm just not one of the old school boys, but it seems to me that if McMahonagement is going to force its employees into working one homogenous style that waters down the overall product under the umbrella excuse of "safety", it makes decisions such as forcing Helms to work in such a condition indefensible.
Furthermore, there was absolutely NOTHING to be proven here, unless Helms managed to pull out a victory over Benoit, but even that would prove ultimately meaningless. It would dent Benoit's momentum going into Wrestlemania and, as Helms is likely going to have to sit out this year, it would do him no good to get a victory over Benoit or any other high profile upper-carder on his way to the DL bench, so why even pair these two up at all, ASIDE from the fact that, yet again, we're sacrificing a CW to heavyweight. And not just ANY CW, but the champion, the best in the division, which means, by proxy, that the CWs are all absolute job fodder when facing a "real" wrestler, which brings us back to the conundrum with which I closed last week when I discussed the problem of having CWs pull double-duty on SD! in both the CW and tag divisions. If you rob the CWs of their credibility in other areas, they have none in the tag division, either. At least RAW has the balls to look you in the eye and defy you with, "Yeah, tag teams? So fucking what?"
BTW, I forget where I read it…it very likely was Larry, but someone found the irony in the CWs getting banged up trying to go against their own grain and wrestle a kind of match such as is foreign to them. And now we're seeing the results of square-pegging round holes in the wrestling ring. Way to go, Vince…maybe you can kill your locker room. I hope Andrew Martin cornered Vince at the SD! tapings and got Bret Hart on him.
And if you thought the foregoing was pointless – Really, is there a single guy who really gets turned on by these little diva skits such as the one we had tonight between Jillian Hall and Kristal? Look, Jillian's hot, especially now with that bran muffin removed from her head, and Kristal, at the very most, has a nice body. I don't have a problem with either of them, because they're involved in the show in a constructive manner, Jillian as JBL's valet and Kristal as a backstage interviewer (hopefully replacing that creepy Steve guy, the REAL Boogeyman of SD!, IMO). These are the kinds of roles women should have in wrestling, not what they are apparently being turned into here tonight and last week. I blame this pointlessness on the reason the Regal/Burchill match was so Ridiculously cut short. Leave shit like this to the Divas magazines and DVD's and keep it OFF the WRESTLING show.
Remember people, show Geoff some love by emailing him here: yostankmama@hotmail.com
iMpact!:
impact 03.11.06:
The Right:
AMW vs. The Naturals - When I first recapped this match I wasn't that much into it. I think it was because I wasn't really up to recap that night and the fact that this being a title match made no sense to me. I than had some back and forth emailing with one of the recap readers who thought I slightly shortchanged it in my recap and after match thoughts. So I decided to go back and watch the match again to see what was happening. After another viewing or three, I agree that I was rather blah on the match and that not only was it a fun little match but pretty good. They also used this to set up a match/feud with Team Canada and even though it being a title match bothered me, this protected the Naturals and could garner them sympathy since they have been screwed again. So yeah, Kudos to this match; it was good shit.
Hey look, three matches. - You guys know that I hate when they do 5-matches. It is way too much for a show and just crowds it up in a "throwing shit on the wall and sees what sticks" fashion. Since I always bitch about that I thought that I would show some reward for them using 3-matches this week. The show accomplished a ton, which I will discuss next, and didn't have that super rushed feel to it. Sometimes less is more, and this was a perfect example of that. Plus it was nice to see some of the matches get some good time.
Building to the PPV - Once again just about everything had a purpose and that purpose was to hype and to build the PPV. We started with AMW vs. The Naturals, which had Team Canada coming in to cost the Naturals the match and set for their PPV meeting, which was announced later in the evening. Then there was an excellent video package for the Ultimate X match, which featured really good mic work from AJ Styles actually. The X Match was next, which was not only for a spot on the World X Cup team, but for a slot in the PPV International X Match; Chris Sabin won that match and that continues his strong streak of wins and quality performances. We then moved onto a video package that had JJ cutting a promo on Sting. After that we moved onto the "Live, Via Satellite" interview between Monty and Cage; which happened to sell the injury from last week and that they didn't want them fighting again to save it for the PPV. Finally we had Team 3D, Killings and Rhino in a hype match for the PPV teaming together. They won their match and then had a stare down with Team JJ. A smartly laid out show that had one goal, SELL THE PPV!
