Random wrestling thoughts

[Guest]

[Missy]

Also, for Matt to be the one behind all of this, it means he started his plan BEFORE he lost the ECW title, meaning that he really had nothing to be jealous of his brother about until after the angle started.

They could have Matt say the ECW title is a worthless piece of shit, and he couldn't stand seeing his brother with a "real" title.

I think Beth and Melina have done the kick your own head spot on TV once before. It is rather amusing. They got it from MsChif, who does that spot all the time since she's a human pretzel.

That's right! I forgot about that. If I recall, MsChif used to be a gymnast.

Also, what was up with the ref in the women's match? He really seemed to be favoring Melina, especially during the kick. Why did he make Beth break that up? How is it illegal? And his count seemed very fast at the end of the match.

[Guest]

Also, for Matt to be the one behind all of this, it means he started his plan BEFORE he lost the ECW title, meaning that he really had nothing to be jealous of his brother about until after the angle started.

They could have Matt say the ECW title is a worthless piece of shit, and he couldn't stand seeing his brother with a "real" title.

Though the ECW is a worthless piece of shit, there is absolutely no way they'd let him bury the belt like that.

And the refs have been screwing up a lot lately, seeing as all the veteran referees were let go.

[Molly]

Matt versus Jeff could be Bret/Owen level of intense, if they play it right.

[S-T]

With Matt & Edge together (which, by the way, is all sorts of awesome considering the history)

A few years ago, there were legitimate personal problems between the two. Has that been resolved? I've been somewhat surprised to see them working together.

Does no one remember the Matt/Jeff feud of 2001? It was a total flop.

Yes, but 2001 was a long time ago and both have matured as singles wrestlers. Remember that the "Hardyz" were still over as a tag team and neither guy had a consistent push as a singles wrestler yet. It could work, given the right build up and the right storyline.

I don't think this is it, though. The logic is too flawed to work.

[SuaveStar]

They never said if it has been resolved, but Hardy forgave Lita and has done some things with Edge over the years, so who knows. Also Hardy has repeatedly said he would like to do a title feud with Edge to elevate himself, Matt that is.

2001 was a long time ago, both have improved as performers, but I wouldn't want a fatal four way with them and edge and christian.

I really want Edge VS Christian at Mania, but that will never happen.

I heard their was a rumour that both WWE and world titles will be on the line in the same chamber match, if true, that is the dumbest, yet most ingenious idea ever. I bet it will reek of TNA.

[Guest]

I think the Edge and Matt thing simply boils down to the fact that both men are professionals. One of the most admirable aspects of the wrestling business, and one that you don't hear about too often is that two guys will often hate each other but when they get in the ring, still work light and protect each other on slams, because they take pride in what they do. Obviously, there are exceptions like Hardcore Holly and such, but for the most part, that is the case.

[Guest]

Watching the Rumble match.

- MVP got a HUGE face reaction, proving that I was right about him being a great face.

-The first 5 minutes or so of this match has been fantastic. The crowd is hot and everyone looks motivated... then Khali had to show up.

- Way too many spots with guys just barely dangling on the outside.

- There are too many people in the ring. By the time Kofi came out, there were 14 guys in there.

[JackFetch]

On Raw tonight:

The Cena/HBK match was horrible. The timing was so bad in the first half Cena was sitting in position waiting on Shawn to get there and hit the spots for a full 2 seconds.

Are they ever going to do anything with Jillian? How have they not fired her since they don't use her for anything but the "other heel girl" not involved in the storyline in matches.

Santino asking if he's lost weight and calling Cole JR was awesome, especially since JR has been gone awhile now. He has great timing on the mic. Too bad he has none in the ring.

It was nice to see Shane involved in an angle again, but why didn't all the wrestlers hold Team Priceless so he could beat up Orton? They just stood there and watched.

JBL looks horrible now that he's lost so much weight so fast. I expect him to have a heart attack at any minute.

Isn't it ironic that McMahon shit all over the Wrestler movie and now that it's a hit he wants to cash in?

[Missy]

Kofi beating Kane to enter the Elimination Chamber was awesome!

Though it's great seeing Shane, his punches were weak and badly timed.

Orton's excuse for attacking Vince is great, and I'm really excited about the character for the first time ever.

[Guest]

I hate to be a negative Nancy, but of all the directions to go with that angle, having Shane McMahon beat up the top heel in the company was probably one of the worst.

