Loss

So I realized when finalizing the current disc that the format I chose for the second one greatly resembles the first one. So I think we have a formula: Music Video or fun promo -- something non-wrestling Title defense against underdog challenger Multi-man (or woman) tag match (6, 8 or 10 man tag) Hidden gem singles match from Japan or Mexico Hot TV match (usually under 10-12 minutes) Wild brawl from anywhere Juniors match from anywhere Old territory match from US Wild card (How much space do I have on the rest of the disc and what can I put here that won't make the whole thing go over 4 hours?) Commercial/quick promo -- something very quick Classic tag match from anywhere Great angle Match where the pairings and the wrestlers are known to be great, but that match itself doesn't get a lot of credit So that looks to be how this is going to be for the most part. BTW, everyone check your Inboxes this weekend.

I like Sydal, but no. Not at all. Have you seen Waltman in Global?

I think it was less conspiracy and more ego. HHH doesn't seem like the type who could ever accept that there may be wrestlers out there who he can not carry to good matches. Steiner would have been exposed eventually, but it may have taken a while for fans to catch on had he been doing quick 5-10 minute brawls. The Rumble drew an impressive buyrate on the strength of his return. He meant nothing when they did the rematch, and even WWE was moving away from him before the match even took place.

Good for him. Maybe he reminds them of pre-injury and pre-drugs Sean Waltman. He does me.

Any potential Steiner had in WWE was basically killed by HHH insisting on doing his Twenty Minute Carry Job Of A Lesser Worker Just Like Ric Flair act at the '03 Royal Rumble.

Randy Orton is the closest thing we have to Tully Blanchard in 2007. I know that opens a can of worms, and I am not saying he's as good as Tully was, I'm simply saying that as far as his overall demeanor, he's the same type of heel.

Yeah, probably. Arn is a better storyteller.

I don't think a WWF tag team is going to help the case of any nominee, simply because the company has historically pushed it like a cruiserweight division and they didn't headline.

Wow, that's some serious hate. Why? I used to despise the dude with a passion back when he first came in and his offense was 80% chinlock, but he did improve a hell of a lot since then. Not the best wrestler to ever walk the aisle, but definitely better than, say, former tag partner Chris Masters. Decent talker too. Masters has far more natural charisma than Carlito, who is like a $5 version of Razor Ramon and has never had a match that I thought even approached good. He was also incapable of making anything out of having Torrie Wilson as a valet and having a well-built program with Ric Flair. Masters at least tries hard and is capable of being carried.

Cena turning heel for a feud with HHH would be a waste, because HHH's best days are behind him. Someone new coming along and getting over at that level would be worth turning him, but no rehashes of guys who are already made. The guy who finally gives the Cena haters what they've been wanting should be someone who will basically have a career made off of it, because it's a big deal. Unfortunately, WWE is stuck with guys like Carlito and Kennedy who don't really have anything going for them, but would ideally be the types that would benefit from it. In Kennedy's case, once he says his name, you've seen all he can do, and in Carlito's case, he's the worst wrestler in the world (I would almost go as far to say that he's my least favorite wrestler to ever be on television -- ever) and probably shouldn't be anywhere near even developmental, but somehow he's rubbing shoulders with main event guys. He has slightly better hair than Prince Iaukea, but is probably less over and worse in the ring. I think there's potential in an Orton/Cena heel tag team at some point, but Orton will obviously not be the guy to turn babyface and knock him off his pedestal. Lashley sucks. A Cena vs Jeff Hardy feud would probably be HUGE and push Jeff to the next level and allow Cena to turn heel, but Jeff can't seem to stay clean. I do like the idea of maybe starting a Cena/Jeff feud over something personal with Cena turning heel and Matt finally coming to his brother's aid from Smackdown, but could Matt work in that role? His chances of success at it are better than almost anyone's, but he still feels more like the best of what's left than just the best. MVP is going to be a career heel, although I think MVP/Cena has tons of potential as a feud at some point. They'd probably play off of each other pretty well in and out of the ring. When Jericho comes back, he'll be a big deal and could probably rally the crowd against Cena, but Jericho was shielded from the top for so long that I'm not even sure two years away from wrestling has been enough to make people forget about it, and I'm not sure the 37-year old Jericho is best for that spot anyway. Michaels, HHH and Taker are Michaels, HHH and Taker. A Cena/Flair feud would be tons of fun, but Flair's not the guy for that spot. Misterio/Cena would be great and would draw well and produce great matches, and is probably the closest thing to a sure thing. But it still seems like a bad move. Cena/Umaga would be fun with the roles reversed, but it's not really a long term feud to build around. So, what direction could you go with Cena as a heel? All the options really seem like dead ends.