The wRong:
Some just, odd stuff - The Scott D'Amore and Larry Zybzko confrontation was odd. It is one of those odd cryptic segments that has no value to anyone, mark or smark. D'Amore was just like, "I'm watching you" and Larry was like, "You don't know shit." Huh? I don't get it. At all.
Chris Sabin totally no sold a brain buster, which really bothered me. I am not a total sell freak, because there is a time to no sell for effect, but when a move looks good and can break your neck, you could stay down a bit there partner.
I am all for the Naturals getting TV time, but having them get an NWA Tag Title shot was out of nowhere and had no explanation. I feel that they deserve a good chance, and should be utilized more but title shots with no reasoning don't add to the show, they take away.
Alex Shelley defeated Jay Lethal @ 10:15 via pin ***
Lance Hoyt defeated Maverick Matt @ 8:05 via pin *½
Team Canada defeated The Naturals @ 12:38 via pin **¾
James Gang defeated LAX @ 6:43 via pin ¾*
Chris Sabin defeated PUMA, Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt @ 15:13 via pin ****¼
Team JJ defeated Team 3D, Killings and Rhino @ 20:19 via pin ***¾
Ultimate X: Christopher Daniels defeated Samoa Joe and AJ Styles to become the NEW X-Division Champion @ 13:40 ***¾
NWA Title Match: Christian Cage retained against Monty Brown @ 17:20 via pin ***½
The Right:
Promos! - Promos were in order this evening, and they were some of the best thing served up on this card. There are times, and rightfully so when people say that TNA doesn't give good promos but this night was different. This night delivered twice.
First of all there was Christopher Daniels. Daniels always delivers solid promos, but often lacks that small part that can hook you emotionally, that can make you truly get behind him and view him as a superstar. On this night he was perfect, putting over the match as innovative and dangerous. Putting over AJ and Joe as the best, and most importantly putting over the X Title. The closing was just tremendous as Daniels rattled off this line: "Bare witness, be a part of the night as you witness my resurrection, my second coming…tonight as I regain my X-Division title. And that's the gospel according to the Fallen Angel." If you didn't before the night began, after that promo and him winning the title you believed in self fulfilling prophecies.
Next was Father James Mitchell, a man that is awesome on the mic but sometime is under appreciated and doesn't get enough mic time. He didn't have to say a lot but what he said was powerful. He truly made you feel like this was a was and he was a demented general with his hand on the "doomsday button." Pure emotion and evil coming from him on this night, and it got you so psyched for the match. Excellent work by Mitchell.
The X Division Shines - I thought that the X Division really took center stage at this show and did their best to make the show memorable. There were three X Matches on the card, all I thought did very well. Let's look at those.
Shelley vs. Lethal: This was the perfect choice for the opener in my opinion. Lethal is really over in Orlando and Shelley is continuing to make a presence known through his association with JJ. They were given a nice 10-minute window to work with and they made it work. They did some really fu mat work, including some shit I hadn't seen before and the crowd stayed with them all the way through. Shelley got a much-needed win, and I would like to see some more action between these two.
Ultimate X: This came short of expectations, but thankfully there was a good reason. Joe suffered an eye injury and lost vision for a bit, and the match had to be cut by almost 7-minutes. They apparently had a ton planned in those final minutes and that explains the anticlimactic end to the match. That being said, what they did do made for a good match. They played up the double-teaming of Joe excellently, and I really enjoyed the story.
The International 4-way: Without doubt this was my match of the night. Some were pissy that Dutt got into the match as a representative of "India" but I wasn't. The Mexican guy fell through and they could have done much worse for a replacement. So we has Sabin from the US Team, Petey representing Canada, PUMA from Japan and Sonjay. They gave these guys a nice 15-minute window and they totally delivered. They had a nice and quick beginning and smartly slowed it down in the middle. Then they kicked it up at the end and it was just balls to the wall action. Normally I wouldn't rate a "spot-fest" so high, but it was damn entertaining and a pleasant surprise.