Randy should have just punted him too, and moved on.

[Stavros]

"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

Randy punting Shane was the logical conclusion. Oddly enough Shane taking down Orton to start, getting overpowered by all three and then getting punted would have put the McMahons over as much tougher in the eyes of the fans that the ego trip they wound up perpetrating. It also would have place Orton as a firm heel, Shane being a bit more sympathetic than the rest of his family.

[elnino14]

Wrestlemania 24:

One of my favorite parts of Mania is the opening video. Another good one here, very reminiscent of the style used at Mania 20, although I don’t think it was as good as that one.

Belfast Brawl: Finlay v JBL:

I totally don’t care about this entire bullshit storyline. Everybody loves the midget since he got some of the biggest pops, but the match didn’t do much for me. It wasn’t that stiff and they used weapons to cover up any limitations of the match. There was some good stuff here, particularly when they turned up the notch on the siffness and when they tried some insane shit (Finlay’s garbage can lid to the face suicide dive). The match was fine for an opener, a short blast of some quick and brutal action. **

Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Chris Jericho v Shelton Benjamin v John Morrison v Carlito v CM Punk v MVP v Mr. Kennedy: Ever since the first MITB Ladder match, I haven’t really enjoyed them as much. Well this one was boosted up a little bit for me, it seemed really close to the booking that made me enjoy the first one. They played up each character for what they were, they had a lot of intervening storylines (Punk/Kennedy, MVP/Hardy), and they had some new innovative spots (that Moonsault with the ladder was particularly impressive). Although the planned ending was kind of thrown out the window apparently due to Jeff Hardy getting suspended, the new ending still makes me hopeful in the WWE using the MITB to push a new superstar than to build a currently existing one. *** ½

Todd Grisham Interviews Snoop Dogg:

Santino owns once more completely ruling this segment and it’s sad to see that Foley is the worst one in this segment and the least funny.

Battle for Brand Supremacy: Batista v Umaga: The best part of this match is the pro-Umaga crowd sitting right on camera. The match itself was boring, it looked like they attempted to put something together with Umaga working the back and that it didn’t all fall into place. This ends thankfully quickly. *

ECW Championship Match: Chavo Guerrero v Kane: SQUASH! Yeah, that’ll make people care about the ECW championship.

Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair v Shawn Michaels: A combination of extreme emotional investment and excellent storytelling is what makes this match really rise to the occasion and become an instant classic. This match has an overarching story, “The Old Yeller” and Career threatening match story, but it’s all the little nuances that really make this match, from the Flair trademarks, to the classic technical fast paced chain wrestling that Flair was an expert at, to the working of Shawn’s leg to set up the Figure Four, to the “I’m Sorry, I Love You.” They played it all expertly and the crowd ate it up, every second and so did I. Of course, it didn’t make sense to me why Flair was limping by the end of the match since the brunt of the figure four was done on HBK, and sure Flair isn’t as spry as he used to be, but it really is an excellent match and I’d be surprised if anything can surpass it this year. **** ¾

Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjack Match: Maria & Ashley v Beth Phoenix & Melina: SKIP!

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: Randy Orton v John Cena v Triple H: This match was fast paced and exciting. It played to all three men’s characters quite well and allowed all three men the chance to shine at some point. While I quite liked this match, it felt lacking a certain depth to it to make it a great match. At times it seemed like they were telling a story about the three men (with Cena and Triple H consistently attacking Orton before getting in each other’s way so often that allowed Orton to take advantage of the opportunity) and at other times it just seemed like they were doing moves just for the sake of doing them. Also there was a lot of two man in, one man out, but it sort of made sense with the story they were trying to tell. Triple H has an extended sequence working Orton’s leg, but it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere outside of helping out Cena’s STFU. A good match but not a great one. *** ¼

The Biggest v The Best: Big Show v Floyd “Money” Mayweather: While not the best worked match ever, this is a highly entertaining segment. I love some of the comments in the build-up video (such as Big Show’s: “He’s fast, but did you see how fast he left the ring (at No Way Out),” and the video doesn’t really paint either side as heel or face. Mayweather’s actions are heel but he’s a complete underdog based on his side, it’s a rather interesting experiment, the crowd seemed more pro-Show (I’m guessing because of the idea that Mayweather is invading the wrestling world). I liked it, it kept Show really strong even though he technically lost, and it made Mayweather look like a dick, which seem to play to his strengths. ** ¾