But what should WWE do about it? Take the belt off of Cena in case he gets injured? Stop pushing people because they may not always be healthy? Injuries are always going to happen and they're never going to come at a good time. It's just one of those unfortunate things that makes booking wrestling that much harder, I'm sure. Also, it should be noted that HHH hasn't had a hot feud in over two years, when he was feuding with Batista. Before that, he hadn't had a hot feud since before he tore his quad. I don't see HHH's comeback making much difference.

Isn't slowing down the booking and putting more emphasis on championship runs what everyone has been wanting them to do for years?

I actually liked Arn keeping kayfabe, simply because for people who don't remember the storylines or who are watching for the first time, he was able to explain things.

Frey's approach was to open the wallet by getting big names/fresh faces not with the company to create a strong heel stable, and also to build up a strong light heavyweight division using international talent. Sound familiar? It sounds a lot like a direction that worked for someone else running the company when it got greenlighted.

I didn't dislike the Watts run so much as I did not understand why they got rid of K. Allen Frey when he had really handled the loss of Flair very well, and they had some momentum building.

Right now, all of his challengers are pretty indistinguishable. I think he needs a storyline that really supercedes a bumbling heel who's never been consistently pushed winning matches for three weeks and suddenly being the number one contender. I think back to JYD (who's a similar babyface to Cena) getting blinded and missing the birth of his first child as a result, and waging war on the Freebirds and drawing huge. That's the kind of storylines Cena needs to draw on PPV -- really serious, personal stuff with kind of a powder keg feel behind it.

The concept behind money in the chase is not actually that the money is in the chase. It seems to be more that the money is in the buildup. Meaning they could have done Austin/Vince in a cage match on PPV at the show right after Wrestlemania XIV, but that was rushing it, when they could still milk the Austin/Vince showdown for so much more. So, "the chase" is all the stuff that happened throughout the rest of the year that finally led to an Austin/Vince encounter in February of 1999. They made far more money off of the final encounter and all the PPVs before it than they would have had they just done it right away. I don't know that "the chase" really works in modern booking, because (a) fans are so much less patient and ( there's a real lack of talent depth. Ideally, in 1999, WCW could have had Goldberg go after the world title all year, all while new opposition was being thrown his way constantly -- Hall, Nash, Savage, Luger, Sting, Bret, DDP, Steiner, etc. Had those guys been as over as they should have been considering how hard they were pushed, Goldberg headlining shows versus all of them all year would have drawn huge until he finally got his hands on Hogan at Starrcade and got the belt back. So instead of one big show, you have 12 big shows. The problem is it's a bit idealistic. Whereas years ago, you had guys like Savage and Piper who were draws in their own right and could prolong Hogan feud payoffs, now you have promotions full of Arn Anderson types -- they're liked, they get a reaction, but everyone knows they're setup guys and that they have a specific role. So, the concept isn't a bad one, but the talent isn't there to pull it off, and it's probably obsolete in 2007.

I do think there will eventually come a time for Cena to turn heel. But the time isn't now. If they had a babyface that was red hot right now (and no, HHH or Misterio coming back don't really fit that bill), then they could probably turn Cena heel and go far with it. Austin turning heel when he was the top babyface in 2001 and Rock was out shows what happens when you take the top babyface and turn him without having someone else who connects with the masses to put in that spot. You get people the fans instinctively pop for, but ultimately a bunch of non-factors like Undertaker, Kane, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, guys who are not seen as being on the same level as the guy they're challenging, and guys who can't be seen on that level regardless of what steps are taken in booking. The time to turn Cena is when a fresh face comes along and his popularity starts to rival or exceed Cena's. Then, you can build to a turn and actually accomplish something with it. Cena as a heel would be like Ric Flair as a heel after 1986 or so -- so much more over than his challengers that while he himself is a draw, it eventually becomes impossible to put him in feuds that draw because he's constantly put in the position to "make" all his opponents. Also, much like Rock, I think if Cena was turned heel, he'd just start getting cheered again by the same people that are booing him now and they'd end up with the same problem all over again. So, what do they do then? Turn him babyface again? Not overreacting or panicking to the whimsical crowd reaction Cena gets is probably the thing WWE has done most right and most uncharacteristically the past few years. It's paid off in creating a bonafide new top guy (not a cup of coffee type like the Jerichos, Benoits and Rob Van Dams before him) that has a very unique aura, is incredibly over, and because they've been patient in not blowing their load on the big turn, when it happens, it will be huge and will probably draw big money. There's no babyface now anywhere close to being ready to fill his shoes. When there is, that's the time to go for it.