Monty vs. Christian - This match had a lot against it going in. Monty is still very green, and then they had to had time onto it because the Ultimate X went short. But what happened pleasantly surprised me. Not only did they play off of the rib injury that Monty gave Christian, he worked it the entire match like a man possessed! Monty embarked on a relentless assault on the ribs of Cage that really impressed me. While I still think that he has come a long way to go, matches like this are something he should be proud of. My rating may be a bit high, due to the crowd being a bit quiet during the match, but I think he deserves some praise for having one of his better matches ever. Also there is one other thing to consider, TNA finally had a main event that had NO OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE! About damn time guys.
The wRong:
The James Gang vs. The LAX - Did I expect a great match here? Nope, never do. I expect decent action and a hot crowd. Well, what we got was Homicide working for 6-men in this match and it being really bad. They worked this angle to build to Bullet Bob getting his hands on Konnan. Well, that failed because when they stood off the crowd went mild. I thought that this had a bit of mileage, but it seems as if everything went to shit. Time to go back to the drawing board, and make sure you erase Ma-SHET-AY!
Hoyt vs. Maverick Matt - This was just blah. No sizzle to it at all. They shot a decent angle for it, but of course it was on Xplosion so no one saw it. There wasn't much wrong work wise here, it just bored me to tears. Then they had Eric Young tossing fliers to the floor, in his attempt to find Sting. This was funny, but shouldn't have happened during a match. Then to make things worse, Traci picked one up and tried to show it to Matt, who didn't care. He then got the big boot and lost. So now we are setting up then to break up, the only thing that makes Matt interesting. Right, this was just bad all around; an easy wrong here.
I think I understand why…but… - In regards to the 8-man war, I think I understand why JJ got the pin. Since he will be feuding with Sting, he needs to look strong since he just lost the title. I can see that. But there are problems here. First of all, why did he pin Ron Killings basically clean? Sure he was tripped, but he is supposedly in line for a big push and this did a lot to kill that. It was rather mind-boggling and I do not understand that.
Next, this was the perfect chance to build to AMW vs. team 3D for Lockdown. It has been obvious that they have been taking the sloe burn approach, which I commend in all honesty. They should milk their NWA Tag Title win because it will be huge for them in regards to their legacy. Instead all we got was more brawling with them, and no build. I feel that either Team 3D should have gotten the win, or AMW should have screwed them again to set up this "blood feud" for the titles. Unfortunately we got none of that, and after such a good and fun match, we set up and resolved nothing and even thought it was a good match, it took a lot away for me.
The Ridiculous:
Dear Maverick Matt: - You are not Shawn Michaels! I understood you using SOME of the mannerisms before. I was cool with you using the superkick. Hell, you're related and he trained you. But you my friend are no Shawn Michaels. This Sunday you came to the ring, dressed in CHAPS. You used more classic HBK spots than he does these days. All you need is the odd stuff he wears like a shirt, the flying forearm and kip up and you will be there. Hell, Nash is under a contract, have him be your bodyguard. It looks like shit man, you look like a 5th rate knock off. I am sorry, but it needs to change. You are not Shawn Michaels, you never will be Shawn Michaels and you need to accept that.
Closing thoughts:
So me of you may have noticed that I didn't rate the "Steve Borden/Scott Steiner" stuff here. I want to see how it all plays out. Personally I think the angle played out great and the place was hot for it. I am also willing to give Steiner a shot here, because TNA seems to book people like Steiner better than WWE does.
As far as the PPV as a whole, there was a lot of solid action and fun matches. The PPV was fun to watch and the bad stuff was kept short, as usual. There were some really fun matches, and the closing angle was hot. I will go with a "thumbs in the middle, leaning up," with the only thing that you really need to see is the International 4-way.
RAW !:
Raw 03.13.06:
The Right:
Trish and Mickie - Oh yes, finally we are back to Trish and Mickie. I actually think that the little lay off worked well, as they didn't want to burn people out on this. I think we all know what happened, Mickie actually took out Torrie and set it up to look like Victoria and Candace did it. At Saturday Night's Main Event she turns on Trish and the three women kick her ass with Mickie going completely psychotic. That's what probably will happen. Yet, they COULD have Trish turn on Mickie and create a whole new dynamic. That is why I like this, and I am looking forward to SNME to see what does happen.
Maria on Bowflex - "Sho Nuff!"