World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge v Undertaker: While the crowd seemed to be deflated during the start of this match, Edge and Taker brought the crowd into it by the end. While the first half of this match was rather dull it helped build up the match that would lead to an excellent second half. They built tension, had an excellently worked match with Edge really knowing the Undertaker reversing many of his moves and constantly taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves, that played into the story that Edge may really have Undertaker’s number. I really enjoyed it. **** ¼

Overall: This is an excellent show, pretty entertaining throughout with some downpoints to cool people off from the highpoints that come before. There are 5 matches that are good with two of those being rather excellent. I’m sad that I missed this when it happened because some of the more poignant moments are lessened by the time (like Hardy’s return, Mayweather’s hype, among other things). 9.5/10

Top WWE PPV Matches of 08:

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 24) - **** ¾

Edge vs. Undertaker (Wrestlemania 24) - **** ¼

Raw Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 08) - ****

MITB (Wrestlemania 24) - *** ½

Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy (Royal Rumble 08) - *** ½

Randy Orton vs. John Cena (No Way Out 08) - *** ¼

Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 24) - *** ¼

[Guest]

"Fuck you air! Take that!"

[Guest]

Watching Impact, which I'm convinced is the audio-visual equivalent of cutting one's self.

- It's nWo Nitro!

- I'll admit Steiner as ring announcer was hilarious though. And I can't say I'd be opposed to Booker and Nash as the commentary team from now on.

- Rhaka Khan and Cheerleader Melissa on the same team, which is funny since it's the worst and the best womens wrestlers in the world in the same match. They really need to unmask Melissa and turn her face. She would easily be the replacement to Gail Kim that they've been looking for. Match itself was horrid.

- I so badly wanted to skip the Booker vs the refs match. But it had Nash and STEINER on commentary. What a fucking train wreck.

- And Nash mentions WWE. Way to make yourself look second rate, guys.

- Petey is STILL in the Steiner gimmick. Booker even mentions it on commentary. WHY!?! Also, putting him in a match in which you're basically asking him to break his arm on a bump is asinine. AND he's up against Matt Morgan, and they have a back and forth match despite Petey having one arm tied behind his back. It's like they said "how can we book a 15 minute segment in which no one gets over?" and they succeeded.

- Now it's three dastardly heels beating on four heroic faces... fuck it. I quit. I can't watch this anymore. 38 minutes was all I could take.

[JackFetch]

The on-again off-again "Macho Man" Randy Savage 'best of' DVD collection appears to be back on again. After WWE announced the project last year but later pulled it, WWE's Canadian DVD distributor (KOCH) is listing a 3-DVD Randy Savage WWE set titled "Macho Madness" for release on June 9th.

Oh Yeah!

[elnino14]

Backlash 2008:

WWE United States Championship Match – MVP v Matt Hardy: For a match that’s been a long time in the making, this was a rather anti-climactic feud ending encounter. It wasn’t a bad match, per say, actually it was rather good, but it just lacked something. The match at times didn’t even make sense, much of the build and the post-match antics focused on Matt Hardy’s recovery from a knee injury, but the match focused on Matt overcoming a mid-section injury. The crowd was way into it, they had some great moments and near-falls, and it was pretty even for both men, but the ending was too sudden, the match felt off, and it fell below my expectations. ** ¾

ECW Championship Match – Kane v Chavo Guerrero: This was like many of Chavo Guerrero’s and Kane’s other matches, slow and dull. The match felt a lot longer than it actually was, the pacing was off, and frankly I just couldn’t give a shit. They tried to do something, they had a built in story with the Kane’s injured leg, and really none of it came together. Also Adamle on commentary certainly doesn’t help. *

Big Show v The Great Khali: Another dull and painfully slow match. This match is pretty much propped up by Foley’s commentary, as he tries to instill some story into this match about Big Show returning to reclaim his spot as the best BIG athlete and pro-wrestler. Too bad the match was pretty much crap and involved Khali dominating the offense for most of it. * ½