No. I think the problem is that they use too much comedy to build feuds, so no one really has any desire to see the match by the time it happens. People may be tired of Cena making gay jokes and doing unfunny comedy, but that doesn't mean they're tired of Cena himself, or else everything would be down. It just means he's not being booked properly and they put him in silly feuds that don't invest people. When they do put aside the crap, a match like Cena/Khali drew well on PPV because it was built up well. He's probably losing the belt in a few weeks anyway, and if anything, I'd think things will drop off with Orton in that role. Cena sort of needs to be champ to sale merchandise also, otherwise "The Champ Is Here" and toy spinner belts are a bit of a hard sell. If it was as simple as fans being tired of Cena, house shows would be down also, and kids/women wouldn't be coming to see him, and that hasn't slowed at all. Yes, some fans are tired of him, but they're outnumbered by ticket buyers, and buying a ticket to show up and boo John Cena means they are paying to see Cena lose, which means he's over, which means people aren't tired of him.

Well, house show attendance is still strong and per head merchandise sales are at like $13.00, which is huge. There is a problem, but I don't think it's Cena.

I just watched Goodhelmet's entire Dangerous Alliance set in the hopes of finding wrestling somewhat enjoyable to watch again. I hope I'm one day able to enjoy other wrestling again, because this stuff was so good that everything else is going to fall in its afterglow for awhile I'm afraid. The whole angle from WCW Saturday Night where they set up the ring with a talk show set and women started coming out of the crowd claiming to be having affairs with Ricky Steamboat while the crowd "ooohs" is just WAY ahead of its time for 1992. The next segment had a crawler that Ricky Steamboat had contacted WCW and denied all allegations and that he would be given a chance to make a statement the next night on WCW Main Event. And the next week, DDP debuts his new talk show and has Paul E. as a guest. He accidentally plays a clip of Paul E. paying the women who stood up to denounce Steamboat. This all ends up with Steamboat doing a dive from the audience onto the stage to attack Paul E. and tear his pants off, which set off a huge DA/babyfaces brawl, and yet another 30-minute 2/3 falls match main event. I don't think there's ever been a better period for good wrestling matches on free TV with a wide variety of wrestlers and settings. Letting K. Allen Frey go in favor of Watts was a mistake. The Steamboat angle is SO going on the next DVD Club disc.

Bischoff has correctly pointed out that Foley has a double standard, because he has used Bischoff's persona to get himself over at various points in his career. It was more of a stupid move to announce a world title change on a competitor's show to me than it was something that was in bad tastes. Really, way too much of a big deal has been made about it because nearly 10 years later, Foley still won't shut up about it.

Meltzer has said those stories came from HHH's friends, actually. He confided in those close to him supposedly that he was going to make sure Jericho didn't get over coming in, presumably because he didn't see a place for two heels with long blonde hair at the top of the card.

There were really three times they tried building around Flair in a top feud after Havoc '94: * The house show run with Randy Savage in early '96, which drew surprisingly well * The Bret Hart match at Souled Out '98, which drew surprisingly well * The Hulk Hogan match at SuperBrawl IX, which drew surprisingly well And yeah, he was also the only guy in WCW who could post competitive numbers against the WWF during their big 1998-1999 run. Considering all that, he was definitely underpaid. There were times when he was obviously really unmotivated and they were doing nothing with him except having him come out every week and dance with Debra, so he wasn't underpaid obviously at those times since he wasn't even doing anything. But he was definitely could have been used more.

I've wondered this too. The only thing Angle has over Jericho is his medal. Jericho has more longevity and was always better in the ring and on interviews than Angle.