Build to WM and SNME - Even if I didn't like it all, they certainly seemed to try and work towards SNME and WM the whole show. We of course opened the show with the Golden Showers segment, used to build to HBK vs. Shane at SNME and HBK vs. Vince at WM. Next was Trish vs. Victoria, which had the Torrie run in to hype the SNME tag match. Edge made quick work of Goldust and then laid out the invitation for Foley to come to SNME and appear on a special edition of the "Cutting Edge." The next thing that we saw was the lovely Maria on a Bowflex, and she talked to Trish who eventually found Torrie laid out.
We got the contract signing with HHH and Cena, which set up for WM with them, as well as Carlito and masters vs. Kane and Show and for later in the evening. The tornado cage added more heat to the McMahon's vs. HBK feud with Shane getting a one up on HBK yet again through devious means. Moving on, Todd interviewed Trish who stated that Torrie wouldn't be able to compete at SNME, and that is where Mickie stepped in as we discussed above. We got another Hall of Fame Inductee in Verne Gagne, as well as more build for the MITB match at WM with the IC Title match and Flair doing commentary and getting involved.
Finally we had the main event. This built two WM matches, in the WWE title and Tag title matches. The ending run in from Orton also set the stage for the SNME main event. As much as I didn't enjoy a lot of the stuff, you cannot argue the fact that the show was very well driven to sell SNME and WM.
The wRong:
Golden Showers fill your eyes… - I just could not get into this segment. To me it was just Vince entertaining himself. This was obviously a play on Jannettey failing his piss test as well as the whole wellness policy. It just felt so bland and I knew what would happen, as I think everyone did. I'll chalk it up to one of those things that I didn't enjoy but that others my have.
IC Title Takes a Back Seat - While some will argue that the belt is nothing but a "prop" anyway, it has never been more true this week. For no reason they wasted an EVD vs. Shelton Benjamin IC Title match. And for what I ask? To further hype the MITB match at WrestleMania. They had Flair doing commentary, RVD and Shelton having an amazingly boring match (especially considering what we know they can do) and then Flair "accidentally" costs RVD the match. So in the end you didn't even remember that it was for the title, because the commentary team
Bury Cena Time! This week's lines? "He was impressed last week, who saw John Cena pick up the 500 lb Big Show? He gave him the FU, it about blew my mind, I mean, that was 500 lbs, that would kill a normal man. But not Cena, I was impressed. But as strong as you are it won't make a difference or help you at WM. This is all a formality, the contract, the match and your look. It is all a formality, you can chant for him all you want it won't help him. At WM, the WWE Title comes back home. He signs."
We started SO GOOD HHH. But then…
HHH after Cena signs: "just like that it was over. This is where when I am sure that when you have signed I flip the table, grab my sledgehammer and bash your head in. I am the kind of guy that takes all the advantages. I'll manipulate anything. But I won't do that, because I don't need an advantage with you, you are already at the disadvantage."
Good work HHH, put the champ over! Sorry guys, I just think there is better stuff to say than what the hell HHH has been saying. But that's just my opinion.
The Ridiculous:
HBK vs. Spirit Squad; Super Shane - While I think the Spirit Squad is showing a ton of potential, this did them no favors. There were four guys against one man, in a cage, and they couldn't get the job done by themselves? It defies logic to me. I know that it was "Shawn FN Michaels" and all, but this is one of those times that if they all beat him down and won that he would not have looked bad at all. I don't care how tough you are, when it is 4 on 1 in a steel FN cage, you have no chance.
What made it worse is that Shane had to come down to make the save for them. It made them look incredibly weak in my opinion. I would have had no problem with Shane coming out to bloody him after the match of they had got the job done first, but that didn't happen. Bad booking in my opinion.
So that is how they are bringing JR Back? - Seriously, this is the best that they could do to bring JR back to do some commentary? That is the best the creative minds of the WWE could come up with? JR is being brought back for Vince's amusement on and off screen, that is it folks. Surely they could have come up with something better. NBC hired him because they wanted him perhaps? Throw me a bone here guys!
The Raw Commentary Team: I think I just Threw Up In My Mouth A Little…yeah, I did - You have got to be shitting me! The Raw commentary team said something very stupid, and good old Joey whored himself out yet again.
First we had Lawler claiming that he was the last AWA World Champion. WRONG-O Jerry, you weren't and I said as much in my recap.