Shawn Michaels v Batista – Special Guest Referee: Chris Jericho: I’m really sad I missed out on this story because it seems so excellent and the build-up video plays perfectly into the match. Shawn and Batista being tense over the whole Flair retirement issue and Jericho being a little instigator. The match itself was rather good, playing off of many of their earlier interactions with both men reversing each other’s finisher before moving into the bulk of the match involving Shawn grounding Batista by working the arm. The finish was also excellent because it involved some an excellent exchange involving more finisher reversals and leaves the sincerity of Shawn’s leg injury in doubt. Probably my biggest gripe is that the work on Batista’s arm didn’t really go anywhere outside of being an attempt to keep the big man grounded and for something that slowed the match down and played an important part in the match, it should have meant more. Also I wish Jericho had more to do, but at the same time I wouldn’t have wanted to give him too much and it ends up hampering the match. Nonetheless, it was a really fun match to watch and kept my attention all the way through. *** ½

12-Diva Tag Team Match – Mickie James, Maria, Ashley, Michelle McCool, Cherry & Kelly Kelly v Beth Phoenix, Melina, Jillian, Victoria, Natalya & Layla: Is it bad to say that I didn’t find this to be too bad? With so many women, the action and pace kept moving constantly, the wrestlers could be in the bulk of the match, and the divas can do their one move and leave. It was really well booked keeping the better wrestlers in the ring mainly and focusing on Mickie James and Beth Phoenix. It wasn’t great, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as this could have been. It would have been much better if Santino was involved though, especially after owning Snoop Dogg at Mania. * ¾

World Heavyweight Championship Match – Undertaker v Edge: Another great match between these two with them playing on the story post-Mania, with Taker’s back being a bit softened up for Edge to take advantage of and Taker wanting to destroy Edge for the being a dick. It wasn’t quite as good as the Mania match, it took a bit longer to pick up (Taker’s opening offensive sequence was a bit long), and there were less near-falls, and the finishing sequence was much shorter. But they played off of the Mania 24 story quite well, they played off of the rivalry between these two, and they had a really hot ending again with a great finish. *** ¾

Fatal Four-Way Elimination Match for the WWE Championship – Randy Orton v John Cena v Triple H v JBL: The first 10 minutes was a pretty typical elimination match, hectic and fast-paced but the rapid first two eliminations really allowed for HHH and Orton to have a knock-down drag out match filled with loads of tension as HHH played a tremendous face-in-peril as Orton took him apart. I’m a bit saddened by the result because Orton was on such a roll as champion and his reign feels a bit truncated, but this match was a very fitting end to his reign, although it’s quite interesting that it was just the beginning of the singles rivalry of Orton and HHH (according to the extra and the Judgment day card). *** ¾

Overall: This is quite the show with the final two hours being pretty tremendous in terms of match quality and story telling. Not quite as great as Mania 24, but I doubt any of the PPVs will reach that standard. Anyways, three great matches that really forward the direction of the WWE for 2008 makes this a must see PPV but only if you’ve seen Mania 24 first. 8.5/10

Top WWE PPV Matches of 08:

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 24) - **** ¾

Edge vs. Undertaker (Wrestlemania 24) - ****

Raw Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 08) - ****

Undertaker vs. Edge (Backlash 08) - *** ¾

Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH vs. JBL (Backlash 08) - *** ¾

MITB (Wrestlemania 24) - *** ½

Shawn Michaels vs. Batista (Backlash 08) - *** ½

Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy (Royal Rumble 08) - *** ½

Randy Orton vs. John Cena (No Way Out 08) - *** ¼

Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 24) - *** ¼

[Guest]

The on-again off-again "Macho Man" Randy Savage 'best of' DVD collection appears to be back on again. After WWE announced the project last year but later pulled it, WWE's Canadian DVD distributor (KOCH) is listing a 3-DVD Randy Savage WWE set titled "Macho Madness" for release on June 9th.

Oh Yeah!

Next month, it will be canceled again.

[SuaveStar]

Matt Hardy has left ECW an is now on SD.

Well, after Finley, their are no credible faces for Swagger to face.

[SuaveStar]

Someone said this to me, so i can't take credit for the idea:

What if Shane McMahon joins legacy?

Instead of being against them,he was actually the one wanting Randy to screw up raw and prove Stephanie can't handle the show.

[Guest]

Then it makes the Super Shane beatdown of last week even more horrible than it was.

[Molly]

Unless Orton was in on it, and Shane-o was mailing the punches in.

[Guest]

Unless Orton was in on it, and Shane-o was mailing the punches in.

Meaning they would have to explain that they worked the people on that, but everything else is "real". Not to mention poor Kofi got jobbed out for no reason in that segment.

The absolute best thing they can do is pretend last week didn't happen.

[Missy]

Stephanie is with Legacy.

[Guest]

My brain hurts.