Then, then good old Joey sold himself out again when Shane gave the "Vanterminator" and said, "I have never seen this move live." RVD dies a little more inside I bet. I know that Shane is the boss's son, but couldn't he has just said, "What a spectacular move from Shane McMahon!" Maybe something else, but don't act like you have never seen the move live when you were there when RVD debuted it.
READER RANT TIME~!
From Manu, a long time contributor to the columns, my original stuff in bold and the his responses:
"No One Cares About WWE Unlimited "
Actually, I do. It helps that we've got wireless, so I can stay on my couch instead of running to a different room to see Maria's Kiss-Cam, or Todd Grisham looking at signs in the audience. Yeah, most of it is useless, but every now and then...
"Why did they have such a major announcement on Unlimited, and then give us the Reader's Digest version when we came back from break?"
To entice viewers to watch Unlimited. If they air something important on unlimited, but don't show the TV fans what they missed, no one will know they're missing anything. In its infancy, this is important to get people to start watching unlimited. Since WWE doesn't get ad revenue anymore, they couldn't care less about their fans watching the commercials. But if they build up a big enough fan base to watch unlimited, they can start a new revenue stream. I agree that something like this should be on the main show, and not treated as an after-thought, but it also gives the fans a feeling that, just because it went to commercial, that doesn't mean the show stopped. Ideally, eventually they will get to a point where they don't show a re-cap of what happened on unlimited, because "commercial breaks" wont exist anymore, but until they've built the fan base, they kinda have to.
As for the number of fans who can easily watch raw alongside unlimited - hi-speed and wireless are both growing, so its not too much of a stretch to believe that WWE's tech-saavy fans (ie, the IWC, since they've mostly eliminated everyone except us, rednecks, and people sleeping with the wrestlers) will either have that, or have it within a few years.
"Did anyone else notice that it took them one month to make a Lita vs. Maria match? "
You don't care about unlimited, but this is what you pay attention to? :-P
"Onto the Edge and Foley feud, unfortunately I am still not that excited. "
Yeah, but the match will be good. Take comfort in that.
"Wait, wait, wait… - Carlito and Masters get a title shot? Well congrats to those that saw it coming, but why? They haven't been teaming, they never answered the questions about their problems and they lost clean as a whistle to Kane and Show a few weeks back! "
Couldn't agree more.
I hear you on Unlimited, it just isn't for me. I felt that it devalued that announcement. And yes, I notice the shit others don't…lol. I hope that Edge vs. Foley will be good, I think it will be good, but I am just not into it as of now.
From Pierre:
This PPV was much better than last year (after seeing 411's reviews; didn't watch it last year, nor on DVD). Sure, the Jarrett ending sucks, but at least half of the show made it forgivable. BTW, I didn't get to watch it online due to the PPV going international online (meaning that it will on be seen online in USA, Canada, and New Zealand; did I spell that right?)
Ultimate X: I was disappointed of how short it was, but despite going 13 minutes I think it is almost up to par with WWE's Money in the Bank Ladder Match. It may be short, but is still worth watching cause they are good matches. Wished it could've been longer, oh well. I understand due to Joe's injury
I wasn't happy to hear Scott Steiner back. It now feels like WCW. Then again, Russo isn't here, so no real problem, for now. I just like to say about 411 staff writer, Jeff Small, said about Goldberg coming to TNA. First off, I see his worries of Goldberg dominating the roster and possible bad booking decisions. However, I think Styles could go head to head with him (hey, I find it hard to believe that he can take on Abyss and other opponents in some "special-rule" matches [couldn't think of a better word], only to be Goldberg's bitch. Speaking of bitches, a Joe/Goldberg feud can go either way (Joe wins one match, Goldberg does the same; should be brutal instead of crap, I hope). Why am I telling you this? Just to prepare you if he does go to TNA. Some may think it'll be a long shot for TNA to consider Goldberg, but they did bring Vince Russo (AND haven't fired Jeff Hardy yet!). Only time will tell.
Thanks for the emails guys, always appreciated!
Thanks for joining me, as well as my tag team partner Geoff (yostankmama@hotmail.com) this week. Please keep the feedback coming and tell us what you like, what you didn't and feel free to give us some of your 3 R's. Seriously, we want to hear what YOU HAVE TO SAY! I will gladly post them in the next edition. Until next week, for Geoff I am Larry Csonka and we are out!
"Sho Nuff!"
